May Brew Blast

From the President

April was another busy month for the club, and it ended with a great beer dinner that almost broke our record for number of desserts. Everything was awesome, thank you so much for hosting Pat and Marty! 

The new website is up and running at bigcountryhomebrewers.com. Same address but totally new site. We are working to keep the events and photos current, and there is now an RSVP option so that we can get a head count and you can get reminder emails before the event with details including time and location.

And finally our first club competition of the year was judged. Thank you to Grain Theory for providing a space, and a big thanks to the judges without who’s time and effort this competition would be hard to do. Congratulations to the winners, Kevin first place, Peggy second place (whose beers had to go to a tie breaker), and third place Dave.

New Business

We now have two options for club t-shirts in multiple colors. For now, all orders will go through Gary. Shirts are 15 dollars for club members and 20 dollars for non-members. We  will be placing another order this week so if anyone missed the first order contact Gary as soon as possible. Our button down club shirt is 25 dollars and is only available to members right now. Thanks to Randy for setting up the framework for the t-shirts. 

Our bar repairs are moving along quite well thanks to Russell. The old bar’s refrigeration is being repaired and can be turned into a kegerator. If any member is interested contact Gary. If no one is interested we will begin looking at other options. It will come with some hardware including a three tap tower, some taps, and some options for a manifold so you won’t be starting from scratch. There will also be help putting it together, and it is already on wheels.

The fundraising raffle for the bar repairs is coming along nicely, with currently 105 dollars in gift cards donated. Ticket sales will begin as soon as we have 200 dollars committed. If anyone has a connection for a 10 to 20 dollar gift card contact Gary or get it for the raffle. This will be a big help with the bar repairs that will not be free.

Upcoming Events 

This Friday May 2nd at 1 o'clock we will meet at Gary and Peggy’s house to work on upgrading our club banner that we use at the Beer Summit to address some issues we noticed last year. Anyone that would like to help is welcome. If you need more info contact Gary.  

We will do our National Homebrew Day demonstration on Friday May 9th starting at 6:00 pm. Set up will be at 4 pm. This will be held at the Cotton Warehouse on North 2nd across from Frontier Texas.  There will be a live music, vendors, and a food truck that evening. We will also have our May club meeting that night starting after the demonstration. There is limited parking so if anyone would like to park at Gary and Peggy’s house and carpool there that will be fine just let them know. See the flyer below for more details.

Our next beer dinner will be held on Saturday May 17th, arrive at 6 starting at 6:30 This will Be at Dan and Carol’s house in Anson. Again, if attendees would like to carpool you can park at Gary and Peggy’s house and carpool from there. Please let Dan and Carol know if you will be attending.

And finally, our next beer competition is the wort challenge. This is a fund raiser for the Judy Bradley Memorial Campout in September. The cost is 10 dollars for 5 gallons of wort, that covers the entry fee (1 entry), and as of now the base wort will be a blonde ale. Water profile will be given that day. If for some reason Plateau has to change the base style the other 2 possibilities will be a wheat beer or a Kӧlsch. A total of 3.5 lbs. of additional grain will be allowed. Yeast, hops, and adjuncts are up to you. The pickup date is May 24th at 9 am at Plateau Brewing in San Angelo. The judging date is not set yet, but will be at Plateau on either July 19th, 26th, or Aug 2. This competition will also be open to the San Angelo brew club. There will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and a Brewer’s choice award. The winner of the Brewer’s Choice will get the opportunity to brew their beer on the Plateau system with Dan.

Don’t forget the 3rd competition is a Belgian Blonde

This is a busy month so we did not schedule any Hoppy Hours, but if anyone is out and about, I would encourage everyone to use the group text and invite anyone available to join you.