December 2015 Meeting – Notes – Star City Brewers Guild

We capped off another fantastic year in the Star City Brewers Guild at Chaos Mountain Brewing with 40 members, 4 guests and two kids for a total of 46 fine folks. The membership toll includes four new members – say “hi!” to Stephen Parshall (and his wife Barbara, who wasn’t present), Phil & Lynda Sawyer, and Mark Myers! (And welcome Joe H. back to the active membership roster after a one year hiatus…)

Thanks (and a huge round of applause) to Joe & Wendy, Will, and Adam for allowing us to take over the brewing area for the third year in a row!

General Business

Treasurer’s report: Mike U. – we finished the year with 92 paid members and currently have $2644.21 in the bank.

Note: Please make sure you pay your 2016 dues as soon as possible! $20 for an individual, $25 for a “family” or couple. Paid membership is required for entry in competitions.

Future meetings:

January 17th (Sunday!) – Big Lick Brewing (Irish red ale presentation)
February – Bill M. (American barleywine presentation?)
March – James & Joan (Irish red ale competition)
April – Kevin & Bailie (American IPA presentation)
May – we need a host for Big Brew!

Discussions

Annual praising of the people that made everything possible!
Throwdown – budget recap: Income $915; Expenses $627; Net gain for the club $288
Suggested order for internal competitions passed membership vote as follows: Irish red ale—March; American IPA—June; Historical beer—September; American barleywine—December
Embroidery with new club logo – only three items were submitted for embroidery. If you want something embroidered with the new club logo, please contact Carrie (bluenymphbeersnobs@gmail.com) directly.
Work shirts – I presented my new work shirt from Big Lick Brewing. There seemed to be enough interest in pursuing this style of shirt for the club, although we did not all agree to use the graphic from last year’s t-shirts. More discussion required. (We did discuss having “John Bob” embroidered on all of the shirts, above the right breast pocket…)
Old tasting glasses – what should we do with them? Suggestion was to hand them out to the first number of people through the door at Teach a Friend. Possibly put a clear printed logo with website address on glasses before handing them out.
Lead volunteers – following up on the idea presented in November to have Activity Heads for the extra functions the club participates in throughout the year, a sign-up list of events and functions was available. We are still hoping club members will sign up as Activity Heads early in the year to allow for long-term planning. (Note: the list will be sent out separately.)

Gift Certificate Drawing

Judges/stewards ($15 for Mr. Bills & Barrel Chest) – Kevin C. and Chris B.
Brewer ($40 for Blue Ridge Hydroponics) – Paul M.

Belgian Dark Strong Ale Competition Results

11 entries were judged by eight judges
- 1st place: John M.
- 2nd place: Kevin C.
- 3rd place: Alex B.

Brewer of the Year Results

Kevin C. wins a closely contested BOTY competition! Congratulations Kevin!

50/50 Raffle

Dennis S. won the biggest 50/50 of the year – $76!
We also had some additional prizes that were given away – late Throwdown sponsor contributions from LD Carlson. Unfortunately, I don’t have a record of who won them. (John Z. won the blackberry wit one gallon kit, but I don’t know about the brew-in-a-bag kit or the cider kit.)

Dirty Santa Gift Exchange

Everyone was a winner, although Joe H. didn’t seem thrilled to end up with the Evil Twin Justin Blåbær (blueberry Berliner weisse) that he contributed last year! (It gets very good ratings on Beer Advocate…)

Tech Talk