March 2014 Meeting Notes

General Business

Thanks to Thom and Jeannie for opening up their house to such a crowd on a drizzly March day. (At least the snow and wind waited until I was brewing on Sunday…)

Attendance included 38 members, seven guests and eight kids for a grand total of 53 humans. John Davis is a brand new member! Guests included Thom’s parents, Bill & Terry; future member and Roanoke Railhouse brewer, Jeff B.; replacements for Kimberly & Rob, Bronson & Emily (and her two kids); and Buren’s coworker and his wife, Jesse & Nancy.

Treasurer’s report: Mike U. $1754 in fund, 59 members

Future meetings:

April – Kim & Rob
May 3 – James and Joan B. (Big Brew)
June – Kim and Lizbeth (Belgian Golden Strong ale competition)
July – Doug and Kel M. (Oatmeal Stout presentation)
August – Dan & Terri

Discussions

Thanks and appreciation was given to the external competition budget committee for putting together a detailed budget for all the bits and pieces necessary to run a BJCP-sponsored competition. This effort made us aware that it would take $200 – $300 (above and beyond entry fees) to run the competition, which forced me to look at the club’s overall budget. Once I started focusing on the club’s annual budget, I forgot to thank the external competition committee for all of their work. Thanks to Kathy, Carrie, Kevin, Chris B. & Dan!
Teach A Friend, Spring Edition will be on May 17th (Saturday) at Blue Ridge Hydroponics & Homebrew Supplies in conjunction with American Craft Beer Week.
Local brewery of the year (voting problems) – it seems that many members cannot access their Yahoo account to vote. Only 9 people voted. I will send out a separate email about this to ask people (that haven’t voted already) to vote on their favorite Parkway beer. We will look into other methods of voting for upcoming polls.
Fund raising
- Raffles were suggested. Possibilities include:
  - 50/50 raffle
  - Provide certificates instead of cash (Roanoke Railhouse may contribute)
  - Provide a “brew with the brewer” session at local breweries
  - Can we get brewing/beer related items (artwork/clothing/utensils) donated?
- Shirts – T-shirts (especially a “feminine” style) drew a lot of interest. Carrie had some ideas and I will ask for volunteers to help come up with new designs.
- Glassware – Aluminum pint “glasses” seemed popular – Carrie will look into getting a batch
- Growlers – Not much interest from the club. Thom reported that we need a pallet of 250-300 to get a significant discount.
Group brew with a local brewery – We discussed the previous “Yeast experiment” – as interesting as it was, we weren’t able to document it in such a way as to get funding from AHA. There seemed to be enough interest in doing another group brew – either with Soaring Ridge (previously Big Daddy’s) or perhaps on the Chaos Mountain pilot system. First we will see if the breweries are interested, then we will form a committee to set up the parameters to record and the objectives so that we can get AHA compensation
Open floor (local beer/brewery updates, brewing tips/questions, etc.)
- Big Lick Brewery – Bryan: Open middle of June due to equipment problems
- Rare Beer fest – VIP tickets got you in 1 hour earlier and provided food. 1/2 the breweries had 2 beers brewed just for the event. 14 breweries participated. RR did not because they were told you had to have 3 special beers. Overall, the attendees felt it was worth the money.