March 1, 2012

Attendance: Dan S, Matt P, Nick P, Andrew N, Tyler B, Kevin S, Steve, Tim S

Nick P was gracious enough to host the BAMF meeting this month.  While treating us to his Galaxy IPA off the tap, we were able to marvel in the presence of the key item in the barrel project.  What follows is what transpired.

What is a BAMF?

Aside from the obvious, we determined BAMF membership requirements going forth.  BAMF members are all founding and senior members as defined in our bylaws, all current ExComm members, and all Committee Chairs.  Right now 99% of all members are BAMF members since dues were paid before the end of January.  The thought is that new members who want to make additional contributions to the club will chair a committee for projects of interest and value to the club.

Should we become a non-profit group?

This has been in discussion since last month.  More research is needed on the topic before a decision is made.  Among other implications, this may determine how we fundraise and/or how we manage funds.  Nick P is going to reach out to other home brew clubs for a consensus.  If anyone has any specific information already, please bring it to the March 10th meeting as we will be acting shortly.

*Deadline set: Will be decided at the April BAMF meeting.

Recruiting

The easiest way to increase club funds so we can do cool stuff is by increasing our dues-paying members.  On this thought, do we feel our club designation as “Nordeast” is excluding people from joining?  We want to be clear that we accept anyone that’s willing to join.  The idea of straight up changing our name to “Minneapolis” was vetoed in a 6-2 vote.

Nordeast refers more to the cultural values and ideals we share.  The Nordeast being the way of artistic, free-spirited bad-asses who are devoted to brewing some damn good beer and enjoying it.  As a sort of rebranding, perhaps an icon would better define us and attract more members.  This is an open call to all members to come up with an idea/design/icon that would better represent us.  The winner will get free membership dues next year.

Fundraising

As stated before, increasing membership is the easiest way to boost funds.  Nick P is looking into some options for visibility including setting up a booth at the farmers market.  Hopefully we can at least do some recruiting, if not some demo brewing.  Nick P is also meeting with the NE Association regarding the possibility of involvement at the Big River Brewfest and general volunteer oportunities.

Finances

To collectively store our funds, the President, VP and treasurer will open a joint account so you know your money is safe.

We gained two new members last month!

BJCP Judging

To become a more respected club we need to be educated.  Learning all the BJCP Judging requirements is a lengthy project and committment, but we can provide better feedback during our meetings, and learn how to make beers to judging standards.

There are online classes and information available, and all style guidelines are listed here.  There’s also a great iPhone app.  If anyone does get certified, we would like to put $20 towards any successful BJCP Judging Examination.

To bring some more education to our meetings, we will be implementing style guidelines and peer judging at the meetings, using the official BJCP judging sheets.  These are anonymous and optional for those presenting beers, but it should help add some organization to the tasting portion of the meetings.

In addition, lets start competing our beers, and getting our club name out there.  Some of us are destined to win some Best-Of Categories any why not a Best-In-Show?

Barrel Project

Since Nick has the barrel all set up, and all the bugs should be killed from the sulfur stick, we are in a position to move forward.  Since the barrel was used for a honey wine and then Thunderstomed (Nick confirmed with Town Hall) a good beer to clone is Russian River Temptation.  The Mad Fermentationist has done a clone before, so we have a recipe, and Nick has tons of bugs from a currently aging beer.

NEXT ALL-CLUB MEETING MARCH 10th, 2012 @ 4:00 pm at Pracna

Date changed due to St. Patty’s day