Announcements
For anyone that renewed recently, membership cards have been printed and mailed out to everyone who paid their dues by January 10. If you renewed by that date but haven’t received your painted card, email our Treasurer to let her know. If you have renewed since then or are just now remembering you need to renew, don’t worry, more cards will be going out soon.
Read MoreOn Monday, January 25th, at 7:00, the club will take over the six lanes and party space at Saint Francis Bowling Center, located in the St. Francis school building at 426 S. Osceola Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55102, just one block north of the intersection of Randolph and West 7th. The space can accommodate only 40 people, so please e-mail John Longballa at [email protected] to reserve your space at the party. Homebrew, other beer, and food are welcome and encouraged! The entrance to the lanes is through the back parking lot of the school. We can enter any time after 6:45.
The club is paying for the first two hours of bowling, and the folks who want to stick around for a third hour can collect $50 total for the third hour the night of the party. Shoe rental is $1, and is up to the members to pay. Children are welcome, and we’ll probably set up a lane with gutter guards (perhaps not JUST for the kids!).
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On Sunday, December 13th, MHBA had its annual holiday party at the CSPS Hall. This was a change from prior years by having it on a Sunday versus the traditional Friday. Many people responded that Sunday seems to be an easier option than trying to rush during Friday evening traffic. For that reason we will be having it again on a Sunday in 2016.
We were treated to a wonderful live band that played holiday music for all. A big thanks to John Lonballa for finding and securing the band. This event is generally a very large turnout for MHBA and this year didn’t disappoint. We had plenty of homebrewed beer, mead and cider to go around, along with a keg of Summit’s Oatmeal stout. As usual, we had a great selection of food and we are all reminded at the commonality of brewing and having great cooks. This years People’s Choice award goes to Matt Weide for his melomel and Rick Oftel for his chocolate cake dessert. In fact, these two winners made a great pairing!
If you weren’t able to make it to this year’s party, please consider it for 2016. It is a great opportunity to see the creativity of your fellow members along with visiting people that don’t often make it to many other monthly meetings. One of the greatest things that I’ve enjoyed being involved in the MHBA is the lifelong friends I have made over the years. Homebrewing or not there are some great people in this club.
One final reminder about Sunday’s holiday party! Come join us at the CSPS Hall in St Paul for the MHBA event of the year!
Bring your friends, family and anyone who enjoys good food, beverages and company! Bring your favorite homebrew, your favorite dish to share and a tasting glass. We have a fantastic afternoon planned with live music, a keg of Summit Oatmeal Stout and tons of fun. This is an event open to the whole family, feel free to bring everyone, young and old!
Bring your beverages with a description and/or recipe if you like. Leave your name off though as we will have a People’s Choice contest for best food and best beverage!
If you have any questions or need help, come chat with us on the Facebook group or via email.
With Learn to Brew behind us, it’s time to start getting ready for the Annual Holiday Party! By popular demand, this year’s party will be held on Sunday, December 13th at noon at the CSPS hall in St Paul. As always, this is a pot-luck and you are encouraged to bring your friends, family and anyone else you want to introduce to our fun group!
Stay tuned for more details!
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This Saturday the Minnesota Home Brewers Association will be hanging out at Barley John’s Brew Pub in New Brighton. There will be brewing happening, homebrew to try, people to talk top and even prizes! Barley Johns will once again have their fabulous egg bake, along with a great selection of food and beer available for purchase.
Stop out, bring your friends and family and join us!
We will start the festivities at 10am. Check out the Club Calendar for location details.
Photo by Chip Walton – Chop and Brew
Photo by Dave Royer
Photo by Dave Royer
Are you ready for Learn to Brew Day? It’s coming up on November 7th at Barley John’s Brew Pub in New Brighton. Come on up, bring your friends, bring your homebrew to share and have some fun!
Photo by Dave Royer
We will be starting the festivities around 10am and will have people brewing through out the day. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce friends and family to the world of brewing. We will have some fantastic prizes to give away as well!
In addition to beer brewing, this is our annual cider buy. We have reserved 500 gallons of fresh pressed, un-pasteurized cider. We have almost all of it reserved but there is a bit left. If you are interested in cider, check out last year’s article about how get started making hard cider, then go email Jonathan Beckel for details and to see if you can still reserve some.
Photo by Chip Walton – Chop and Brew
We have a number of fantastic events on the way for club members, friends and guests to come check out!
First of all, this Saturday, October 17th from noon to 3pm we will be at Bad Weather Brewing‘s new facility in St Paul. Their beautiful new taproom has been open since last Friday and we are going to invade their overflow area. Andy, the head brewer, will be on hand to show off all his new toys and to chat about brewing at Bad Weather. Homebrew is welcome but bring it in quietly. Please try to bring a 6-pack or so to make sure everyone can try it! The address is available on the event page on the club calendar.
Secondly, coming up on November 7th is our annual Learn to Brew day at Barley John’s Brew Pub in New Brighton. We will start the activities at 10am with brewing demos, prizes and lots of homebrew to share! Bring friends who have never brewed and they may walk away with a homebrew equipment setup!
Also at the learn to brew event is our annual Cider Buy. Cider is again $4 per gallon but must be reserved and paid-for in advance. Contact Jonathan Beckel for more information and to get on the list.
Read MoreThe next MHBA meeting will be on Saturday, October 17th, at Bad Weather Brewing in Saint Paul. Their beautiful new tap room opens for business on Friday the 9th (with a soft opening two nights earlier, but I didn’t tell you that), and we will invade their overflow area from noon to three on the 17th. Homebrew is welcome, but please bring it in surreptitiously. Andy the head brewer will be on hand to show off all his new shiny things to interested parties.
As always, if you bring at least a six-pack, growler, or keg of your latest creation, then you earn credit in the Brewers of Fame program (see website for details–offer not valid in Puerto Rico or Guam). You may always bring smaller amounts (e.g., your last bottle of gold-medal mead), but the point of providing a six-pack of one beer is for us to have a group conversation about that particular beer. We’ll focus the attention on you and your beer for a few minutes, and everyone gets to try it simultaneously, which facilitates better edgimucation for all!
As long as you have your calendars out, please mark down Saturday, November 7th at Barley John’s for the traditional Learn to Brew Day. Jonathan Beckel has once again graciously agreed to procure 500 gallons of cider for people to purchase. This is a mildly-heroic and much-appreciated undertaking, so please be grateful to Jonathan! He has stated that sign-up will begin later this week.
Then, on Sunday, December 13th, we have the annual Christmas Party! This will be from noon to five at the C.S.P.S. Hall, and is not to be missed!
As you were . . .
John
Sunday, September 13th, Midwest Supplies hosted MHBA’s September club meeting and the Iron Home Brew Competition. In this competition, the beers entered were not judged “to style,” but were judged on how well lime was used in harmony with the beer. This was a great opportunity for brewers to brew outside the box. Congratulations go to all the brewers who tackled this difficult ingredient. We had a panel of 3 judges taste all 8 beers and award the Iron Home Brewer trophy.
This year the trophy and a $50 Midwest gift certificate was awarded to a team of brewers: Scott Ode and Jim Bradburn for their Lime Pale Ale.
Best of Show: Scott Ode and Jim Bradburn for their Lime Pale Ale
People’s choice, along with a $50 gift certificate was awarded to another team: Megan and Ryan Hoveland for their Lime Wit.
People’s Choice: Megan and Ryan Hoveland for their Lime Wit
All the winners noted that they utilized lots of lime zest to perfect their beers.
Other participants included; John Kreimer (tied for 2nd), Nathan Steigman (tied for 2nd), John Vircks , John Longballa, Dave Royer, and Kevin Meintsma.
We also had many entries in the Brewers of Fame program, including all the lime contestants, who will receive credit in the fruit beer category. Others who received credit for sharing at least a six-pack, keg, or growler of a particular style were Kevin Meintsma for a cream ale and a barrel-aged robust porter, John Kreimer for an IPA, a cherry Belgian, and a RazBerry Rhubarb Ale, John Longballa for a cider, a bitter, and a brown ale, and Jon Hunter for a dunkleweizen. This has been a great opportunity for brewers to get some immediate feedback on beers, and a great opportunity to focus the meeting on one beer for a few minutes. If you have a beer and would like feedback, please feel free to bring it to meetings and enter it in the Brewers of Fame program.
A huge thank you goes to Midwest Supplies for allowing us to us their space and donating some of the prizes. The competition was the brainchild of Matt Weide, so thank you to Matt for putting the event together.
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