We had our May meeting back in person at the Red Barn in Abingdon. It was a return to our pre-pandemic location and meeting style.
OLD BUSINESS: 1) Our April meeting was at Hopkins Farm Brewing and spouses/friends were invited.
2) Big Brew was successful; we had a toast at 1PM and seems that everyone’s brew went well.
NEW BUSINESS: 1) Janet’s Brown brewed on Big Brew is the style for June. Also in June, we’ll have the auction/drawing for Support Local.
2) Next Tech Corner is on 5/20/21 at 8PM. We had some topic suggestions on the spot such as pros/cons of electric systems and hop extracts vs. regular hops.
3) Gregg is hosting a discussion on Flanders Red on 5/21; reach out to him if interested.
4) July project is “single recipe, different variable”. Please submit recipes on Slack.
5) LABS is hosted next by Kelly on 6/21 and the style is sour browns. The emphasis will be on the Oud Bruins we brewed as a club but could never blend in the barrel. Next style will be Weissenbock with its many forms and will be hosted by Marc this summer. Remember, for LABS, you need to bring your own brew. The Lambic project is still going.
6) The Guild has started meetings over again.
7) Marc would like to gauge interest on buying hop extracts, which can be used in whirlpool or for dry-hopping. Their use would lessen hop material utilized and beer loss due to it. One jug of ~1gallon runs around $225 but can be stored at room temperature and has a 2 year shelf-life. He will post on Slack for those interested.
8) We are considering reaching out to our closest Brewing club, Granite Run, for a collaboration. One of their members is opening a Farm Brewery in Conowingo and the new brewery in Havre De Grace is also owned by their members. Marc offered to let us park at his office in HdG if we want to visit Battery Island Brewing during the weekends.
9) We are looking into sponsoring an event such as a Beer Tour for our members, since the Club has not had many expenses last year.
10) Max’s downtown will hold a Sour Fest on June 4, 5, 6.
11) Please check Slack for communications! It is the best way we have to reach members.
12) Next year’s May Style was voted to be IPL. The other entries were American Blond, West Coast IPA and American Light Lager.
FINANCIAL REPORT: we have $1,222 and 26 paying members.
BEERS: The style of the month was Mexican Lager and we had 4 commercial examples: Corona, Modello, El Sully, Dos Equis Amber.
Those who brewed the style of the month were: Marc+Mike, Matt, Art+Claire, Adi+Linda, Ken, George B., Chris, Steve, Kelly.
Brewing off-style this month were: Colin with an Irish Red and an IPA, Kelly with an IPA, George H. with a double IPA, Matt and Andy with their split-batch of Belgian Dubbel and Marc with a Mystery Beer that turned out to be an extract pilsner.
See you in June and Happy Brewing! Cheers!