Homebrew Alley X Recap

• The club had a great showing at Homebrew Alley X this past weekend in Queens.
• We had 6 club members volunteer as stewards, and 5 BJCP sanctioned judges from the club.
• The club racked up a total of 5 ribbons:
  • Tim Schilling won second place in Standard American Beer and International Lager.
  • John Dispirito won first place in IPA, and second place in Smoked and Wood Beers.
  • Pete Tripp and Rob Clark won second place in Experimental Meads.
  • Jason and Martin Scott won second place in Fruit Beer.
  • Ken Heiss received Honorable Mention for his Andes Chocolate Milk Stout.
• Congrats to everyone who received recognition for their beers!
• And thanks to those who represented the club so strongly as judges and stewards.
• Full results at https://www.homebrewalley.com/

BJCP Results

• Congrats to Ken Dalton, John Dispirito and Chris Bonacorsa on passing the BCJP exam.
• We’ve now got 5 sanctioned BCJP judges in the club and we’re looking to add to that number.

Upcoming Festivals
Hops & Props

• Saturday, February 27 at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City.
• We have a couple of spots left to pour at this event.
• Tickets are still available. http://www.hopsandprops.com/

Spring Craft Beer Festival

• Spring Craft Beer Festival will be at Belmont on April 2.  We will have as many brewers as we can at this event.
• Signup sheet link https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1isqtopVaLtyI0j-uuI9ZSgGZ3sCjgEf6gKMSmwegxT0/viewform?c=0&w=1

Blue Point Cask Ale Festival

• The Cask Ale Festival at Blue Point is April 16.
• We will have at least 4 beers poured, perhaps 6.
• The casks are 10g, so if you are going to sign up, you need to be able to make 10g batches, or double batch into the cask.

National Homebrew Conference

• Next year the NHC will be held in Baltimore.  June 9-11.
• Great event, with tons of seminars & discussions.  A club night, where clubs set up and pour their best beers, and just all around a lot of fun.
• We’ve formed a committee headed up by Ken, Eric S & Danielle.  We are looking for two more people to sit on the committee and help organize and plan the event.

 

Membership Drive

• Now that the paperwork has been filed to incorporate the club, we are moving forward with the membership drive.
• Dues are $25/year (or $40 for a family membership).
• Membership benefits include:
  • Priority for club educational events;
  • Ability to pour at festivals and other club events;
  • Ability to enter club competitions (more on that in a moment);
  • Discounts at a growing list of local merchants and restaurants.  See https://www.hhcbc.org/?page_id=463 for a full list.
• Contact Jason to sign up.

Chopped Competition

• We will be doing girl scout cookie beers.  Each team will use a different style cookie.
• More info to follow shortly.

Intro to Beer Judging Class

• Sam will be holding an introduction to Beer Judging class on Sunday, March 20 at Homebrews & Handgrenades.
• The class will be limited to 12 participants.  Priority will be given to Charter Members.  If there are any seats available, they will be opened up to the general public two weeks prior to the class.
• Cost of the class will be based on the cost of the materials and beer.
• Please do not sign up if you can’t attend.
• Signup at http://hhcbcjudge101.eventbrite.com

Restarting the club competition

• Good news!  We are rebooting the club competition.
• Starting next month, we will be holding regular club-only competitions.  The beers will be judged by BJCP sanctioned judges, with full scoresheets returned to participants.
• The top beers will be presented to our friends at The Brewer’s Collective.  At the Collective’s option, the winning beer will be brewed on their system with the winning brewer, and that beer will be served in the Collective’s tasting room.

Club Merchandise

• John Dispirito has agreed to take on the responsibility of coordinating and ordering club merchandise.
• First item will be button down work shirts.
• More info here: https://www.hhcbc.org/?p=478

Website Blog

• Looking for proposals for articles for the website.  If anyone would like to write an article for the website, contact Sam or Pete.
• Also, we have two pages on Facebook.  One is the discussion group, which is very active, and the other is the official page.   The discussion group is very active, and things can scroll down very quickly.  To make sure you’re seeing all the official club information, like the official page (facebook.com/HandgreandesHomebrewClub), and then from the drop down menu on the like button, select “Posts in News Feed” and then “See First”.

Brooklyn Bus Trip

• Postponed due to lack of interest.

New Master BJCP Judge

• Congratulations to Andrew Luberto on attaining the rank of Master in the BJCP.

1940’s Kickstarter

• 1940’s Brewing Company has launched a kickstarter campaign to help build out their tasting room.
• https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/540220485/help-build-1940s-brewing-companys-tasting-room

Next Meeting

• The next meeting we will Tuesday, March 15 @ The Black Sheep in Mineola.
• Instead of having an outside speaker next meeting, We are going to try something new and see how it goes.   Next meeting there will be a club discussion on brewing and entering beers for competition, led by Sam and John DiSpirito.

Thanks to EAT Gastropub!

• We want to take a moment to thank everyone at EAT for having us back.
• Please make sure to remember your servers and bartenders!

Speakers: Kevin & Frank from Sand City Brewing Co.

• Kevin Sihler & Frank McNally are two of the founders of Sand City Brewing Company in Northport, which opened last summer.
• If you haven’t been up to Sand City yet, you are doing yourself a disservice.  They have a consistently great lineup of beers available; which is even more impressive considering the age of the brewery.
• Much thanks to Kevin and Frank to coming out and speaking at our meeting!