Attendance: Andrew N, Nick P, Tyler B, Nathan G, Tim S and Andrew W

Nathan invited us over for first a little neighborhood entertainment, then offered us libations in the form of Leine’s Creamy Dark.  It led to good times and good conversation.  Here’s what went down.

Non-Profit Status

Becoming a non-profit is $75.  However, we would also want to become an LLC which costs $150.  There are many benefits which have been previously discussed.  These include, but are not limited to accepting donations, not paying taxes. Becoming an LLC would require us to have Limited Liability Insurance, and the club as a whole would be responsible should any issues occur.  After much discussion, the BAMF has the following recommendation for the club:

We should pursue becoming a non-profit LLC, when funding allows.  At the current time, we do not have the budget to make this happen.  Assuming this year we are active in recruiting and fundraising, non-profit status should be a tentative goal of next fiscal year.

Branding

We will not be changing our name.  The initial goal of the club was to develop a local community.  Local is a relative term.  As the club’s founders live in the Nordeast, our meetings are in the Nordeast, and we wish to exude the Nordeast way of life, our nomenclature is appropriate.

To further our reach, Nick P and Andrew W are will present the club mission at the next meeting (4/21).  A vote will be held to adopt it.  This will not stray far from what has been posted on the GGroups threads.

Summer meeting date change

Last summer attendance was abysmal.  Even the February meeting saw a sharp decline in attendance due to the unseasonable weather.  We are in Minnesota, and since it’s usually snow covered 60% of the year, we all make the most out of the good weather.

After club input, the BAMF voted to move the meetings to Thursdays 7:00-9:00 at Pracna.  The vote passed unanimously.  We apologize to those whose schedules do not allow you to come, but we encourage activity on the message boards, Facebook and in upcoming events.

The Thursday meetings will take effect for the May meeting (May 17^th).

Northeast Farmers Market

We’re in.  Initially we will be present for the four Saturdays in June.  At the next club meeting we will be looking for volunteers.  A minimum of 3 volunteers is needed for each Saturday.  The more the merrier.  This is an early morning thru early afternoon commitment.

We hope to demonstrate brewing, show people the nuts and bolts of the equipment, talk about the science, recruit members, hand out swag (stickers, temporary tattoos, etc) and generally engage with the community.

The first Farmers Market is June 2^nd.  

Homebrew Competition at the Big River Brew fest

We are moving forward with this.  The date is anticipated to be October 13^th with the judging to take place the day before.  Logistics still need to be worked out, but we have some time.   This will be a nationally BJCP sanctioned event, and posted on the AHA website.  All styles will be accepted, and we can collapse categories should there be insufficient entries.  It’s going to be a lot of work, but we should be able to make some money from the entries, and really make a name for ourselves.  Here is a general idea of what we need to do moving forward:

-Nick is reaching out to other clubs that have done this before for guidance.  If you know someone, gather information and pass it along.

-BJCP certified Judges: Start getting the word out.  They will be volunteers, receiving BJCP credit.  We are expected to provide a lunch.  This is our primary expense.  The more certified judges we have, the more credible the contest is.

-Volunteers: We will need a ton of volunteers to steward, transport, organize, and make sure we don’t run this thing into the ground.  Volunteers will be needed before, during and after the event.

-Drop off locations: Ideally Midwest and Northern Brewer, maybe Pracna as well.

-Donations: For prizes, refreshments, ets, so that we don’t have to fund everything.

-Judging location: TBD, maybe the East Side Center?

– Marketing: Let people know about it.  Put up posters, tell friends, call into the Sunday Sessions (once we get up on the AHA page), whatever you can think of.

-Push the Sour!: Since we already have a barrel going, and at least one very interested member, let’s try to get the word out that we will have a special award for best sour beer (TBD).  The sour beer folk is a small collective, but we could capitalize on this.

Barrel Project

Nearly everyone has brewed, check this out for an update.  The plan is to fill the barrel on April 28^th or 29^th of this month.  If your beer isn’t completely through primary, that’s ok.  The key is that we need to dump all the beer at once.  We don’t want acetobactar!

5 Course Dinners with Homebrew Pairing

Until we are an LLC with appropriate insurance, this is going to be put on the back burner.  There exists the possibility of doing this on a smaller scale for the club.

On that idea, we could hold an additional BBQ this summer.  The idea would be to maintain a food and beer pairing, but it would be a much more simple approach.  Some kick ass street food paired with specific beers could be pulled off easily.  We can kick this idea around more at the next meeting.

Membership info

We would like to collect some info about our club’s members.  Right now we have email and name only.  It might not hurt to know more about each other (ie skills, profession, favorite beers, set up, knowledge base).  We will discuss at the next meeting how we want to do this.

UPCOMING  MEETINGS: 

All club meeting: April 21^st 4:00pm @ Pracna

Barrel Project: April 28^th or 29^th: Fill the Barrel!

May BAMF: TBD

All club meeting: THURSDAY May 17^th 7:00-9:00pm @ Pracna

June BAMF: TBD

All club meeting: June 30^th – Summer BBQ takes the place of the meeting