We held our January business meeting at Crazy Jakes on January 22nd.  Approximately 20 members were present.

We recapped our December and January socials and other events, and discussed upcoming events.  Tom Reed presented on Old Ales and provided two examples for us to try.  Brian Milleville will present in February.

Upcoming events and notifications:

Our February Social will will be a joint educational/social event on the evening of February 12th.  Former president Scott Kroon’s non-beer life involves temperature measurement and calibration, and he’s offered to do a brief lecture on temperature measurement as well as to provide us with an opportunity to calibrate any temperature devices we bring with us. Starting at 6pm (note the earlier time), we will meet at Scott’s work, Conax Technologies (2300 Walden Ave, Cheektowaga).  Bring your thermometers, temperature controllers, or anything else you’d like calibrated, and Scott will have temperature controlled baths set up at key calibration points, including fermentation, protein rest, and saccharification rest.  Please arrive on time since no one will be able to let you in once the presentation starts. 

The Amber Waves of Grain Homebrew Competition is scheduled for March 15-16 at the Buffalo Niagara Heritage Museum.  Registration will be open soon, and entries will be due on March 1st.  Dropoff locations will be Niagara Traditions, Flying Bison, and Southtown Beverage.  We are in need of someone to take on the role of head steward – please email John Crossett if you are interested or have questions on what that would entail (jpcrossett@gmail.com).  The banquet and awards ceremony will be held at the same location following judging on Saturday, and will feature a people’s choice competition for any homebrew served at the banquet.

The Art of Beer at the Niagara Arts and Cultural Center is scheduled for Friday, March 8 from 6-9pm.  We will be helping Niagara Traditions with their homebrew demonstration.  Please contact Keith Curtachio if you’re interested in helping.

Beerology at the Buffalo Museum of Science is scheduled for Saturday March 23rd from 6-10pm. We will host a homebrew demonstration at this event, and Tom Reed will organize it.  For those who attended the meeting on Tuesday, I just received word that the kitchen space (Bite Size Science) we’ve used in recent years will be available for our use.