“Well, look, I already told you! I deal with the goddamn brewing so the drinkers don’t have to! I have brewing skills! I am good at dealing with brewing! Can’t you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?!”
–Jason’s attempt at Office Space fanfic
So, what does the NBA get up to on a regular basis? We have a bunch of recurring events and get-togethers for social, brewing, and sampling. Come join us any time!
Monthly meetups
Taproom Takeover
On the first Thursday of each month, we get together for a social hour at one of the local taprooms to have a pint or three and chat while checking out some fresh beers. The events are scheduled to rotate throughout the metro area and check out new venues, especially breweries who support our club and our competition.
These events are open to anyone, so come meet up with the club if you are considering joining, have questions as a new brewer, or want to dive in deep with your years of experience.
Monthly Meeting
On the third Thursday of each month, we get together for the formal monthly club meeting. At a high level, the agenda is a bit of club business — meeting new members, recap of recent events, planning upcoming events, and any official announcements — followed by an education or experiment project. That could be a guest speaker to talk about a specific technique like yeast harvesting, a club member discussing the history and descriptors around a specific beer style, or a triangle test for blind feedback on a technique or experiment that is discussed as a group. There is also plenty of time for socializing, eliciting feedback on recent brews, and always plenty of homebrew being passed around to sample.
Anyone is welcome to come check out a meeting before joining to see what we are up to! Check the club calendar for time and location.
Party time!
The Saturday after the January and July parties are the twice-annual Winter and Summer parties. These are primarily social events usually hosted at a member’s home. Everyone brings a bite to eat for potluck lunch and we organize a Happy Accidents club brew. This is a sort of potluck of its own where members sign up for base malt, specialty malt, hops, or wild card and we make a beer out of it.
There is also an informal beer competition for those who choose to submit something. This is far from BJCP style and just focuses on the “best” or “favorite” beer submitted with the Winter party focusing on High Gravity ( ≥ 8% ABV) and the Summer party looking for Low Gravity (≤ 5% ABV) options.
Half of the club leadership positions are up for election at each January party as well.
Share with others…
This is where we shine up our fancy bottle openers and show up to impress! Although they are not competitions, we want to do our best to represent the homebrew community at events around town — and around the country. At events like Brew For Good and Big River Brew Fest, members provide beers, ciders, and myriad special and unique beers to serve. Each year at HomebrewCon, the club tries to make an impression on the national homebrewing scene both through bottle shares and hosting seminars.
…and brew again to share more!
What would a homebrew club be without brewing beer as well? The club-owned 30-gallon brewhouse is loaded up on a trailer for several events throughout the year and for one-off brew days hosted by members. Official AHA events like Big Brew for National Homebrew Day in May and Learn to Homebrew Day in November are run in conjunction with our homebrew supply partners.
There is also plenty of opportunity through the year to get in on club brews for a split off the 30-gallon boil kettle be it for a hop experiment, brew to fill one of the club barrels, or someone just looking to fill up a kegerator quickly.
How we make this possible
In addition to several members being BJCP certified and attending events from other clubs and judges and stewards, the Nordeast Brewers Alliance Homebrew Competition is put on each winter as a major source of income for the club (for things like barrels and maintenance, club brewhouse upgrades, and education/experiment topic supplies) including donations to the fellow non-profits that support and facilitate our club.
All of these events come together through coordination by club members to expand our beer knowledge, support the community, and have fun doing it. There are other one-off events like donated hops and grain, an annual field trip to places like Rahr’s malting facility, Might Axe Hops’ farm, and a weekend get-away to All Pints North.
We welcome everyone regardless of experience or skill to join the club and take part in whatever events are most interesting. Check out the club calendar to see where we will be and feel free to contact us if you have any questions. Updates are also available on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Cheers!
