Club Posts

Well folks, the effort we put into making that Ginger Snap Cookie ale a couple months ago has paid off. We got together as a club after the Baltimore Washington Monument Holiday Lighting at co-founder Paul Capestany's excellent home this past Thursday to taste the versions of the beer, and decided upon the slightly less attenuated version fermented at co-founder Kevin Berry's house.

At last night's Free State Homebrewer's Guild Holiday Party, we took first place in the annual hedonistic homebrew competition!!!

For a very young club, in its first year as a guild member this is a big deal, and some of you helped make it possible. We'd LOVE to have more of you involved next year.

The guild represents the collective interests of all of the associated homebrew clubs all over the state of Maryland. As members of the guild our members receive a 10% discount at the two better homebrew shops in the state — Thirsty Brewer, and MDHB — and the club is eligible to take part in a number of guild events. There's an annual picnic at Patapsco State Park in the summer, the Zymurnauts Crab Feast in September, Mashout — a camping trip to Western Maryland with campsite brewing — in August, and most spectacularly, the annual holiday party held within the Clipper City Brewery.

The holiday party involves support of a variety of charities through donations and fund raising events held during the festivities — a raffle, silent auction, and the hedonistic homebrew competition. This competition involves a different style of judging from most homebrew contests. Instead of judging to style, those attending the event submit a single vote for their favorite beer served at the party. BaltiBrew's Ginger Snap Cookie won by a margin of three votes over about 25 other beers. No small feat for a club that barely boasts 10 members.

Kevin, Ryan D, Paul, and I collectively believed that our beer was a winner, and we know that our triumph makes a big splash in the eyes of the guild. Remember, this competition lets the rest of the clubs — and more importantly US — know that OUR beer was the favorite at a party full of beer afficionados.

For our efforts, we won a box of holiday themed beers hand-selected by Guild President, Les White — some from his personal collection. So here's where you come in:

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As we near the holiday season, the club's collective ability to meet and get things done is pretty much crippled. People are out of town, other parties are going on, etc.

Since the needs of our November meeting require that we collectively taste and decide which version of the beer we produced for the Guild Holiday Party to enter into competition, we will not meet officially in November. This does not mean we can't get together more informally.

Our pre-party meeting date will be December 3rd and will coincide with the annual Mount Vernon Monument Holiday Lighting.

• We will meet up prior to the lighting at  George's — the bar in the Peabody Court Hotel — for some drinks.
• The lighting starts at 7:20 p.m. on Mount Vernon Square.
• Following the lighting, we will retire to Paul's house to taste our versions of the Ginger Snap Ale and decide which one to enter.
  • Bring some Winter/Holiday beers to taste, and we'll decide which we collectively like the best using Paul's system.
  • Bring some holiday themed goodies

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Vote by Nov. 30. Leave a comment to let us know what you'd bring or what kind of takeout you'd like.

Agenda items:

• Which beer to enter
• When to meet after the holidays
• What to brew after the holidays
• Recruitment events

Let me know if you have any others you'd like to add, or if you can think of anyone else we should add to this list.

I look forward to seeing you on the 3rd. It's always a great time.

Hey folks,

Details on the 2009 Free State Homebrewers' Guild  Holiday Party are below.

Get on this now, as tickets tend to go quick.

Holiday party is always great, and this year's will be a great opportunity for our club to make a big splash, hopefully with a win in the annual Hedonistic Homebrew Competition with our Ginger Snap Ale entry. The Indian/Middle Eastern theme should be pretty impressive. The party is a chance for our club to mingle with the other clubs in the state, so please consider checking it out.

Ticket costs help pay for the food, and other incidentals.

Hope to see you there. The following is reprint of an email by Les White, the guild president:

Hi Fellow Homebrewers and Friends,

We're just over a month away from the Guild Holiday Party. The date is Saturday, December 5th. Once again, Hugh Sisson and crew have opened up Clipper City Brewing to host our party. We thank them and all homebrew shops, breweries, pubs, restaurants and private donors who graciously give to this, our largest charity fundraising event of the year.

Details, details, details....

• Date: Dec. 5th, 2009
• Time: 6-10pm
• Place: Clipper City Brewing
• Menu: Indian/Middle Eastern
• Tickets: $25 in advance

This event is limited and will sell out. Tickets are Only available ONLINE at:

http://www.MDHomebrewers.org/holiday

We're still working out some details on this year's charities so check on the above page closer to the party for more information.

BaltiBrew has been invited by its sister/brother club Wootown to attend its annual mead brew event at the home of Wootown members Lloyd and Ruth Ann Snyder in Whitehall, MD. The date is Nov. 8th, and it usually starts halfway early around 9 or 10 am. I'll post further details as to exact times in the comments section.

If you're unfamiliar, mead is fermented honey — watch a viking movie, or read Beowulf or something, sheesh. The Snyders run an apiary — they're beekeepers, so they have plenty of honey available. Between Lloyd and the other members of Wootown — myself included — there should be plenty of knowledge about beer, mead, and brewing in general to go around. Some folks bring equipment to brew as well as make mead — me included — so it's not a honey-only affair. Lloyd and Ruth Ann's property is gorgeous, and — assuming the weather cooperates — it's a great fall outing.

These events follow potluck rules, so bring something to share. The BaltiBrew contingent is likely to be the only vegetarian/vegan populated group, so make sure you bring something of that type if you've got such restrictions.

If you want to take home a carboy of mead, you'll need to bring some money. I'll also post further details as to exact amounts in the comments as I find out, but it's usually around $30.

Hope to see many of you there.

Mark your calendars for Sunday October 25th for BaltiBrew's Inaugural Brew.  We are still trying to decide on the type of beer we will be working on so please feel free to add your input in the comments if you have any strong leanings.

Keep your eyes here for more details as they are finalized.  Hope you can make it.