Upcoming Events and Discounts

Fellow Homebrewers
 
This year on September 17 The Bidal Society of Kenosha 
http://hbd.org/kbs/ and The Belle City Homebrewers and 
Vintners www.bellecitybeerclub.org will be holding a 
homebrew competition named Schooner 
http://hbd.org/kbs/schooner/.  This competition will 
be held in conjunction with the Great Lakes Brew Fest
www.greatlakesbrewfest.com.  
 
Last year on the shores of Lake Michigan in the  
Racine, Wi Festival Park, 1400 beer lovers gathered 
outside in the inaugral brew fest.  Over 30 breweries 
were represented.  This year Great Lakes Brew Fest is 
growing, adding more brewers, a VIP ticket and a 
homebrew competiton.  We are hoping to make 
Schooner a premier Midwest homebrew competition,
adding to this excellent Beer Festival!!!!
 
Please take time to check out and bookmark our web 
sites and mark your calenders.  I hope you be able 
to join us
 
Cheers
Terry Mayne , Schooner

From:	Owen S
Subject:	Nov 6 Event
Date:	Wed, 20 Oct 2004 11:13:13 -0500

This was sent to the club by John Longballa of Mn Homebrewers 
Association. I think it's pretty self-explanatory, so read and partake 
if possible.
Owen

Fellow Brewing Missionaries--

  As you may know, Saturday, November 6 marks the day known as the 
American Homebrewers Association's National Teach A Friend To Homebrew 
Day. The MN Homebrewers club will celebrate the occasion with an 
informative brewing party. The extract brewing demonstrations begin 
each hour, on the hour, from the time the first hops are dropped in at 
10:00 A.M. until the final stove shuts off after the 2:00 batch. The 
place is the patio at Barley John's Brewpub, located at Old Highway 8 @ 
County Road D; New Brighton, MN 55112. The phone number is 
651.636.4670. Take the County Road D exit west off of 35W North, and go 
about two blocks. Tents will be erected in case of inclement weather.

I am gently requesting a few things here--

  1) Please join us for the celebration!

  2) Please bring a friend, co-worker, family member--anyone who has 
always seemed more than casually interested in your rather unique 
hobby.

  3) Please consider being an instructional brewer at the event! (info 
below)

  4) Please consider being a Mashing Mentor! (info below)

On Saturday, November 6, we will have an open-house style party, during 
which many different versions of the same recipe will be 
brewed--something of a brewing experiment. We will start a batch each 
hour, on the hour (10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 1:00, and 2:00), so that 
whenever interested parties arrive, they will never be far from the 
start of a new demo. The recipes will all be the same (a Northern 
English Brown Ale--BJCP category 11C)  except for the yeast. Each 
instructional brewer will utilize a different yeast strain. At the 
Christmas party, we can line up the beers and taste for differences!  
Please volunteer to brew and to explain the process to a small group of 
interested people. 

Besides door prizes, catalogues, and coupons (for the newbies!), I 
think that it would be great at this event for interested neophytes who 
do not know someone in the club to connect with an established brewer 
in a sort of mentoring program. This can be very casual, and can be 
as simple as giving the newbie your name and number, so that she/he can 
call with those questions that inevitably arise while making those 
first few batches. A coworker of mine just brewed his first batch, and 
he called me numerous times while brewing it. I was glad to help, and 
he was relieved to know that there was a willing mentor who loved 
talking him through that first batch.

  I think that people who are watching the demos will be more inclined 
to brew on their own later if they have a name and a face to associate 
with the hobby, and especially if they know that there is a kind and 
knowledgeable person they can call when the wort boils over, or when 
the yeast won't kick in, or when they're trying to remember if it's 
three-quarters CUP of priming sugar or three-quarters POUND.

  SO--

  what we need, besides your attendance, is this--

  JOIN us Saturday, November 6 at Barley John's

  BRING a potential brewer

  TELL me that you'll bring your very basic setup and brew an extract 
batch (with steeped specialty grains) while talking people through the 
steps. I'll try to get the ingredients donated, but please consider 
that you might need to pay for the batch that you brew (but you get to 
KEEP it!).

  TELL me that you're willing to meet, greet, and exchange digits with 
one of the potential brewers, so that he/she might call you with 
brewing questions when he/she starts brewing

Please get back to me, John Longballa, at 651.292.9693, or at 
jlongb@ties2.net


Help us inspire a new generation of brewers, so that handcrafted beer 
never goes out of style again.

Thank you for your participation!

John

The Fall 2004 BJCP Class will be starting Sept 2 - if there is enough
interest.  Kris England reports that so far there are only 2 definite
brewers signed up.  WRITE KRIS TODAY to reserve your spot if you're
interested in attending.  NOTE: THIS IS NOT RESTRICTED TO MHBA OR SPHC
BREWERS - anyone can attend!  We especially look forward to meeting some
brewers from the Rum River Wort Hogs, the CloudyTown Brewers, the Boreal
Brewers, and the Prairie Home Brewing Companions!

The Beer Judge Certification class is not only a good way to learn about
beer judging, it's a great way to become a better brewer too.  It's also a
fun way to get to know other brewers in the club.  PLUS, the BJCP has just
released their 2004 edition of the Beer Style Guidelines, including 18 NEW
STYLES.  So even if you've taken the class before, it would be good to take
it again to learn about these new styles, and the changes that have been
made to the old ones.

The class will last 13 weeks, and is FREE! except for the cost of the exam
- $50 for first-time exam takers, $30 for a full retake, and $15 for a
partial retake.  This is surely one of the best deals on the planet right
now!

Kris' email is: engla008@umn.edu.  Write him TODAY to reserve your spot in
the class!

Here is Kris' details about the class:

- Al

Where:  Minneapolis, 214 W 15th St (right next to Loring Park) When: Thurs
6pm -

Details:
The course will start Thursday Sept 2nd and the test will be Dec 12th.
There is no fee for the course but you will need to pay up front for your
test costs.  Its $50 for first time test takers and $15 for the written or
tasting portion separately.  The course will be divided into 13 weeks
coinciding with all of the club only competitions.  This class, as with the
last one I ran, is promised to be filled with fun and a little debauchery.
You will learn a ton of new stuff, in addition to a plethora of new
colorful new words and phrases.  However, we are serious when we are
teaching and you will all be well prepared for the exam in December.  This
class will focus much more on actual judging than the previous ones have so
novices and masters alike will be able to hone their skills. 

NOTE:

My place is much smaller than places we have had in the past.  The space is
limited so its on a first come, rather email basis.  Let me know if you are
interested or have any more questions.

Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 15:33:58 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Invitation to Judge at the 2004 WI State Fair Homebrew Competition
From: belskyc@msoe.edu

Hello to All MN Homebrew Clubs and BJCP Judges,

This letter is an invitation to your homebrew club and all qualified
homebrew club members to judge at this year's WI State Fair Homebrew
Competition - a BJCP certified event.  This event will be held Saturday,
May 22nd, 2004 at the East Exhibit Hall (near the Cream Puff area) of the
WI State Fair Park Grounds, West Allis, WI (just west of Milwaukee, WI). 
Please pass this invitation on to your club members.

I would also like to invite everyone to enter his or her homebrewed beers
in this competition!  As you'll see below, we've been making improvements
on standardizing this competition with the BJCP.

This year is the second year that the WI State Fair Homebrew Competition
has adopted the standard BJCP categories for entries & judging.  This was
just one of the many moves being made to make this event one of the great
homebrew competitions of the area.  Last year's event had approximately
180 entries, and this year we're anticipating an increase in entries given
the improvements to standardize this competition.  The competition's rules
& regulations can be found at www.beerbarons.org for your reference.  Feel
free to take a look at them and get a feel for how this competition is
coming along.

This is a qualified BJCP event, and I'd like to ensure all the judges &
stewards that they shall receive their earned BJCP points for volunteering
at this event.

The event starts at 9am, and includes a potluck lunch that we hold with
the Wisconsin Vintners Association, who is also holding their vintner's
competition at the same location.  Parking passes are available by
request, and directions to the WI State Fair grounds are at
http://wistatefair.com/home/sf2/gethere/gethere.html.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at (mobil/home
414-807-5230) or at belskyc@msoe.edu.  Also, if you know anyone else that
would be interested in judging or stewarding, by all means pass this
information on to him or her.  I hope to see you there at the Competition.

Cheers,
~Chris Belsky
WI State Fair Homebrew Competition Organizer