David Royer
At the end of 2013, Minnesota Home Brewers were voted the best homebrew club. Thank you for everyone that took the time to vote and put your support behind the club. This is the second year in a row that we have won this award and goes to show all the great people who have made this club what it is today.
http://growlermag.com/kind-of-a-big-deal-winners-2013/#8
Read MoreOnce again the Beer Dabbler is sponsoring a home brew contest for people attending the Winter Beer Dabbler beer festival! There is no fee for the contest but you must be attending the Winter Beer Dabbler festival to enter. The festival is on January 25, 2014. Only one entry per person is allowed and you must register your entry by midnight on January 24, 2014.
The competition is also looking for assistance judging the competition. Judging will happen the weekend after the festival, on February 1, 2014. Details for this are available on the Beer Dabbler Home Brew Competition Website.
If you are interested in registering, judging or looking for more information, check out the Beer Dabbler Home Brew Competition Website.
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On December 13th, our group held our annual Christmas party at the CSPS Hall in St. Paul.
This year we were able to create a family friendly, festive atmosphere with colored table clothes, red and green beads,
candy canes and great food, beer and music. The 70 or so group of attendees were treated to live music throughout the evening as Reuben Ristrom and his band
played a number of Jazzy seasonal songs and classic jazz pieces. We had enough food this year to take care of everyone and still had a little left over! Thanks to all who brought something to share!
Congratulations to Jeff Luskey and his “Chernilla Stout” for winning the beer competition. (Updated: We originally credited Paul Illa for this.) (more…)
Read MoreIt’s Mashout time again and it’s the thirteenth year of the competition!
This years UMMO competition will focus on helping Kathy Stock, who was diagnosed with brain cancer earlier this fall. This is a terrific opportunity to not only have a great time, but to help someone many of us know.
Volunteers are also needed for this event. This typically a well staffed event, so if you’re interested – be sure to volunteer early. All volunteers will be give a commemorative beer and glass. https://mashout.org/
You are invited to the Annual Holiday Potluck (A.K.A. our December meeting)
Friday, December 13th from 5:30 to 10:00 p.m. at the CSPS Hall, above the Glockenspiel Restaurant Check out the Event Page for address, a map and directions.
Buffet-style food service will begin at 7:00.
Setup will start around 5:30, and teardown at 9:30.
Again this Year: The club is providing a 5-gallon keg of Summit Unchained: Bière de Garde.
What to bring:
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Thanks to everyone who showed up to Barley John’s on Saturday to help with our Annual Cider distribution. This year the MHBA purchased 500 gallons and probably set a record for how quickly it was distributed, with it all going within about 3 hours! As usual, Barley John’s Brew Pub in New Brighton hosted our event and had a fantastic collection of beers available for us to try while filling buckets and carboys.
For anyone who is still sitting on their cider, here are a couple resources to get you started fermenting!
Brewing TV Video
Our very own Chris Smith shares his amazing Cider making knowledge with the Northern Brewer Brewing TV crew in this 2012 episode all about Cider. The recipe from the episode is also available.
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“Learn to Brew” day was held this year on Saturday, November 2nd at Barley John’s. And it was another excellent turnout! The weather was very nice this year which made it much easier to stay outside and see all the action. The day started with our normal setup of multiple brewing stations. Thanks go out to Al, Gera, Todd, Paul and TJ for taking the time to bring your setups. They treated us to extract and all grain brewing methods, which ranged from a 5 gallon batch to a 30 gallon batch. Marie, manager of Barley John’s, and her staff did a great job of taking care of our group and serving excellent beer and food. We had one guest who was promoting his availability of honey and another promoting their website for beer recipes. There were a number of new people asking lots of questions and wanted to become members of our club. We had great gift sponsors in Northern Brewer and Midwest Supplies as we raffled off 2 new brew kits as well as a lot of glasses, t-shirts and other beer swag. Big thanks go out to Gera for putting this year’s event together! Thanks to everyone who participated! (more…)
Read MoreIt’s time to warm up your Cider making skills. The 2013 Club Cider Buy pickup date has been officially confirmed. Below is the official announcement from Jonathan. Check out the Upcoming Events section for directions and more information on the event.
Read MoreWe finally have a date for the 2013 Club Cider Buy. It will be Saturday November 16th @ Barley John’s. As usual it will be $4 per gallon payable by cash, check or square cash (look it up). Please be sure to bring your sanitized 5 gallon vessels and perhaps a funnel if you will need one. We will have funnel(s) and starsan on hand but extras never hurt. We will do our best to arrive around 10am and I would request that people show up no later than 2pm (though it may very well take us longer than that). If you are unable to attend please try to get a friend to help you out, if that is not an option please let me know ASAP and we can try to work something out. As this will be hosted at Barley John’s there will be plenty of food and beer available so support them and hang out and enjoy if you have the time. Currently the allocation of cider is full but if you haven’t already signed up and are interested there may very well be extras so come hang out and bring some buckets. To the same extent if you want more than you requested bring along a few extra vessels and you might get lucky. Again for this reason if you do not let me know that you will be arriving late I will start giving away people’s allocations after 2pm. Please note that this email is going to the whole club and receiving it DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE BEEN ALLOCATED CIDER. I will be sending out an email shortly to all those who are already on the list. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Cheers!
Jonathan Beckel
Just a reminder about our upcoming meeting this Saturday!
Our November meeting celebrates AHA’s Learn to Homebrew Day. Once again, Barley John’s Brew Pub has invited us to hang out on their patio while club members provide demonstrations on how to brew both extract and all-grain beers. The meeting is from 10 am to 3 pm on Saturday, November 2nd. Home brew is welcome and remember that Barley John’s offers great beer and wonderful food, including a delish egg bake that they are making just for us again this year. (more…)
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On October 12, the Minnesota Home Brewers Association was invited for a private tour by Surly Brewer, Derek Allmendinger. Derek is a member of the club and homebrewer turned pro! Derek started his career in professional brewing at Schell’s in New Ulm before coming back to the Twin Cities and joining Surly Brewing.
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