Committee Reports Archives - Canberra Brewers

December meeting reminder

DON’T FORGET – Thursday’s meeting is at BentSpoke’s new facility: 61 Lysaght St. Parking is available on Baillieu Circuit from 7.30pm, official proceedings from 8pm.

As we announced in September, Richard is interested in hosting the club at BentSpoke’s new facility at Mitchell, so we’re going to head out there for a trial tomorrow night (December 3). We’ll have a barbecue running for when we get snacky, and we’ll have a bar is there ready to pour your homebrew (bottles are also encouraged!).

The night will kick off with a 7.30pm education session, where Kevin Hingston will share some highlights from his time taking the Seibel Institute’s Concise Course in Brewing Technology in Chicago.

Also on the agenda is the presentation of the Craig Robinson Memorial Trophy for the 2015 Club Member of the Year award, the club raffle and the draw of this year’s N.O.O.K.I.E. (Newcastle Or Otherwise Kind of Interstate Experience) prize!

This year’s prize is a weekend at Prickly Moses in Victoria’s Otway Ranges! To start off you’ll fly down to avalon and go to the Little Creatures brewery in Geelong where you’ll meet head brewer Luke Scott along with a nights accommodation in Geelong. The next morning Luke will drive you out to the brewery where you’ll get down to business brewing beer and then settling in for the night in a cottage on the estate. Top the weekend off with a helicopter flight around the 12 apostles and you just had an epic weekend! Each time you’ve bought three raffle tickets at a meeting during the year, you get an entry in the N.O.O.K.I.E. draw.

The Craig Robinson Memorial Trophy, named after a highly-regarded club member of many years until before his sudden passing in 2009. Each year the award goes to a member who reflects the characteristics Craig is remembered for: a passion for brewing, generosity and devotion to the club. The award is decided by the previous three winners, this year’s panel is Richard Watkins, Tom Dixon and Chris Duffy.

Ho ho ho!

The meeting will also be your last chance to RSVP for the club’s Christmas family barbecue – set for December 12. We’re heading back to Black Mountain Peninsula for this year’s barbecue. RSVP on the forum here before Friday, December 4 to make sure Santa knows which children will be there on the day. And we’re looking for a volunteer to play an important “acting” role on the day – details on the forum here.

Get your brewing books for the Christmas break!

Need something interesting to read over Christmas? Head to the club’s online library catalogue at https://canberrabrewers.librarika.com/ to peruse this great resource. You can reserve a copy of something and we’ll deliver it at the meeting. If the book is currently on loan, email education@canberrabrewers.com.au and we’ll arrange to have it brought back for you to borrow. Don’t have access to the library? Email us and we’ll hook you up.

September meeting preview

Beer Judging — Get your entries in for the ACT Amateur Brewing Championships.

Greetings brewers! It’s that time of year again when we’re gearing up for our biggest competition of the year – the ACT Amateur Brewing Championships!

Entries must be submitted before 10.30am on September 5, so the next meeting on Thursday, September 3, at the Harmonie German Club in Narrabundah might be your last chance to get a fellow brewer to help sample your beer before you enter it. Cost of entering this year’s ACTABCs has been dropped to $5 per bottle. More information is available on the forum here.

Your club needs you

We’re still keen to enlist more judges and stewards for the ACT competition. It will be at the Pot Belly Boutique Bar, 5/26 Weedon Close, Belconnen on Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th of September from 9am both days.

Everyone is welcome to help out – stewarding is a great way to learn more about competitions and join in the fun! Each day’s session will be for approximately 3 – 4 hours, lunch will be provided at the conclusion of judging each day. Sign up on the forum here.

Tune-up your tastebuds

With the BJCP trainees having their major faulted beer tasting session on Tuesday night (a fantastic opportunity – add your name to the waiting list here), we’ve got a couple of extra flavours to offer to the broader group at the meeting. One of these is a very common off-flavour that judges often disagree on, so the timing is right to dial in your dial in your sensors to make sure you’ve got it right! Thanks, yet again, to BentSpoke for providing the perfectly-brewed base beer.

Oktoberfest tickets selling fast!

With a maximum 90 spaces available, and at last count 75 of those taken, you’d better get in quick if you want to join in our Oktoberfest celebration – the Canberra Brewers’ biggest social event of the year.

Cost for members is $10 and non-members $40. Don’t forget you need to pay at the September meeting or by direct deposit before Sept 21st or you lose your place(s) on the list. RSVP and read all the details here.

And don’t forget, no Oktoberfest is complete without lots of great homebrew! Bring your kegs along, the more the merrier. There will also be a prize for best German beer served on the night.

Be in it to win it!

For this months raffle we have some fantastic prizes on offer: A bottle of Kraken Meadery’s superb braggot, a temperature controller, a copy of Brewing Classic Styles, Gordon Strong’s new book Modern Homebrew Recipes, a Coopers T-Shirt, and one of the fantastic new products from Mashematics!

Save the date(s)

Still early days, but we’ve got a date (November 28) booked in for our next brewery trip – this time down to the Thirsty Crow in Wagga Wagga. Several members will camp down by the river.

We’re also planning the annual Christmas family barbecue for December 12, so get that up in your calendars. A few more handy dates are in this post on the forum.

Club library

Don’t forget to head to the club’s online library catalogue at https://canberrabrewers.librarika.com/ to peruse this great resource. You can reserve a copy of something and we’ll deliver it at the meeting. If the book is currently on loan, email education@canberrabrewers.com.au and we’ll arrange to have it brought back for you to borrow. Don’t have access to the library? Email us and we’ll hook you up.

(Another throw back to International Home Brew Day at Westside,
thanks to Tony for editing the timelapse video!)

Multicultural Festival 2012

By Nick Wiseman, Editor

Thirty eight kegs of beer poured freely through the taps of the highly successful Canberra Brewers Club stall at the 2012 National Multicultural Festival in Canberra during February 10 – 12.

Run in collaboration with the Wig & Pen the club had Malty Cultural as the flagship beer while also offering 61 Brewers Barley Wine, Kembery Kolsch, Midas Imperial Pilsner, Ballyragget Irish Red Ale and Thirsty Worm Cider over the course of the weekend.

Despite initial weather reports forecasting rain, the weekend remained fairly dry, which resulted in what initial records have indicated as more than 260, 000 visitors across the three-day festival.

The festival organisers have reported it to be the biggest crowd in the events 16-year history resulting in what seemed to be a never ending queue of customers eager to quench their thirst and enjoy a better quality beer at the clubs stall.

Months of planning and preparation by both the 2011 and 2012 committees came to a head the weekend prior when club members Tom Dixon, Craig Webber and Wig & Pen Head Brewer Richard Watkins joined forces to create the bar for the upcoming festival.

After a day in the Wig & Pen basement building and welding away, a thing of beauty was given life and a hard working team earned a well deserved beer.

First meeting for 2012

By Nick Wiseman, Editor

The first meeting for 2012 kicked off in style with more than 50 members attending on February 2nd, nine of who were there for the first time and signed up on the night.

The biggest talking point of the night was our participation at the upcoming Multicultural Festival with Club President Tom Dixon explaining how the committee and some very generous volunteers had been running around behind the scenes getting everything planned for the big weekend.

With Tom ‘taking his thunder’ about the festival, Treasurer David Gilks was left to give a statement of the accounts from last year which was ratified by the club and Education Officer Ben Harmer outlined some of the educational expectations for the year.

Competition Secretary Chris De La Rue told the club what to expect with this year’s comps and the change from BJCP to AABC while Editor Nick Wiseman outlined some plans for the year with the web site, social media and planned instructional videos.

Notable absentee from the committee on the night was Social Secretary Bruce Arnold who is currently battling a torn Achilles ligament – maybe we’ll see you next month Bruce!

After the committee gave their updates for the evening and the official activities were over, Tom took aside the volunteers for the Multicultural Festival stall to explain how things would be run while the raffles opened up for the MillMaster Minimill, craft beer from Plonk and some out-dated yeast from club poster-boy Steve Norrie.

Plenty of socialising was on the cards for the rest of the evening welcoming the new members for the night in true club style with plenty of member’s beer available to sample.

The next big event for the club is now the festival happening this weekend (February 10-12) so if you get the chance come along and check out the stall.

Category: Committee Reports