Saturday, May 6th we celebrate the American Homebrewers Association’s annual Big Brew for National Homebrew Day.  Many of us will gather and brew individually at Lift Bridge Brewing beginning at 11:00; any recipe is welcome, but please consider brewing one of the two suggested recipes found on the AHA site. Brewing will be outside, except for those who were the first twelve to sign up.

Homebrew is welcome, and Lift Bridge will have mash/sparge water available, as well as hoses for chillers.  Please remember to purchase much of Lift Bridge’s delicious wares!  At 4:00, Lift Bridge will be distributing an Oktoberfest wort to those that register and purchase ahead of time. Details are on Lift Bridge’s event page.

If you can’t make it to Lift Bridge, then please consider hosting a brewing open house on May 6th.  Let us know that you’re doing so, and we can spread the word to club members; this is a great opportunity to meet other members, see other brewers’ set-ups, share techniques, and to participate in the national simultaneous noon toast.  Please let us know your name and address, what time you are opening the doors, what people can bring, and whether they should bring a brewing set-up.

Let’s make this a day where club members are in personal contact with other members, regardless of location!

Time is running out to get your tickets to join us at the St Paul Saints Game on Thursday, May 18th. If you are interested, get the details and ticket purchase link over on the calendar event page.

Join us for the 3rd annual MHBA Iron Home Brewer Competition!

Sunday, September 10th is our 3rd annual Iron Home Brewer competition. This year we are doing it a bit different, we are unveiling the required ingredient now as to give everyone ample time to brew. The secret ingredient this year is HONEY. The event is being held outside, weather permitting, at Midwest Supplies in St Louis Park from 12 to 3pm and everyone is welcome! Midwest gives us a large parking lot space, so kids, bring your scooters and balls.
There will be two prizes for honey beers–one awarded by a panel of judges, and the other awarded by people’s choice. All homebrew is very welcome, and the club jockey box will be available. Anyone who brings at least 60 ounces of a particular beer will receive credit in the Brewers of Fame Program.

Details:

• This will be a club only contest that will utilize honey in the brewing process (beer only).
• Brewers will have from now until September 10th to brew any beer that they feel will work in harmony and exemplify the “required ingredient”.
• Brewers should bring at minimum 6 – 12 oz bottles or 1 – 64oz growler. We will have the club jockey box available for kegs as well.

There are two ways to win:

• We will have a panel of 3 qualified judges to select the Iron Home Brewer. The winner will win an MHBA Iron Home Brewer trophy and a $50 gift certificate to Midwest Supplies.
• We will also have a people’s choice award will win an exciting TBD prize!

If you have any questions about this event please e-mail Matt Weide.

Lift Bridge Brewing Company is inviting members of the Minnesota Home Brewer’s Association to enter beers in their 4th annual 2017 Home Brew contest. One lucky winner will have his/her entry selected to be brewed at Lift Bridge and entered into the GABF PRO-AM contest in Denver this October 5th through 7th!

Here are the short details:

• Entries will need to be entered into the website and delivered to Lift Bridge Brewing Company between 5/6 and 6/2.
• The entries will be judged on 6/10. Gera Exire La Tour will be the Organizer of the competition, following BJCP guidelines.
• Any beers scoring 36 or higher on the BJCP scale of 50 will receive a ribbon.
• The Brewer’s Choice may or may not be the Best of Show winner.
• The winner is encouraged to join the Head Brewer in brewing the winning recipe at Lift Bridge.
• The winner’s beer will be released commercially and entered into this year’s GABF PRO-AM competition (space allowing). Lift Bridge will provide one “all session” entry pass to GABF, though the winning Brewer will be responsible for all travel expenses if they choose to attend.

Lift Bridge hopes you are as excited about this as they are!  Spread the word to the club! Please read through the contest rules, and feel free to contact Lift Bridge directly with any questions you may have! Please, direct inquiries to [email protected]. For more information, check out the Lift Bridge GABF Contest Rules 2017

Cheers and good luck,

Kindest regards,

Lift Bridge Brewing Company

Sorry for the multiple messages this week.

Homebrew Review this Saturday

Coming up on Saturday is another awesome club Homebrew event! This is our annual Homebrew Review. Northern Brewer is letting us use their social gathering space at their warehouse in Roseville. Come join us from 12PM to 3PM and bring your best homebrew for an awesome showdown and tasting session! As usual, we’ll have prizes for the best. This is open to anyone who is interested in coming. Remember to bring a tasting glass!

One item of interest, club member Dave Matson is conducting a triangle experiment and will be looking for some help. Not sure what that is, check out this article that describes the process from Experimental Brew.

Apparel order closing soon

There is one more week left to order your official MHBA apparel. If you are considering ordering, do it now as you have until April 5th to do so. After April 5th you may have to wait quite a while before we order again. The last time we had apparel available was quite a few years ago so don’t let this opportunity pass you by. We have mens and ladies styles of Tee’s, Long-sleeve Tees, Sweatshirts and Dickies Work shirts.

Saints tickets

Our annual pilgrimage to St. Paul to grill some brats, drink some homebrew and watch our beloved St. Paul Saints is coming up in May. Get your tickets to the MHBA St. Paul Saints game now. Tickets include a brat and bun at our tailgating party before the game!

Photo courtesy of Courtney Ives

There was some changing of the guard at the recent election meeting.  First and foremost, Gera Exire LaTour has stepped aside as treasurer; the club will definitely miss Gera on the board, and wishes to send a hearty “thank you” her way for her years of excellent bookkeeping!  Stepping in as club treasurer is Jon Hunter, and joining him on the board as new members-at-large are Alex Carlson and John Vircks.  We appreciate the new board members offering their time to the club, and also want to thank Paul Illa and Dan Dugan, who both stepped aside after two-year terms as members-at-large.

If you’ve seen the wonderful new club banner, you can thank Paul Illa the next time you see him, as it was mostly through his work (and Dave and Audrey Royer’s work on the logo) that we achieved that.

John Longballa was re-elected president, Matt Weide was re-elected vice-president, and Dave Royer was re-elected secretary.  Dave Matson and Chris Smith are half-way through two-year terms as members-at-large, and with no change in the presidency, Brett Glenna remains the president emeritus on the board.