Category: Committee Reports

By Tom Dixon, President

Dicko G’day Brewers and Welcome to 2011! I trust that you’ve all well and truly recovered from the festive season and are primed and ready for another big year of better brewing, camaraderie and of course beer appreciation [sic].

With our first meeting just a week away (4 February), it’s due time to provide an update from your 2011 Committee and assure you that we’ve been working furiously behind the scenes. The Committee Forum has been inundated with a frenzy of ideas and development for 2011. Whilst your committee members will update you on their areas of interest, I personally have adopted a leadership style akin to by my beloved Australian Labour Party, having found myself striving to lighten the Clubs coffers in a variety of different ways. I will outline some of these outlays at our upcoming meeting…

Other than upholding the founding aims of our Club, specifically “to promote the brewing of beer and the art of marking it, to improve the quality of the beer we brew, to promote sensible use of alcohol, and to create a social atmosphere”… i’ve tasked myself with two primary goals as your President:

  1. To see through the incorporation of our Club
  2. To retain our Nationals title for the third year in a row.

I look forward to achieving both of these goals with your continued support. Remember that it is your club, so the greater your involvement, the greater our Club will become…

By Darryl Barbour, President

Darryl_1 Brewers, we’ve come to that end of the year where we get to kick out the old committee and introduce some new blood. It is also time, after all the competitions, brew days and general chaos, that we can sit back and look at everything that has gone on, and gone well for the club. So let me reflect …

Having taken over the reins from President Stagger and crew last December, we had the legacy of one of the best, and most certainly biggest Canberra Brewers events that I can remember being run – the Nationals and club night. In his time in charge the club had been set on a great path with high standards to meet. This year, and I hope you’ll agree, I think we met those standards and introduced a few new things to make the club another step better. We’ve had great sponsorship deals, a return to the road-trips, a fantastic Wig-and-Pen brewday, more success at the Nationals, a new forum, a new webpage, we’ve broken the 100 member “barrier”, raffled off more brewing “bling”, filled out bellies at Oktoberfest, held faulted beer tastings (ahem.. education sessions). On top of that, and closest to my own interests, we’ve seen relatively new club members make a huge showing in the club competitions and then backing that up with success at Nationals. Finally, we’ve had another batch of brewers sit the BJCP exam.

Read more »

By Sam Highley, Editor

WTF The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Canberra Brewers Club, also known as the December club meeting, is coming up this week. Those unfamiliar with the details of club meetings can take a look at the meetings page. As the final meeting of the year it's a time both to celebrate the year that was, and to start preparing for next year. Darryl has done a fantastic job as President this year, with a particular highlight being the work he has completed in getting the club ready for incorporation as an association.

I encourage all those who would like to contribute to the running of the club to nominate for a committee position this Thursday night. It's a fantastic way to experience the inner workings of a small club, and also a great way to get to know some other club members a little better. I certainly got to know some other club members a lot better this year. Alas, one of them was Dicko. On Thursday night, Darryl will hand the floor to returning officer, Craig Webber, to run the election for the committee, with nominations sought for President, Treasurer, Social Secretary, Education Officer, Competition Secretary and, possibly, Editor (was I that bad?).

See you all on Thursday night, when i'll be bringing an all-Sauvin ale that i've recently brewed, and running it through a bucketload of fresh 2010 Sauvin flowers using my recently acquired Blichmann Hop Rocket. I'm not sure yet whether i'll be running this under-pressure, or through the beer engine, but as time is getting away from me, it'll likely be the latter.

By Sam Highley, Editor

ChuckHahnIf you’re a fan of the range of brews from James Squire, and you like a good bite to eat, then A night with Chuck Hahn is for you. This event, on Thursday October 28, gives you the opportunity to join Chuck Hahn as he shares his exquisite knowledge of the art of brewing, and how beer can be matched with food to create a unique dining experience. Hosted at the Canberra Club in Civic (brewers, you know where it is, it’s a stones throw from the Wig and Pen), the beers presented for tasting on the night will be the Sundowner Lager, Golden Ale, Amber Ale, Pilsener and the Porter. Poor IPA, left out again.

Read more »