We are starting to plan some warm-weather events and activities, so read on to see what we have been up to and where we will be going this year!

• The fundraiser for East Side Neighborhood Services is continuing through the end of the month. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far! We are at $930 so far and the club will be matching up to $1000! ESNS, our home for many years, is a great organization and deserves the support to keep helping our community!
• Planning for the Sour Times Homebrew Competition of sour, wild, and funky beers has kicked off and we plan to make that happen in a few months. Keep an eye out on all the club channels for more news to enter your beers or to help judge!
• There is a spate of barrel transfers happening this spring. The barrel program is open to any active members and include both sour and whiskey barrels for some amazing beers!
  • The George Dickel Dark Sour barrel was transferred in February, creating excellent beer as always. It was refilled with more Dark Sour.
  • Next up will be one of the French Oak lambic-style barrels.
  • Our Rittenhouse Rye barrel will be transferring the Imperial Stout out in the next few months and another beer — style to be determined — will fill it up again.
  • HOBO — Honey Oak Barrel One — is due for transfer again in early Summer.
• The Communication Committee met recently to make sure we are focusing on the right channels and communication within the club and to partners and potential members. If anyone is interested in helping with that communication to manage social media or add blog posts to the website, please reach out to Jason B.
• We have some exciting education topics on the calendar. At each monthly meeting there is an education topic (styles, process, equipment, etc.) or an experiment (ingredients, process, variables, etc.) to help the club expand our knowledge and think about beer in new ways to improve what we make.
  • The March meeting landed on St. Patrick’s Day, so we focused on Irish beer styles. Brady and Richard each made and Irish Red. Jason, Jim, and Aaron each made an Irish Stout. We talked about Export/Extra Stout, but did not have an examples. It was a great discussion around these classic styles.
  • In April, we will have a guest speaker from Two Track Malting to talk about their products and process. A few members will be brewing malt-forward beers with their Okefenokee pale malt to share during that discussion.
  • Coming up in May, Jim I will discuss his process around recipe development, how and why he makes decisions for malt, hops, yeast, and water profile, and we will discuss how others approach this topic.
  • There are many other exciting education topics coming up this year, too!

All are welcome to join the club! Feel free to stop by a monthly Taproom Takeover social hour or monthly meeting if you are interested in learning more about the club before becoming a member. Active members are able to use the club equipment including a 30-gallon brew system, six-tap jockey box, a tools library, book library, and access to the club hive mind through the email distribution list and Discord server.

Follow us on this blog, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates. The Club Calendar also shows our upcoming meetings and events. The club benefits everyone from new brewers starting a first batch to seasoned veterans looking to hone their skills and get feedback on new styles and techniques.

Cheers! 🍻