November 2015 Meeting – Notes – Star City Brewers Guild

Apologies once again for a late recap – I had too much cooking, eating and football watching this past week to worry about getting this out…

Twenty three members, one guest and two kids gathered together at Justin & Carrie’s house in Salem for the November meeting of the Star City Brewers Guild.

Thanks to Justin & Carrie for allowing us to take over their house and putting up with our nonsense!

General Business

Treasurer’s report: Mike was not present and so we don’t have a bank balance, but we have 92 paid members! (Jay & Mary B and Kevin & Kelly S. joined at Learn to Homebrew Day.)

Future meetings:

December 19th – Chaos Mountain (Note: depending on the number of entries and judges for the Belgian Dark Strong Ale competition, the judging may start earlier than normal – keep an eye out for another email on the subject as the date approaches)
January 17th – Big Lick Brewing (Note: this is a SUNDAY)
February – Bill M.
March – James & Joan

Discussions

Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day – Nov. 7th
- About 30 guests came by Blue Ridge Hydroponics. About 100 people came by Southern Hills. Robb had more than just the brewing demo and tasting. 4 speakers. Robb was not allowed by the ABC to do homebrew tastings. Further discussion is needed to compare the types of liquor licenses to allow both events to have similar tastings.
- We will work more closely with Southern Hills for the May event.
Star City Homebrew Throwdown – November 14th
- 74 entries from brewers in 8 different states.
- Beers were judged in one Friday night and two Saturday sessions.
- Eleven of the eighteen judges were BJCP ranked.
- The BOS was won by Joe Darden and the Subterranean Throwdown was won by John Merkwan.
- Many thanks go out to those who worked to make the inaugural competition a reality and to those who joined us at Chaos to support the effort.
- The competition budget numbers will be reviewed at the December meeting.
Custom insulated growlers – $29 including shipping
- The members in attendance voted to go with the style with the handle built into the lid. (See mock-up from Fifty/Fifty below.)
- Order was place the week of Thanksgiving.
- Expect the growlers to be in by the January meeting.
SCBG logo
- Thanks to our logo committee and especially Lynn D. for coming up with the new logo design.
- The members in attendance voted to go with the new logo. (Note: the version with the grey background is not finalized. It was suggested to change the hops to black to better stand out.)
Embroidery
- If you have items you would like embroidered, bring them to the December meeting and Carrie will take them to be done. (Using the new logo!)
Vote: Modify the by-laws
- Modification to separate election of the vice president from presidential elections. All present and 11 absentee voted in favor of the change. None voted in opposition. Modification passed.
President, vice president, director nominations
- The following nominations were made: President–Doug Moyer, Vice President–Kevin Campbell, Board of Director position–Harry Montero.
- Apparently there is no need for elections at the December meeting!
2016 competition styles – voting
- Voting was held for those present. However, to give those not present time to cast a ballot, absentee voting was kept open for 1 week following the meeting.
- The styles for our quarterly club competitions were announced via email on November 30: 15A – Irish Red Ale, 21A – American IPA, 22C – American Barleywine & 27 – Historical Beer
- Which styles will be presented/judged in which quarters will be decided at the December meeting.
“Dirty Santa” gift exchange
- Joan B. volunteered to be in charge since apparently the rules were too difficult for me to handle last year…
National Homebrew Conference, Baltimore, MD – 9-11 June 2016
- Club participation in the NHC Club Night was discussed. Need to decide if we should do it solo or as a
- Takumi volunteered to take charge of arranging what we can do and organizing people to do it.

Open floor (local beer/brewery updates, brewing tips/questions, etc.)

Joan B. introduced the idea of having Activity Heads for the extra functions the club participates in throughout the year.
- Since Kevin was not present, it was agreed by all actually present that the VP should compile a list of events and functions by the January meeting. Club members would sign up as Activity Heads early in the year to allow for long-term planning.
- An Activity Head would organize the details of Teach a Friend; Microfestivus; the Throwdown Competition; Science Festival; or NHC, for example. The Activity Head would then solicit volunteers as required and report to the membership at the monthly meetings.
- This would help so that the President & Vice President don’t have to do everything themselves. (Note for the President – Harry was already running our participation in Microfestivus, and Kathy was the Throwdown organizer, so we were already moving in this direction – this is just to formalize it a bit more.)
It was suggested that the club vote on which events the club should participate in.
If shipping beer (for competitions or otherwise), the UPS store on Main Street in Salem was recommended.
Dennis & Chris discussed their visit to Rising Silo Brewery near VA Tech. In addition to the beer, there was a wide variety of farm goods (produce, meat, etc.) for sale. The Google Maps directions to Rising Silo Brewery are incorrect. Visit their website for the correct directions.
Trivia Night at Big Lick Brewing (Thursdays) was recommended. Apparently “it’s a hoot!”