January 2015 Meeting – Notes

Blue Ridge Hydroponics and Homebrewing welcomed us into their establishment for fantastic meeting. Perhaps the best meeting of 2015 to date! Certainly the most productive meeting of 2015 so far!
We had 28 members, 1 guest, and 5 new members attend for a total of 43 people. (I may be missing a guest or two…) New members include: Rudy Lyon and wife (she wasn’t present), Iain & Abbie Watson, Andy Bishop, and Berry Robertson. Christopher Kavanaugh came back to the fold as well. Welcome everyone!
General Business
  • Treasurer’s report: Mike U: 29 paid members (up to 37 by the end of the meeting) and $1850 in the bank.
Future Meetings
  • February 7th – Kevin & Bailie
  • March 21st – Thom & Jeannie (Specialty IPA competition)
  • April – ?? (Saison presentation) host/hostess needed!!
Discussions
  • Budget presentation
    • We finished 2014 with a surplus of around $300
    • A balanced 2015 budget was created at the first Board of Directors meeting and presented to the club
    • It was noted that $120 for gift certificates (drawings for judges/stewards at internal competitions) was not included. The Board will need to revisit the budget to accommodate this expense.
  • Bulk grain buy through BRH
    • BSG was selected as the supplier
    • Those interested in purchasing grain (full bags) should contact me directly (shyzaboy@yahoo.com) with your selections (see my separate email for details) by Friday the 23rd
    • Once we have everyone’s choices, Moses will calculate the prices. There will be time to change your order after that point if the cost is outside of your comfort zone
    • The order will be placed the first week of February
    • Please pre-pay your order or pay for it when picking up the grain. BRH does not have a credit program for this order!
  • Saison presentation
    • Chris Barth volunteered to do the Saison presentation in April. Thanks, Chris!
  • Loaner brew system
    • The club will establish a “loaner system” to help new/potential brewers “test the waters” and extract brewers try all-grain
    • I will provide details in a separate email, but we will be looking for donations of “old” equipment that you are no longer using
    • The budget includes $75 for equipment that we cannot get through donations
  • “For the Love of the Brew” Rare Beer Festival
    • March 7th
    • Market Building, Roanoke
    • Volunteers are needed for pouring – volunteers get one shift for tasting if they work one shift. More details as I get them.
  • Summer campout
    • I proposed that the club have a campout this summer.
    • There was strong interest, so we will start to look for a location. I will send out a separate email.
    • The Board included $100 in the budget to rent a port-a-john.
  • External homebrew competition
    • There was significant discussion about whether it makes sense for the club to host a competition. Some points raised were:
      1. Eventually we should profit, although probably not for 2 or 3 years.
      2. It seems like a necessary step in the maturity of the club. The other clubs in the VA Old Dominion HomeBrewers Guild would like us to host a competition because they would like to have a competition for best club in Virginia based on entering each others’ competitions
      3. Judges and stewards will gain experience that should help them assess beers in club competitions and offer more useful feedback. BJCP judges can also get points to advance their rank.
      4. Publicity for the club (it was noted that this could also be a negative depending on the quality of the competition and the ability to sustain a successful competition in future years).
    • WROV has discussed incorporating the competition into the BrewHaHa festival in November. This would reduce some of the costs.
    • Joe H. of Chaos Mountain volunteered to store the submitted beers and pay for the medals.
    • While some clubs make a lot of money from this, it is not guaranteed to be profitable even in the future. Also, we should have a clear idea of how we will use any profits since we are not in the business of making money!
  • Club incorporation
    • The application and the articles of incorporation were signed by the officers. Mike issued the check and Harry will submit the application.
50/50 Raffle Drawing
  • 50/50 raffle winner: Mike Usberghi
Specialty IPA Presentation
  • Kevin presented this new category
    • The new guidelines are still not officially released. Please see the draft version: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2014%20BJCP%20Style%20Guidelines%20%28DRAFT%29.pdf Specialty IPA is category 21B, starting on page 47
    • The sub-categories were sampled as presented: White, Belgian, Red, Brown, Rye and Black IPA
    • Note that combinations of these styles, as well as Session and Double strength versions of these styles are allowed in this category. Session strength versions of American and English IPA are also allowed.

Doug Moyer