November 2015 Meeting – Notes

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!”
50/50 Raffle
  • The 50/50 raffle was not held due to the lack of a premier salesman like Harry or Jason…
 New Picture (6)
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