Niagara Association of Homebrewers
Meeting Minutes: December 22, 2015

Member Announcements

1. 14 current members were present.
2. 3 new member were voted in – Eric, Mary and Harry.
3. 2016 dues ($25/individual; $30/couple) can be paid to Eric Stellrecht.

Business Meetings/Socials

1. We had about 10 members show up for our December Social at Handlebar. It’s a neat little space with a dozen beers on tap as well as a variety of bottles. They also offer smoothies and cocktails as well as a light menu of rice bowls and flatbread pizzas.
2. Holidaze will be on Saturday, January 16, 2016 at Lakeshore Fire Hall in Hamburg. More info below…’
3. There will be no January social given the proximity of Holidaze on the calendar.
4. The next business meeting will be held on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 7:00 PM at Crazy Jake’s.

Holidaze

1. When: Saturday, January 16, 2016 at 6:00 PM
2. Where: Lakeshore Fire Hall at 4591 Lake Shore Road in Hamburg.
3. Map/Directions: https://goo.gl/maps/V71dXPVJ5uD2
4. Bring your best homebrew to share (or commercial beer if you have no homebrew), and a dish to pass.
5. Current members plus one guest get in free. Additional guests are $5 each.
6. We have extended a free invitation to the Sultans of Swig, who may each bring a guest.
7. Dues may be paid at the party. Rates remain the same: $25/individual or $30/couple.
8. We will be doing a secret bottle exchange once again. Bring a great bottle of homebrew or commercial beer, which will be blindly exchanged at the party. One participant will receive an extra prize!
9. We’ve received very few responses so far. Please RSVP here so we can plan accordingly: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F054FA5A92BA7FE3-holidaze

20th Annual Amber Waves of Grain (AWOG)

After running AWOG for many years, Todd Snyder stepped down as Competition Organizer and John Crossett agreed to take over his responsibilities. A big thank you to both gentlemen for past and future work. A call for help has been sent out for a lot of things that go beyond stewarding and judging. If you can please help with anything (bottle registration, coordinating a breakfast, lunch or dinner order, photocopying paperwork, set-up, clean-up, etc.) please contact John ASAP at jpcrossett@gmail.com. If we spread responsibilities out among many members the burden will not be as great on the core group of organizers or any one individual. Because of the late start and limited availability of the Knights of Columbus, the tentative dates for Amber Waves of Grain have been pushed back to April 1-2, 2016 – soon to be finalized.

Business Topics

1. The Art of Beer will be held on Friday, March 4, 2016 at the NACC. We will be sharing a table with Niagara Tradition and assisting with the brew demo. Tim Belczak will attend and bring a keg. We could use one or two more club members to help work the table.
2. Tickets are on sale for Beerology, which is on Saturday, March 5, 2016. We will be brewing a demo in the kitchen like we’ve done in the past. Tim Belczak will bring the leftover keg from Art of Beer and we could use another 1-2 members to show up with homebrew and help with the demo.
3. Terry Felton mentioned that the 37th Annual National Homebrewers Conference is in Baltimore this year (June 9-11, 2016) and we’re starting to gauge interest in getting a caravan of members there, possibly with our club booth to exhibit.
4. A new website was developed for the club in October and will be launched as soon as we can point the domain to the new host.

BJCP Style Education

1. Marcus gave a presentation on wood-aged beers and brought Anderson Valley Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Stout. It was a great presentation and a fine example.
2. January’s Style Education will be Ciders, presented by Tom Piwtorak.
3. February’s style will be Baltic Porters, presented by Dan Karyczak.
4. If you want to present a style and perhaps brew an example of your own to go along with your presentation, contact Tim Belczak to get on the list. We’d like to fill the list up several months in advance to give members the opportunity to brew an example for the presentation if they desire.

Meeting was adjourned and we shared some delicious homebrew with one another.