2011 should be a fantastic year for beer! Tons of events going on, the opportunity to become a BJCP judge, and a new partnership with the Impaling Alers.
First and foremost, we have arranged with the Impaling Alers to have a joint membership for BEWBC members in the Impaling Alers. This means that you can attend the monthly Impaling Alers meeting on the third Friday of each month. You'll have meeting opportunities every month in addition to regular BEWBC beer meetings. In return, we'll work in some joint meetings where we will run the meeting for both clubs. It'll be a great chance to interact with a lot of other local homebrewers and get feedback on your beers.
Our first BEWBC meeting of 2011 will be a split meeting where we teach new homebrewers how to brew and have an advanced topic as well (currently to be determined). This will be a great chance to train up some new homebrewers and also tackle a more focused area of brewing. If you have some ideas for an advanced topic, contact our beer education focal (Brandon Horn).
We are also getting to work on planning our 2011 Puget Sound Pro-Am. It'll be another huge competition with well over 10 breweries picking beers to brew commercially. If you'd like to be a part of the planning and execution of this competition, contact Mark Emiley.
In the late summer, Mark Emiley will be running a BJCP exam prep class to train some new beer judges. If you'd like to learn how to judge beer, please contact Mark Emiley ASAP. Space for the exam is going quickly!
The next major competition coming up is the GEBL Hop Madness IPA Challenge. If you've got a great IPA, get it bottled up and entered into this event. Details are available at http://www.gebl.org/ and are due by Feb 1st.
Otherwise, your first chance to hang out with your fellow brewers will be at the Impaling Alers meeting on Jan 21st. Come out and bring some great beer.
Cheers,
Mark Emiley
BEWBC Beer Activities Focal