The last pre-meeting before Domras Cup was help to a growing number of members. A lot was discussed and finalized. If you can help judge, steward, or staff (volunteer) during this event please do so on the competition website.
We had a record attendance meeting; , 42
people came out to the January meeting of the Savannah Brewers League in the
basement of Moon River Brewing Company. Lots of friendly faces and smiling new
ones. We had 6 guests show up interested in homebrewing which is always great.
TOAST – We toasted to the New Year, new beer, and to Moon River for hosting another great Holiday Party in December and for supplying a free pin of Pendragon’s Gold.
For those who don’t know, Pendragon’s Gold was the winner during the Homebrew Mid-Year Beer competition that SBL held earlier in the year that one of our members, Vince, won. This winning beer recipe was upsized and then brewed on Moon River’s brewing system and served in their tap room for all to enjoy.
Based on our internal records, the club brewed over 800 BU’s (brewing
units), that’s twice
as much in 2019 as we did in 2018! The top 3 brewers were announced Neil, Gene, and
Henry and retain “bragging rights” for the next year. Great job
every one; let’s keep those beers a flowing. SBL has a lot of beer to brew this
year in order to support our National Homebrewers Conference (NHC), ReBrew, and
Barrel Project #3 and #4.
More books were added to our SBL Brewers Library in the basement cabinet at Moon River. Feel free to check out a book.
Recap on previous events and new ones coming up:
- 12/8 Wilson’s December Stammtisch
- 12/15 Bar Project build
- 1/11 TJ’s January Stammtisch
- 1/14 NHC registration for entries is now open
- 1/15 Barrel Project #2: Hardly Thomas Bourbon Barrel fill party @ James’s
- 1/17 Domras Cup Tagging Party @ Wilson’s
- 1/18 Domras Cup Pre-Judging session #1 @ Wilson’s
- 1/26 Domras Cup Pre-Judging session #2 @ Stovall’s
- 2/1 Domras Cup
- 2/5 SBL February Monthly Meeting @ Moon River
Brewing Company
- Tech Talk: How to make Lemoncello with Stovall
- More events on the calendar
Barrel Project #3:
SBL will be acquiring a 3rd barrel (68 gallons, French Oak, Wine) from Southbound Brewing Company to be stored at Scott’s house. This barrel has been used once before by Southbound for their Moonlight Drive (Stout). This barrel is bigger than the previous ones and will require 15-17 SBL member participation at a minimum to fill it. A show of hands during the meeting shows that we have enough interested parties wanting to participate. Beer recipe and group brew dates are coming.
International Craft Brew Fest: no new info at this time, however, this event is scheduled to occur in 2020.
SBL members should start planning on brewing for NHC (6/18/2020) and ReBrew (7/12/2020). Between these major events we will need to brew 100 gallons for NHC and 120 gallons for ReBrew. So start planning those recipes now because the water will be arriving in April. Also start thinking on what you will be donating to the club for these events. No style is limited and any OG/FG welcomed. Our own Jeremy B will be writing an article for ReBrew that we hope to get published locally and in the AHA Zymurgy magazine.
For those who haven’t paid their dues, please do so by clicking on this link. This helps pay for the events for the year that the club is active in. The deadline for dues is 1/31/2020, after that access to member benefits will be removed for those who haven’t paid their membership. Membership dues is only $25 a year for a single member and their significant other.
Justin’s Notes from Moon River:
As we previously discussed Pendragon’s Gold, a recipe designed by SBL’s own Vince, is currently on tap in their tap room. “Thank Vince for the free recipe!!!” Some future brews coming up are a Scotch Ale, several Barrel beers, and a 2 year aged Captain’s Porter. Lots and lots of more goodies in the pipeline.
Tech Talk: Entering a Homebrew competition
Thanks to Jeremy B, SBL’s 2018 & 2019 competitor of the year, and winning 29 medals in just 2019 alone and pushing SBL to the #10 spot in the Southeastern Homebrewers Association competition circuit in 2019. Jeremy spilled the beans on all the tips and tricks he has learned on how to enter a competition. Everything from being buddy buddy with the UPS guys, to how to pack your entries in the box (3 foot drop rule), and what he considers the most important thing you can do to your homebrew that will help you win medals (temp control during fermentation).
After the meeting there was some discussion with Moon River’s wait staff and it was decided that in an effort to help Moon River all food orders during the meeting will stop at 7:15, 15 minutes before the meeting starts. As you can imagine, trying to serve roughly 40 people food and beverages can be a daunting task. We also discussed having a basement beer menu and/or a special food menu for our meetings to help speed up orders and reduce wait times. The February meeting will be the first meeting where we roll out these new changes. Remember, Moon River is our very gracious hosts in letting us have a space for holding these club events, we only wish to accommodate their needs.
So as we raise a glass to the New Year, new brews, and new friends, remember to keep those brew kettles fired up and those bottles/kegs a moving. SBL has lots to brew this year 🙂