News

New Social Event at moto-i

May 12, 2014

The Minnesota Home Brewers Association has been invited by the brewer, Matt Asay, to check out the sake brewing operation at moto-i! If you have ever been interested in checking out what is involved with sake brewing, here’s your chance! Matt will share details of sake brewing as well as share samples! You can find all the details on the club calendar Event Page!

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A Look Back at the Homebrew Fest

April 29, 2014

On Saturday, April 26th, Midwest Supplies graciously opened their doors (and their parking lot) to the MHBA for our fifth-annual homebrew tasting event. The skies were mostly clear, the temperatures mostly temperate, and the beverages mostly delicious. Approximately forty tasters showed up, and they were treated to myriad beers, ciders, and meads, as well as club-provided sandwiches, and a burgeoning tub of baker’s yeast-infused yogurt (more on that later).

The people’s choice award for beer went to Nick Tillemans, for his eighteen-month old English barleywine, and the award for meads and ciders went to the event’s wonderful organizer, Gera Exire LaTour, for her sweet mead with star anise and juniper.

Thank you to Gera for organizing the event, and also to Jerry, who brought the yeast/yogurt combination. Along with the yeasty yogurt, Jerry provided a copy of an article by Jim Koch (of Sam Adams), who claims that ingesting about one teaspoon of baker’s yeast for each alcoholic beverage you are about to imbibe will lessen the impact of the alcohol on your body. The theory goes that the yeast will metabolize alcohol in your stomach before it gets into your blood stream. A few brave souls did try the yeast-infused yogurt (the yogurt simply makes it more palatable), but a more scientific process should be employed at a future event to determine the idea’s effectiveness!

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Logo Contest

April 28, 2014

We are looking to refresh and update the Minnesota Home Brewers Association’s logo!

Submission Guidelines

  • The purpose of the contest is to design a logo for the Minnesota Home Brewers Association. The logo will be used online, in print, and on merchandise.
  • Entry can be done in any media: electronic or created by hand.
  • Flexibility is a key requirement: it needs to resize easily and to look good in black and white as well as color.
  • Entry needs to be original and not in any way similar to existing logos or other copyrighted images.
  • Entrant must have legal permission to use any components for the logo. Legally obtained or free clipart or stock images maybe used, but images from Google search may not.
  • The logo must contain the words “Minnesota Home Brewers Association”.
  • Paper entries must be on 8.5” x 11” and the logo must be at least 6” x 6”.
  • Electronic entries can be any size or format.

Eligibility

  • The contest is open only to individuals. It is not open to companies, educational institutions, organizations, etc. or to groups associated with such institutions.
  • Entrant must be a current member of the MHBA.
  • Entrants must be at least 21 years old.
  • MHBA Board member may enter the contest, but he/she will be prohibited from the judging selection.

How to Enter

  • Entries can be submitted by:
  • The entry must include the name, age, postal address, phone number, and email address of the entrant.
  • MHBA members can submit multiple entries.
  • The deadline is midnight on May 23, 2014.
  • There is no fee to enter the contest.

Prize

  • The winning designer will receive a $200 gift card to plus a work shirt with the logo on it, to be ordered after the logo is approved.
  • Accepting the prize constitutes permission for MHBA to make public and otherwise use winner’s name publicity purposes.

Judging and Selection of Winner

  • Top logo design entries will be judged by a committee designated by the MHBA Board and put on the MHBA website and Facebook page for People’s Choice judging.
  • The number of entries selected for People’s Choice judging will be determined by the final number of entries and is at the discretion of the judges.
  • People’s Choice judging will be from May 24 through May 31, 2014.The winning logo design will be selected based on the number of the People’s Choice votes and by criteria determined the MHBA Board.
  • MHBA reserves the right not to select a winner if, in its sole discretion, no suitable entries are received.
  • The final design selected may be altered, if determined necessary by the MHBA Board.
  • All entries will become the sole property of MHB and may be used in any manner the MHBA desires, including but not limited to displaying publicly.

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Seminars at Big Brew Day/AHA Rally

April 23, 2014

Lucid has announced a number of seminars taking place during Big Brew Day and the AHA Rally at Lucid Brewing. Here’s a run-down of what’s happening!

  • 10am- Brett Glenna – Brewer Water Chemistry
  • 11am- G Exire LaTour & Steve Piatz – Brewing for Competition & What the BJCP is All About
  • 12pm-From Homebrewers Dreams to Pro Brewers Reality: Roundtable with owners of Lucid Brewing, Bad Weather Brewing Company, Badger Hill Brewing Company & more!
  • 1pm- Charlie Rohwer, Eric Sannerud & Ben Boo – Growing Hops at Home
  • 2pm- Steve Piatz Mead-Making For All Levels
  • 3pm- Better Beer Society featuring Robin Shellman – Food Pairing & Cooking With Beer
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Two New Meetings

April 18, 2014

We just solidified 2 new meetings for later this year.

In July, we will be visiting Mighty Axe Hops, Hop Farm in Ham Lake. Come join us in checking out the growing side of one of our favorite brewing ingredients!

In September Day Block Brewing has invited us to swing by and see their operation. Day Block is a new Brew Pub in Minneapolis.

Stay tuned for more details on both these events.

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Midwinter Homebrew Competition – 2014 results

April 13, 2014

German Wheat & Rye (19 entries)

3rd        Chris Smith                     Wheat Is Murder 15A:                      Weizen/Weissbier

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MHBA Membership card update

April 10, 2014

I know that there was a delay in getting 2014 MHBA cards to members and I apologize.  If you signed up for MHBA membership before the week of April 7, 2014, all cards should now have been sent out.  If you do not receive your card by Saturday, April 12, 2014, please send an email to the Treasurer, Gera Exire LaTour, so she can check it out.

Big thanks to Dave Royer for doing fantastic things in making it easier to sign up for MHBA membership online.  We hope you consider signing up for the 3-year membership, if you haven’t renewed your 2014 membership yet.

The next meeting  is April 26th at Midwest Supplies at noon.

I know that the Board is looking at exciting new changes to help get information to members quicker and more efficiently in the future.  Thanks again for participating and supporting MHBA!

Gera Exire LaTour, Treasurer

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All Club Campout is coming up!

April 9, 2014

The annual Minnesota All Club Campout is coming!

Annually, one of Minnesota’s home brew clubs organizes a joint campout for all the home brew clubs in the state. This year that duty belongs to the Minnesota Home Brewers Association.

The campout will be held on August 1-3 in Cass Lake. There is more information on the Club Calendar for this event but please mark this down in your calendar and save the date!

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Club Calendar on your calendar

April 8, 2014

Want to make sure you don’t miss a club event? Add the club calendar to YOUR calendar. Use the links below to add the club calendar to your calendar and always be up to date.

Subscribe to the club calendar and stay up to date with upcoming events

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Have you signed up to brew on Big Brew Day at Lucid?

April 2, 2014

On May 3, the American Homebrewers Association Big Brew Day will be happening. Once again, we will be taking over a chunk of Lucid Brewing’s parking lot and brewing up a storm. Everyone is welcome to come out and take part in the festivities but if you want a spot to brew, you must register ahead of time to reserve a space.

Check out the calendar page for this event for more details and the location.

Also remember Lucid is having an AHA Wort Rally the same day. It’s a separate event with separate registration, if you are interested.

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