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The PSB Newsletter Club Meeting at Zorbas on Monday, January 12th. Be there at 6PM. Meeting Agenda: New Year’s Resolution From the President: HAPPY NEW YEAR! I would like to express my gratitude to the past Club Officers, Tina Cole, Chris Cole, Pete Goodwin, Dan Adams and Joseph Ackerman, for their tireless efforts and fun attitudes while serving and guiding our club. THANK YOU! Officer elections were held at the December meeting. The Officers for 2009 are: These new Officers are eager to serve our club and we all look forward to a super new year. It looks like 2009 is going to start off with a BANG! The World Beer Festival to be held at the Columbia Convention Center on January 24th promises to be the “Beer Event of the Year!” Come join the fun and help make this event a success by either volunteering to help or by paying to sample exquisite beers. Either way, this is going to be FUN! Tell your friends. Although the final numbers have not been posted, it looks like the 2008 Carolina Brew Club of the Year has been won by the Battleground Brewers Guild (BBG) from Greensboro. This club made a spectacular push and it would appear, has won “hands down”. Congratulations BBG for your solid brewing! Now, as President, I challenge all in Palmetto State Brewers to come up with a plan to WIN BACK THE FIRKIN! This is YOUR club. Pay your dues, sign up to host a brew session, join in on the fun, make new friends, and BREW ON! I’ll see you at Zorbas on Monday the 12th, 6:00 dinner, 7:00 meeting. Be sure to bring homebrew to share and to show off. Competition Corner:
Speaking of Competitions As the new VP of Competitions I would like to address our recent loss of THE FIRKIN and our goal to get it back. Our previous wins of THE FIRKIN were largely fueled by the efforts of a few very prolific brewers. It seems to me that this may not be the best model for long term success. I would like to see more PSB members entering their homebrew into the competitions of the CBOY circuit. This needs to be more of a team effort where we can draw strength from our diversity and our numbers. I would like to start a discussion at the January meeting to discover the reasons why many of our brewers are not entering and to find ways around these impediments. Some of the reasons and ideas for improvement that I have discussed my fellow officers are described below: Problem #1-I only keg my beers and have no way to bottle. Problem #2-Too expensive to enter. Problem #3-I am too inexperienced to enter. Problem #4-I don't know what category to enter Problem #5-I don't want to give away my beer to the judges We'll try to identify other problems and solutions at the meeting. I'll also have an announcement concerning the AHA Club-Only Competition schedule. So, we have one more year of Education and Recruitment. This year the torch was passed from the great Chris Cole to me and hopefully we’ll be able to have any even better year this time around (no offense Chris). January’s meeting we will mostly be taking suggestions for possible topics that anyone in the club is interested in. If you have an idea be sure to bring it with you and speak up. Coming up on February 28th there will be a BJCP exam taking place in Raleigh, NC. Currently, we have Brad, Dan and I planning to take the exam. Dan and I are setting up study sessions so if anyone else wants to take the exam, our study sessions will be a lot of help, and some fun. If you are interested in taking the BJCP exam let me know and I will tell you how to get in touch with Mike Dixon, who is hosting the exam. Also, during our February meeting we will be experimenting with beer blending. So, let me know if anyone has any beers that are good beers but are either too acidic, too heavy, too sweet, too bitter (maybe it can happen, right Joe), or not bitter enough. If it’s a beer you think that will blend well with other beers, a barleywine perhaps, then also feel free to bring it along. If you’re willing to give up a few of your homebrews for a greater good, please let me know as soon as you can so that I can arrange a pick up before the February meeting. Report from the VP of Social Events: Ok folks, I know I sound like busted turntable here, but if you are in Columbia on January 24th, you absolutely should be at the World Beer Festival! Either help out on the PSB-led Brew Crew or be a drinking participant! If this event is a success we can look forward to it happening again next year. Come support craft beer in your hometown. This month's brewsession location is to be determined. Come to the meeting and find out, or volunteer your place. We're going to have one per month for 2009, and whether you're an experienced brewer looking for fun or a newcomer looking for help, there is something for everyone. February 7th is the annual Foothills Sexual Chocolate Release party! Held at the brewery in Winston-Salem, this is your chance to buy the highly acclaimed Russian Imperial Stout aged on cocoa nibs. Details at the meeting and soon to come on the forum. We'll be taking some cars up Friday night the 6th and booking a hotel nearby, so mark your calendar! Upcoming events for 2009 include a return trip to Aiken Brewing, a road trip to Charleston and Coast, a beer dinner, lots of tastings, and our monthly homebrew session! If you have ideas or thoughts, shoot them to me and we'll see what we can do. It's going to be a great year. Drink well, brew often! Secretary/Treasurer's Report: Secretary/treasurer's report will be available at the meeting, as Tina and Phil have to do the official "passing of the torch" ceremony yet. If you are a member and still have not received your taster glass...then you need to show up at a meeting:-) © 2008 Palmetto State Brewers, Inc. |
