Thank You to Paul and Ghost Brewing Company for hosting our November Club Meeting! Spaced out seating and permitting a safe and clean environment to host our annual board elections, announcements and Iron Brewer Team Challenge made for a very comfortable and easy evening.

Brewmaster, Paul Komsic, thanked the club for attending, was appreciative of the positive feedback for the tasty and unique beers he had on tap and talked about his upcoming beer release and barrel program. 

Thank You to all who attended and participated, especially to the new members and . . . 

• Kevin McKenna for hauling the club gear
• ‘The Chairman,’ Ken Dalton, for moderating the Iron Brewer Challenge
• Martin Scott for collecting raffle tickets
• Mike Murphy, Peter Muscat, Jason Scott and all those who donated to the club raffle
• All those who brought donations for the ‘Turkey’s Against Cancer’ event, coordinated by Greg Wright and collected by Kevin McKenna
• All those who brought bottles for the Holiday Calendar Share
• And to the Iron Brewer Teams . . . 

IRON BREWER TEAM CHALLENGE | The Chairman mailed mystery ingredients to the homes of random club members in a challenge to brew a beer of any style using all of the mystery items. The emerging teams ended up creating the following beverages which were sampled during this meeting. . . (The Chairman showed no mercy)

• Wheat Beer with Cranberries, Oats and Bay Leaves
• Witbier with Raspberries, Lemon and Candied Bacon Jerky
• Cream Ale with Mint Leaves, Powdered Blueberries and Corn Muffin Mix
• Rye Porter with Black Peppercorns, Powdered Rosemary and Hostess Apple Pies

Congratulations to Team McKenna|Tovar|Smith for earning the title as the NEW Iron Brewer Team Champions! Finally unseating the reign of Team Dalton|Murphy|Elmore. Homebrewers Kevin McKenna, Gabe Tovar and John Smith took on the mystery ingredient challenge and created a tasty and balanced wheat beer with cranberry, oats and bay leaves. All four teams were within five votes of each other, from first to last, so the competition was very close! Well done everyone!

2021 BOARD ELECTIONS |

No new nominations were received for the 2021 HHCBC Board, so the following will start their new terms in December:

President | Bernard R.

Vice President | Ken Dalton

Treasurer | Danielle Malone

Secretary | Peter Tripp

Events & Marketing | Kevin McKenna

Membership | Claudia Chavez

Education | Mike Murphy

 

Riverhead Trip Recap

• Visited Moustache, Long Ireland & Crooked Ladder Breweries.
• 28 people from the club.
• Thanks to Pete Tripp for organizing; thanks to Kevin @ Tapped Enterprises for the busses; thanks to the Lori & Matt @ Moustache for opening early and the tour. Thanks to everyone that brought beer, snacks, cups, etc.

New Travel & Activity Coordinator

• Danielle Malone has volunteered to be the new Travel and Activity Coordinator for the club.
• We’ve got a bunch of ideas and plans in the works. We wanted to see how the Riverhead trip went before scheduling the next one.  We will be making an announcement soon.

Homebrew bottle share @ H&H

• Thursday, December 11 @ 7:30
• Come down, bring some homebrew. Come down, even if you don’t have any homebrew.

LIBME Competition Recap

• Held this past Sunday @ Great South Bay Brewery.
• If you entered, you should see your scoresheets with feedback in the next two weeks.
• Our club had three members receive accolades: Chris Russell received a third place ribbon in his category for his Winter Spiced Beer; Ken Dalton won two awards: second place for his Mandarina Rye Ale and third place for his Gose, both in the Specialty Beer category; and Sam Schuster won third place for his Brown Porter in the Porter Category.

 Decoction Mash Recap

• On Sunday, November 2, Matt Ferguson did a decoction mash demonstration.
• Very good presentation; big thanks to Matt for breaking up his brewday and coming down to Pete’s shop to do the demonstration.
• If people have other ideas of things they’d like to see or would be interested in presenting, please contact Sam.

 Style Class

• Our next style class will be this Sunday, November 23, and we will be doing English Pale Ales and Scottish and Irish Ales.
• There is one spot left for the class. If you’re interested, see Sam after the announcements.
• The next class will be in mid-January and will likely be IPAs (English IPA, American IPA, and Imperial IPA).

Chopped Brew-Off

• Ken Dalton announced the groups, teams, beer styles and “chopped” ingredients for the Chopped brew off. Teams will create their own recipes, brewing to style.  The “chopped” ingredients must be noticeable in the finished beer.  Group 1 Teams are brewing an Amber Ale with Pears and Pecans; Group 2 Teams are brewing a Pale Ale with Cranberries and Peppers.
• Teams will bring their finished beers to the January meeting for club-wide voting and general consumption.

 Club Library

• The Club Library is housed at H&H. Lending period is two weeks.
• Currently have seven books available. Check the here for what books the library has and if they are checked out.
• If you have any books you’d like to donate, contact Pete Tripp.

Jockey Box

• Thanks to John Trowbridge and Peter Tripp, we’re well on our way to having a jockey box so we can pour kegged beer at club events and beer festivals. Thanks to John for donating the box!

 Facebook Page Use

• We are urging everyone to use the Facebook page as a social bulletin board.
• If you’re going out to Barrier, Effin Gruven, or anywhere else for a pint and would like some company, let people know where and when you’ll be there.

 Feedback Table

• After the meeting is over, we will have a feedback table staffed with BJCP judges and judges-in-training.

Next Meeting

• The next meeting will be at Barrier on Tuesday, December 16.
• This will be our Holiday Party. We’re asking people to bring a dish of something to share with everyone.  The club will supply ancillary items like plates, plasticware, etc.

 Taste of Rockville Centre (St. Patrick’s Day Parade Fundraiser)

• Erik Albrecht will be coordinating the club’s appearance at the Taste of RVC in late January. We will have between four and six beers being poured at the event.  More info to follow.

 Club Raffle

• Thanks to Meghan Taylor for donating stout t-shirt and artisanal beer mustard; thanks to Peter Tripp for donating a Blue Point hat; and big thanks to Joe @ Effin’ Gruven for donating an Effin’ Gruven t-shirt and a 22 oz. bottle of Goose Island 2010 Rare Bourbon County Brand Stout!

 Joe Dantona – Effin’ Gruven

• Thanks again to Joe Dantona and the team at Effin Gruven for hosting the club.
• Joe spent a few minutes talking about the history of the bar and his background in craft beer.