General Business
Thanks to Thom B. and the rest of the crew at Roanoke Railhouse for hosting a packed meeting on an unseasonably beautiful February afternoon! Saturday’s attendance included 45 members, 6 guests and 6 children for a total of 57.
Treasurer’s report: Mike U. reported that we had $1707.50 prior to the meeting. We had 16 members re-up and 2 new members, Chris Stevens & Dennis Stevens, for a total of 53 paid members to date for 2014.
Future meetings:
- March 29th – Thom and Jeannie B. (Irish red ale competition)
- April – Bryan and Jenny S.
- May 3rd – James and Joan B. (Big Brew)
- June – Kim and Lizbeth (Belgian Golden Strong ale competition)
- July – Doug and Kel M. (Oatmeal Stout presentation)
Discussions
- Budget – The external competition feasibility committee determined that it would take approximately $350 ($210 – $240 (fixed and variable costs) plus a buffer for unknown costs) to put on a BJCP-sanctioned homebrew competition. This raised the question of the club’s annual income and expenses, which lead to creating an annual budget. I presented a balanced budget where the club essentially breaks even without any new expenditures, with the following caveats:
- One BJCP exam reimbursement per year is budgeted, but the actual figure will vary from year to year.
- Unusual expenses like tent repair are not included
- Income from t-shirt sales or other branded products is not included
Because the club’s budget is essentially break-even, the external competition will not happen this year. We will explore possible sponsorships and continue to discuss whether such a competition fits with our clubs objectives.
The fact that the club dues have not changed since the club was founded in 1997 was discussed, leading to a general consensus that it is time to increase the dues. This will be discussed further and presented for vote at a later point during the year.
There seemed to be sufficient interest to create a couple new t-shirt designs to help increase revenue. Other suggestions for increased income included entry fees on the internal competitions, growler sales, food sales at Teach a Friend. Further discussion will ensue.
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From the Floor
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Kevin C. described the diverse selection available at Wolf Hills Brewing Company in Abingdon.
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There is still interest in doing the “Best Local Beer of the Year” award. Voting will be done using polls on Yahoo Groups, but that will take some “cleaning up” of the mailing list and ensuring that, for couple memberships, both are on the list if they want separate votes. More to follow on that. The expectation is that we would have a “get together” at the various breweries in the valley (plus Chaos) and then pick our club favorite from those currently on tap. For example, we would meet up at Parkway (those who can), taste and discuss the beers and then each of us would vote in an on-line poll to pick the best from Parkway. When Parkway introduces and new seasonal or style, we would open a new poll to pick between the previously selected Parkway “winner”. This would go on until December when we would have a poll with the best beer from each of the breweries and we would vote on the best in the valley.
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Paul M. has completed the draft for incorporation, but we need to rewrite our bylaws to meet certain requirements for incorporation. Once this is complete, the club will vote on the new bylaws.
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Style Presentation
Kevin C. gave a fantastic presentation about the history, ingredients and brewing methods for Belgian Golden Strong ale. He will send out his presentation notes at a later time.
Brew on!
Doug Moyer
