Happy New Year, friends and folks! 2022 will be a great year for the NBA and we are starting off with a bunch of great topics. Let’s jump in and recap the recent goings-on!

The Winter Party held a couple things going on:

• Officer Elections
  • President Aaron D was re-elected for another term in that role. The club will surely continue to flourish under his leadership.
  • Director of Operations Steve M stepped down from re-election for his role. We greatly appreciate the work he has done in this position and will surely benefit from other projects and events where he will provide his expert insight.
  • Jim I was elected to the Director of Operations role. He has some ideas for the membership and event committees under the purview of this position.
• Club High Gravity Competition
  • The meeting also included the informal competition for beers ≥8% brewed in 2021. Congratulations to Matt J for winning with his Coffee Stout.
  • Honorable mentions to Jim I for his DIPA and Al S for his Bitter Stout.
  • All five entries were solid beers!

For club business, there are a few things going on:

• Merchandise
  • Stacking taster glasses are available at $4/one, $7/two, $12/four
  • Jim I is researching a site that sells branded hoodies, shirts, etc.; keep an eye out
• January, February, and March meetings this year will be held at ESNS as they are not running their tax prep course this year. Keep an eye on the Club Calendar for upcoming meeting and event locations.
• 2022 membership renewal is due in January for all members. Please submit $20 through PayPal to nba.treasury@gmail.com with your name and email or visit the Join or Renew Today page on the website.
  • Check with a member of the leadership committee for your 2022 membership card.
  • Members renewing (or joining!) by January 31 will also receive bottles from the first pull from the club solera — a straight pale sour and peach pale sour. I assure you they are wonderful bottles. Pick-up or coordination is required by the February meeting.
• There are a couple relatively minor changes to the club by-laws
  • Members joining between July 1 and October 31 receive a 50% discount ($10 instead of $20 for 2022). Members joining between November 1 and December 31 will pay the full annual membership fee good through the following calendar year. These changes are effective 01/01/2022.
  • Check out the Club By-Laws page on the website for full, official details.
• Nick M is coordinating club bike rides throughout 2022. Members can check out the thread in the Google Group email for more details. Expect 3-4 rides during the summer and one in the fall for an Oktoberfest tour. The rides will focus on enjoying the beer and biking slowly.
• HomebrewCon 2022 is scheduled for June 23-35 in Pittsburgh. If there is enough interest, there will be an NBA AirBNB to save on lodging and transportation.
• A few barrel transfers are planned for the next few months:
  • The George Dickel barrel Dark Sour will be transferred and refilled in early February.
  • One of the French Oak Lambic-style barrels will follow around February/March.
  • The Rittenhouse Rye Stout will be swapped around March/April.
  • Members should keep an eye out for emails to sign up for these barrels over the next couple months.
• Over the next couple months we have a couple great education topics planned:
  • In February we will have a guest speaker from Lallemand to talk about their yeast.
  • The March meeting lands on St. Patrick’s Day, so we should talk about Irish beer styles. We are looking for a volunteer to facilitate this meeting and for members to brew Irish dry stout, Irish red, and export stout to drink during the meeting.

All are welcome to join the club! Please follow us on this blog, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates. The Club Calendar also shows our upcoming meetings and events. The club benefits everyone from new brewers starting a first batch to seasoned veterans looking to hone their skills and get feedback on new styles and techniques. Feel free to drop by a Taproom Takeover social hour or stop by a meeting any time to check us out first.

Cheers! 🍻

This month the education topic at the club meeting will be on the NBA Solera Program. This is part of the overall NBA Barrel Program and run by the Leadership Committee. The overall goal is to create a consistent and regular source of distinct and wonderful sour beer sponsored by the club for the members to enjoy.

There is a bit of planning and maintenance in this program, so come by the meeting on Thursday, January 20 7-9pm at East Side Neighborhood Services to learn more — and have a sample of the first pull from this barrel!

Looking back, February 2020 turned out to be a poor time for a post about all the in-person events that we do. Now in Summer 2021, we are getting events back on the calendar, so that article is important again. From taproom visits to education deep-dives and social events, the club has a lot going on throughout the year.

There are two great times to meet up with us to learn more or join the club:

• First Thursday: Taproom Takeover social hour. Watch the club calendar to see where we will be. Find the table with a bunch of brewers wearing our logo and say hello!
• Third Thursday: Monthly meeting and education/experimentation topic. Back at East Side Neighborhood Services in Northeast Minneapolis starting with the July meeting, come share some homebrew if you have it — or at least bring tasting glasses to sample offerings from others.

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. 

The education topic for May’s meeting covered Traditional Farmhouse Brewing and novel Farmhouse yeasts, including Kveik.  The presentation largely covered what is written in the book “Historical Brewing Techniques: The Lost Art of Farmhouse Brewing” by Lars Marius Garshol.  We discussed the history and methods of historical farmhouse brewing, along with contemporary brewers that continue to use the same traditional equipment, ingredients and techniques to brew interesting beers.  We also dug into the unique ingredients used in these beers, including juniper, farmhouse yeast known as “Kveik”, and smoked malts.

Along with the education topic, we shared 6 different regional “styles” of farmhouse beer brewed by four members of the club.  These included a raw “Kornøl”, boiled Heimabrygg, and smoked “Stjørdalsøl” from different regions of Norway, and a Swedish Gotlandsdricke.  All four used common juniper, and were fermented with different Kveik strains and cultures.  A Lithuanian “Kaimiškas” ale and a “Minnesota Farmhouse Ale” (using red cedar in place of common juniper) were also brewed to accompany the presentation.  Tasting the beers generated a lot of discussion, but all were delicious and distinctive. The Minnesota Farmhouse Ale brewed by Brady was a real standout!

The smoked malts used in the Gotlandsdricke and Stjørdalsøl were donated by Sugar Creek Malt for our club’s education topic and example beers.  Based in Indiana, this maltster stands apart from others by producing unique smoked malts.  The malts used for these beers are smoked on a wood-fired Nordic-style Såinnhus kiln.  These malts helped create a beer with a depth of flavor that is similar to the historical beers they were intended to recreate. Skål!

All the recipes for the beers we brewed can be found on the Brewfather library @nordeast.brewers.alliance

After more than a year of the club being separated during COVID with only access through video chats and email, our friends at Rahr Malting and BSG Handcraft were able to help with a virtual brew day in April 2021. We collaborated on a couple recipes — a pale ale featuring Leopold Bros. pale malt, Chinook hops, and US-05 American yeast and a Kolsch-style with Rahr North Star Pils malt, Mt. Hood hops, and German K97 yeast — and bagged them up for club members to pick up in five-gallon kits.

Many members logged into a video chat during brew day so we could brew together… apart. It was an interesting experience with friends over in the corner during a normally solo brew day, but the company was great on one of the first nice weekends of the year.

Photo by Aaron D

With a variety of brewing kits, it was fun to travel through virtual brewery tours to see what others are doing. Some of the best knowledge I have picked up since joining the BSG club has been at group brew days and brewing with other people. It is amazing how obvious some techniques are once they are seen in-person from another brewer.

Photos by Aaron D, Tyler B, Nick M, and Jason B

The beers, of course, came out great! With these great ingredients comes great beer. Aaron D. reported that his Leopold Chinook Pale Ale was the best beer of that style he has brewed. Although most brewers with the Kolsch-style kit got higher efficiency than expected, that could mean the beer is just kicked up a notch to a Blonde Ale or Session Pale. Regardless, beer is beer.

Photos by Mike C (shaker pint, Leopole Chinook pale ale) and Jason B (tulip, Kolsch-style)