HHCBC December 2015 Meeting Notes

LIBME Homebrew Competition Recap

The club had a great showing at LIBME’s annual competition, with three of our members taking five gold medals. Full results here: http://beermalt.net/
Eric Sowa won first place in Ciders
Tim Schilling won first place in Strong Ales and in Sour Ales
John DiSpirito won first place in British Pale Ale and Specialty Ale; and
John won Best in Show and Second Best in Show for his beers.
The next big competition is the first round of the National Homebrew Conference Competition, which will take place in late March/early April. So start planning your brewing.
We can look at holding our own open competition if we can get a few more BJCP judges certified in the club.

Upcoming Festivals/Pouring Events

Taste of Rockville Center

We poured at this event last year. It’s a charity event, so all for good causes.
The event will be Friday, January 22 in RVC.
If you’re interested in pouring, see Ken or Eric S. Since it’s a charity event, only one brewer per beer will be granted admission.

Hops & Props

Saturday, February 27 at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City.
We are in discussions with the promoter to determine what presence we will have at the event.
If you’re interested in pouring, see Ken or Eric S.

Spring Craft Beer Festival & Cask Ale Festival

These are a little further out but want to get people thinking about them for brewing schedules.
Spring Craft Beer Festival will be at Belmont in Early April. We will have as many brewers as we can at this event.
The Cask Ale Festival at Blue Point is normally mid- to late-April. We are reaching out to see how we can participate.

National Homebrew Conference

Next year the NHC will be held in Baltimore. June 9-11.
Great event, with tons of seminars & discussions. A club night, where clubs set up and pour their best beers, and just all around a lot of fun.
We’ve formed a committee headed up by Ken, Eric S., and Danielle. We are looking for two to three more people to sit on the committee and help organize and plan the event.
Info on the conference can be found here: http://www.ahaconference.org/

Club Incorporation, Constitution & By-Laws

Club leadership met last week and approved the constitution and by-laws for the club.
The Draft Constitution and By-Laws can be found here: https://www.hhcbc.org/?page_id=425
At the January meeting, we will have a vote to ratify the constitution and accept the by-laws. So if you want to vote, please attend the January meeting.
Once the constitution and by-laws are adopted, we will file the incorporation papers for the club.
Membership dues will be $20 for the year ($35 for families).
Membership will entitle you to:
- pour at festivals and other events
- get priority signups at classes, clinics and other events
- access membership discounts we are negotiating at local restaurants, bars, breweries and merchants
- borrow club equipment (with a security deposit)
Club leadership positions will be filled for the first year as follows:
- President – Sam Schuster
- Vice President – Ken Dalton
- Secretary – Peter Tripp
- Treasurer – Danielle Malone
- Membership Coordinator – Jason Scott
- Marketing and Events Coordinator – Eric Sowa

Education Update

We are still working on the Hop Class. Sam did a trial run of how he was going to run the class, and didn’t think it was helpful enough to be worthwhile.
We may do another style class while Sam works on the hop class.
Watch Facebook and email for more info.

Next Meeting

Thanks to Barrier!

Thanks to Evan, Katie and all the great folks here at Barrier. It’s good to be back “home” and spend our holiday time here.

Handgrenades Homebrew and Craft Beer Club