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This past Saturday, we had over 50 people attend MHBA’s April club meeting and 6th Annual Home Brew Fest at the Northern Brewer Warehouse. We had 30 different types of home brewed beers, including 5 different single hop IPAs that the guys from Nordeast Brewers Alliance brought to share with us. There were 14 different meads and ciders.
Prizes for People’s Choice included $25 gift cards generously donated by Northern Brewer and two seats on an upcoming Pedal Pub mixer generously donated by Al Boyce. Brett Glenna was the winner of People’s Choice Beer with his German Alt with Chris Smith the runner up by only a few votes with his German Wheat. Al Boyce brought in 6 different meads including black current, orange blossom, wasabi, sorrel & ginger, chocolate strawberry, and black raspberry. His selections tied for People’s Choice Mead/Cider with Gera Exire LaTour’s tart cherry mead. (Al won the drawing, but since it took six of his meads to beat Gera’s one, he gave her the prizes.)
A huge thanks to all those who attended, and especially to Chris Smith for setting up the meeting, and to Northern Brewer for allowing us to use your space.
April 2015 Homebrew Fest – Photo by Brett Glenna
April 2015 Homebrew Fest – Photo by Brett Glenna
April 2015 Homebrew Fest – Photo by Brett Glenna
April 2015 Homebrew Fest – Photo by Brett Glenna
April 2015 Homebrew Fest – Photo by Brett Glenna
April 2015 Homebrew Fest – Photo by Chris Smith
April 2015 Homebrew Fest – Photo by Chris Smith
April 2015 Homebrew Fest – Photo by Chris Smith
Club member Tim Burman passed on the following information from the Wisconsin Apple Growers Association. This comes from Herdie Baisden and Carol Wiersma, husband and wife owners of Maiden Rock Winery & Cidery in Stockholm, WI.
Cider Apple Field Day
Thursday, April 23, 2015 9:00am-5:00pm, Rain or Shine
Check-in and Registration starting at 8:30am
Maiden Rock Winery & Cidery
W12266 King Lane
Stockholm, Wisconsin 54769
Presentations
- Herdie Baisden, Maiden Rock Winery & Cidery
- Stephen M. Wood, Orchardist & Cider Maker, Poverty Lane Orchards & Farnum Hill Ciders
- Special Lunch – Cooked With Cider – The Hard Way
- Deirdre Birmingham, The Cider Farm
- Heidi Doering, UW Extension Horticulture Agent, – Field Work – Out In the Orchard
- Dennis Courtier, Pepin Heights Orchards, Inc. – Juice Plant Tour, Lake City, MN
Cost and other details
- $25/person (Non-members)
- $20/person (WAGA Member Orchards)
- Lunch and Refreshments Included
- $10.00 Late Fee for registration after April 16th
Mail registration with payment to Wisconsin Apple Growers Association (WAGA) using the registration form on the brochure. Additional information and directions are contained in the brochure.
Please feel free to pass this invitation on to those interested in growing cider apples, especially at a commercial scale.
WAGA Cider Apple Field Day 2015 Brochure
Read MoreCongratulations to MHBA member and Chop & Brew founder Chip Walton for being elected to the American Homebrewers Association Governing Committee.
From the AHA Website:
The members of the Governing Committee are elected by the members of the AHA and charged with shaping the policy and activities on their behalf. The Governing Committee also appoints two members as designates to the Brewers Association Board of Directors.
Next time you have some questions about the AHA or suggestions on things to change, talk to Chip!
Read MoreOne final reminder that this Saturday is the Minnesota Home Brewers Association’s annual Homebrew Fest! Come join us at the Northern Brewer warehouse in Roseville for a fantastic event. Bring your friends and family too…especially anyone interested in homebrewing or beer in general!
For more information, please check out all the details on the Homebrew Festival event page.
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There are a number of upcoming activities you should keep on your calendar. If you need more information, follow the links or just ask?
MHBA April 4th Homebrew Fest
This is our 6th Annual Home Brew Fest on April 4th from noon – 3 pm at the Northern Brewer Warehouse at 2221 Highway 36 West in Roseville, MN.
This has been a very popular event and last year we had over 70 different home brews to try. It is a great opportunity to share your beer, mead, or cider with your fellow members. There will be $25 Northern Brewer gift card for People’s Choice Beer and another for People’s Choice Mead/Cider. You can bring bottles, growlers, or kegs—any amount, but try to bring enough so you can share.
To help this event run smoothly, I assign each entry a number and print out labels with the styles beforehand. Therefore, please contact Gera Exire La Tour before the meeting to let me know what home brew you plan to bring, so I don’t have to do too much writing at the event. Also, let me know if you’re going to want a spot on one of the jockey boxes.
This is also a great event to bring a friend who is contemplating getting involved in either homebrewing or joining the MHBA. Hope to see you there!
First Round Judging for the National Homebrew Competition
The National Homebrew Competition is fast approaching! Deadline for signup for judging and stewarding is Saturday, April 4.
Judging will be the the 10th and 11th of April, at the VFW Hall in Roseville, MN.
If you entered beers, you can signup through the same portal, or else go to the link below. You do NOT have to be an AHA member to judge, though BJCP judges will have preference for assignments.
Want to brew with the pros? Lucid BFD
Interested in brewing like a professional? Enter the Lucid Brewing’s 2015 BFD homebrew competition for your chance to win a brew day on Lucid’s system and have your beer entered in the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am Competition. Winner also get’s full access to the GABF festivities! Entry and event details can be found on the Lucid BFD Competition Site.
We’ll be celebrating the winner on May 2nd at the Big Brew & BFD Awards ceremony at the brewery. Join us for a day of homebrewing!
Sinning with the Saints
Tickets have been for sale for a while now and some tickets are still available. Join the MHBA for our annual Saint Paul Saints Game at their new home in Lowertown Saint Paul! Tickets are available on the event page and run $18 each. General admission ticket sales have started and it’s not likely that we will be able to get any additional tickets at the last minute. If you are thinking you want to come but haven’t purchased tickets yet…buy them now!
This past Saturday the MHBA hosted it’s annual Chili Cookoff! We had an amazing collection of great chili present and amazingly, we have a new keeper of ‘Chief Chili Pepper’.
This year we gathered at Northeast Neighborhood Services in Minneapolis. They have a beautiful location and great staff that helped as needed.
We ended up with a great variety of chili to sample with tasty options in each of our 3 categories. In the end we had to award 2 honorable mentions as well as our main winners.
Without further delay, this year’s winners were…
Honorable Mention: Tim Burrman
Honorable Mention: Michael Gray
Best Chili Without Beans: Dan Dugan
Best Chili With Beans: Jon Nyberg
Best Other Chili: Gera Exire La Tour
People’s Choice, Best Chili Overall: Jon Nyberg
It’s time for one of our most popular events of the year! This Saturday the Minnesota Home Brewers Association will host out annual chili cookoff. Once again, the winner will get to walk away not only with bragging rights but with the coveted “Chief Chili Pepper” award!
- When: Saturday, March 21, 2015 AT 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
- Where: East Side Neighborhood Services, 1700 2nd Street NE, Minneapolis, MN, 55413
Please note the location change from previous years!. We will not be at the CSPS hall as we have in the past.
There will be the much coveted Chief Chili Pepper award, voted by popular opinion. The categories of chili will be:
- Red Chili – meat, but NO beans
- Chili with Beans
- Open – green, vegetarian, white, whatever
Homebrew, mead and cider are welcome and especially those that go well with chili.
You should bring: Bring your chili ready-to-eat, in crockpots, along with extension cords, power strips, and serving utensils. A sample glass to sample your fellow members beverages.
The Club will provide: Bowls, spoons, and napkins will be provided. We will also have the club jockey box at this event.
Inviting both family and friends is highly encouraged! Particularly if you have someone in mind that is interested in homebrewing.
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A huge thank-you goes out to Kevin and all the staff at Boom Island for letting us crash their taproom and being fantastic hosts. Thank-you as well to everyone who came out and joined us. It was lots of fun meeting new people as well as seeing lots of familiar faces!
A quick reminder to everyone that even though our Social Event at Boom Island has passed, you can still get a great discount at the taproom when you show your MHBA membership card. You will get happy-hour pricing all the time!
Thanks to Gera and Rock Bottom, the club once again enjoyed the lovely and spacious confines of Rock Bottom’s group room in downtown Minneapolis this past Saturday. As recompense for the brewery’s hospitality, the club purchased six pitchers of varying beer styles for the enjoyment of the twenty (or so) attendees. It WAS the election meeting, so no one dared step away to the restroom for long, for fear of returning to find that he or she was now in an elected position!
It was great to see some new faces, and one of those new faces will be seen on the MHBA Board for the next two years. Dan Dugan, fresh off the bus from D.C., accepted a nomination for (and won) an at-large seat. The other at-large seat was filled by Paul Illa, who (besides assisting with the printing of the calendar cards each member will be receiving) also will be serving for two years.
The club very much appreciates Al Boyce, who had been in an at-large seat the past two years.
The other at-large seat up for election had been filled by Gera Exire LaTour, who also had been the club treasurer this past year. On Saturday she was elected to remain treasurer for another year, but vacated the at-large seat she had held so that there could be more people involved on the board. President Brett Glenna, vice-president John Longballa, and secretary Dave Royer were all re-elected to their one-year positions. Chris Smith and Matt Weide are in two-year at-large seats that will be open next February. Michael Cote is a board member as President Emeritus.
Mike Behrendt and Mike Moranz raised the question of whether the club’s cash assets are too high, and asked the board to draft a budget for the coming year, and the board will do so. One reason mentioned for having a large amount of money is that the cost of meeting space might be rising dramatically in 2015, as the CSPS Hall is no longer able to give us the fantastic rate that they have held for us for decades. They are still giving us a break versus their regular rate, but just not as much of a break.
Here is the list of brewers who brought their wares to be sampled by all. They’ll be entering (or climbing) the ranks of the club’s Brewers of Fame program.
John Vircks–Ivan and Arthur: Baltic Porter
Brett Glenna and Paul Illa: English Mild
Gera Exire LaTour: Mead with blackberries and tart cherries
Brett Glenna: Scottish 70/-
Jon Hunter: Vienna
Paul Illa: Gose
Thanks again to Rock Bottom for once again granting us some free space!
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One more reminder about the social event next week on Wednesday, March 11th. Stop out for a $3 pint and say hi to your fellow home brewers! Check out the calendar event page for all the details!