Recent Events
Final Friday – February
On Friday, February 26th, Ryan Pitman Head brewer/Owner of Eastlake Craft Brewery will be joining MHBA members for our Final Friday Social, complete with beer tasting, virtual brewery tour and fun! The featured beer that was just released and will be a direct brewery purchase option for members in advance of this event is “Beneath The Wolf Moon” – IPA – Imperial / Double New England ABV: 6.8% – Juicy IPA featuring a flavorful trifecta of hops. Pacific Jade for peachy citrus and black pepper notes, Amarillo with more of a zesty citrus, and the tropical Azacca Hops.
Advance Ordering with a Special Price for MHBA: Ordering of “Beneath The Wolf Moon” can be made online for direct pickup and also delivery is available for free within areas listed on their ordering site: Use Promo Code YEASTCAKE – this will work on both store for delivery and also for pickup orders.
Iron Brewer
This year’s Iron Brewer challenge is saison!
Compete with other MHBA members to have your beer professionally brewed and served at the Forgotten Star Brewing taproom.
To keep our activities as healthy as possible, there will NOT be a homebrew share and voting this year. Fortunately, to keep with tradition of a yearly throw-down, Forgotten Star Brewery’s owner and head brewer Matt Asay has agreed to choose the club’s best saison.
Forgotten Star Brewery has a massive taproom section with plenty of space for a safe, socially-distant get-together as Matt, announces his favorite saison. There is also an outdoor tent and skating rink in case President Dave Matson wants to lace up and work on his axel jumps.
Entries can be dropped off at the brewery any time during normal business hours between now and February 25th.
Limit three unique entries per entrant. One bottle per entry. Attach your name and saison strength and color per BJCP guidelines. Including the beer recipe would be helpful but not required.
Entry deadline February 25th.
Winner revealed 6:00 P.M. March 2nd at Forgotten Star Brewing Company.
Also, if you’d like to bring bottles to swap with other members, feel free. Just don’t bring them into the brewery.
Good luck!
Final Friday – January recap
On January 29, 13 club members got together online and had a lively discussion. As promised we held a raffle and club members in good standing Matt Johnson and Josh Mahoney each won a $50 gift card to Fair State Brewing Cooperative just for being there.
MHBA Honor Roll
This club is unbelievably impressive. The MHBA website has a brand new In the Media page with links to books, articles, podcast appearances, and blogs by members of the club. Are we missing stuff? Let us know and we’ll add it!
The MHBA won the best homebrew club at Domras Cup! Congratulations to the following club members who came away with swag:
- Adam Bystrom. 9th place Heavy Medal, 3rd place Melomel, 3rd place Braggot.
- Josh Mahoney. 7th place Heavy Medal, 1st place Sweet Mead, Honorable Mention Cysers and Pyments.
- Nathan Steigman. 6th place Heavy Medal, 1st place Braggot, 3rd place Experimental Mead.
- Matthew Weide. 1st place Cysers and Pyments.
Adam Bystrom, Josh Mahoney, and other MHBA members did the club PROUD at Mash-Out! Thank you to everyone who entered under the club name, and congratulations to the following members whose wares were deemed medal-worthy. Josh Mahoney took second in Best of Show Mead, Adam Bystrom won TEN(!) mead medals, and Kevin Meintsma and Anthony Davis each also won a mead medal. Paul Dienhart and Colby Reineke each won two medals for their beers! The club looks forward to trying some of these award-winning beverages at an upcoming meeting (hint, hint . . . )!
Read MoreThere have been numerous club members who have done well at the recent homebrew competitions. Thank you to all who entered Minnesota Mash-Out and Great Northern Brew Ha Ha under the banner of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association. Congratulations to the following members who are listed below! Special recognition goes to Colby Reineke, who cleaned up at Mash-Out, to Kevin Meintsma, who did well in both contests, and to Nathan Steigman for taking the Mead Best of Show(!) at Mash-Out. If you entered but didn’t win, please take heart; the MHBA board went 0-for-11 with their Mash-Out entries . . .
Hopefully we’ll get to taste some of these award-winning beverages at the annual business meeting at InBound at 2:00, Sunday, February 24th.
Minnesota Mash-Out Winners:
Nathan Steigman: Mead Best of Show–Fireweed Traditional; 1st with Kruke Lingonlunda; 1st with Wall-Less Mazer
Colby Reineke: 1st with Freshly Squeezed IPA; 1st with Shea DDH Golden Sour; 1st with Juicebox and Crayons Fruit Beer; 3rd with Scry Pale Ale; 3rd with Mixed Familia Brett Beer
Adam Bloomquist: 2nd with MECCA IPA
Paul Dienhart: 2nd with Barbera Pyment
Devin Jouwstra: 2nd with Dr. Rhu vegetable beer
Matt Weide: 3rd with Root Beer Bochet
Brew Ha Ha Winners:
Kevin Meintsma: 1st with Sweet Esspression SHV beer; 1st with Cunning Lingonberry fruit cider; 1st with Muscat Luv pyment
Dave Matson: 2nd with Medium Dry Cider
Chris Smith: 2nd with Ice Cider
Apologies to any members who won but did not declare MHBA in the Club field. This author searched only for medal winners listing MHBA as the member club.
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Happy New Year! Thanks to everyone who joined us for this past year’s holiday party at Summit Brewing! The new location was a fantastic place to share homebrew, food and listen to the Jazz Central Trio. Congratulations to Gera Exire LaTour for winning the People’s Choice Beer/Mead award for her Tart Cherry Mead, Lloyd McIvor and his delicious cider for winning the People’s Choice Cider award and Jeff Kalchik for winning the People’s Choice Food award for his amazing brisket!
Our next event is fast approaching on Friday, January 11th. Come join us for Growler/Crowler/Bowler Fest! Check out the event page for more details
NOW is a GREAT time to check to see when your membership is expiring. As always, you may extend your membership quickly, easily, and safely on the club website.
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Several club members jumped on an opportunity to share some homebrew and raise money for a great cause. Josh, the founder of Good Company Brewing and organizer of Brew For Good brought together homebrewers and craft brew enthusiasts for a fun evening to raise money for charity! Thanks to all that participated!
Thanks to everyone who braved the rain and joined us for our annual outing to Sin with the Saints!
A huge thanks goes out to Derek and the entire staff at Unamapped Brewing for letting us take over part of their patio for a Big Brew session! It was fun seeing everyone’s system and trying a bunch of homebrew!
The MHBA had out annual business meeting this past Tuesday, March 6th at Summit Brewing. On top electing officers for the next year, there was a fantastic opportunity to experience twelve different beer off-flavors through the use of an off-flavor sensory evaluation kit the club purchased. Dave Matson and John Longballa spearheaded the tasting with people providing great information about each of the samples and how they occur. Finishing up the evening, club friend, homebrewer and Summit employee Amanda Kutzke gave a great tour of the Summit facility!
Other items of note, John Longballa showed off the brand new limited edition club logo pint glasses. If you are a dues-paid club member and didn’t get one at Summit, show up at an upcoming meeting and ask a club officer.
First round judging for the National Homebrew Competition is happening at Summit Brewing in early April on the 13th and 14th. If you are interested in helping out, there is more information available on the competition website.
It may seem like a long way off but it’s time to get your tickets to our annual Sinning with the Saints outing to CHS field in St Paul! The date is set for June 11th and it’s sure to be an awesome time!
Our next club meeting is on April 10th at Allow Brewing in Coon Rapids.
The new MHBA officers for the upcoming year are:
President: Dave Matson
Vice-President: Pat McNeely
Secretary: Dave Royer
Treasurer: Jon Hunter
At-Large for 2018 and 2019
– Cory Monson
– Josh Mahoney
Returning At-Large for 2017 and 2018
– Alex Carlson
– Brett Glenna (replaced John Vircks who stepped down)
President Emeritus
– John Longballa
Thanks to everyone who joined us for this past year’s holiday party! We had a great time sharing homebrew and food! Congratulations to Cory Monson, whose Imperial Stout won the People’s Choice beverage award, and to Mike and Sue Moranz, whose garlic mashed potatoes made with beer won the People’s Choice food award. Josh Mahoney‘s Black Currant and Honey Cider won the prize for best cider made from this year’s cider purchase, so our collective club hat is off to him as well! All those wonderful folks took home some lovely prizes.
Happy New Year! Now is a GREAT time to check to see when your membership is expiring. 🙂 As always, you may extend your membership quickly, easily, and safely on the club website, mnbrewers.com
Thanks to everyone who brought our their beer showcasing honey as an ingredient for our annual Iron Home Brewer competition at Midwest Supplies! We had an amazing collection of beverages to sample and it was fun trying everything!
Congratulations to this year’s people’s choice winner, Reggie Greene, who took home a Midwest Supplies Gift Certificate. Dave Matson was our runner-up for Iron Home Brewer this year. He also took home a Midwest Supplies Gift Certificate. This year’s overall Iron Home Brewer, taking home the coveted golden airlock was Jon Hunter! Congratulations everyone!
