Happy New Years

It was great to see so many people after the holidatys, and see a few new faces too.  At the January meeting we covered meeting minutes from the officers meeting.

1 Southern California Homebrewers Festival

Bob Wilson is campsite coordinator and there is still space for additional attendees.  Despite the Vail Lake RV resort website saying tent camping is not allowed we have confirmed with their staff that tent camping will be allowed for the festival.

The Festival Bragging Rights Competition is stouts this year.  We will have a competition in April to see which beer should represent our club.

2 Club Bar

We are replacing the wood top for the full bar to finish all of last years upgrades.  We are still looking for tap sponsers to cover the cost of the stainless shanks and faucets we purchased for the bar.  Thanks to Jay Ankeney and Bob Wilson for sponsoring a tap already.  We will be purchasing name plates to commemorate each tap sponsor and will affix them to the bar.  The best option I have found for engraved nameplates is a website requiring a 35 dollar minimum purchase or 9 sponsors.  More on nameplates will be discussed at the February club meeting.

3 Pacific Brewers Cup

Rives Borland is the Lead Competition Coordinator for the PBC he had some announcements on the competition.  His near term goal is to fully staff the PBC organization team and finalize a date and location for the competition.  If you would like to help with the PBC please contact Rives or me.

4 SBC club tulips and other club gear

We have purchased 72 libbey Belgian 13 oz. tulips with the club logo.  These should be available at the February meeting for about 5 dollars a glass.  We also have women’s t-shirts and men’s workshirts and t-shirts at reasonable prices.  I’ll be keeping a list throughout the year, and if we don’t have the size or style you want, we can make additional purchases when we have a minimum order.

5 Meeting plan for the year

If you would like to run the commercial tasting if February, let me know.  It is an easy and fun way to earn 3 points toward homebrewer of the year.

Once meeting minutes were complete Jim Wilson provided an overview of the BJCP and we tasted 4 beers that were used in the recent BJCP taste exam.  One beer was an imperial IPA with significant amounts of diacetyl.  It was interesting to see how some club members detected significant amounts of this flaw and others did not.  If you are interested in learning more about the BJCP, becoming a BJCP beer judge contact Jim or any of the other BJCP judges in our club for advice.  there are two opportunities to take the BJCP taste exam this year.  Entering your homebrew in competitions is a good way to get feedback on your beer.

The club raffle featured some rare beers including a vertical of Bigfoot Barley wine, and 2004 Thomas Hardy’s and Fullers vintage Ales.