The next education topic will be sweet: brewing sugars! The education for Thu Dec 15 7-9pm will cover this sticky topic. Brewers of all levels are encouraged to join and try some batches across traditional styles.

See you there! Cheers! 🍻

What makes a seasonal beer? The monthly education will cover just that!

Come join us Thu Nov 17 7-9pm at East Side Neighborhood Services to sample examples from the club members and hear some ideas on what makes seasonal beer special.

Cheers!

Belgian quad? Good.

FOUR Belgian quads? GREAT!

A few NBA members split a batch and finished their beers four different ways. The education topic at the monthly meeting will be to talk about what they did and how they are different. Bring some tasting glasses and stop by the meeting on Thursday, September 15 7:00 PM at East Side Neighborhood Services to try some yourself.

Schol! 🍻

What happens when you ferment lager yeast above the normal temperature range?

This month’s education topic will explore just that! We will talk about traditional lager styles and how this works for the new Cold IPA style. Get your tasting glasses ready and join us next week for the monthly meeting!

Happy Summer, all! It has been a great time to do some outdoor and garage brewing this year. We have the NBA Summer Party coming up next weekend, too! That would not be complete without the informal club low-gravity competition, potluck food with some grilling, and general revelry! All are welcome to join, so reach out if you are interested in meeting up, otherwise we can tell you all about it at an upcoming Taproom Takeover or before the next meeting.

Here are some quick updates from the last club meeting

• A few folks are researching new merch options — a sweatshirt and a winter hat. Some pretty cool options are in the works, so keep an eye out to stay warm this fall and winter.
• Homebrew Con was a great success and a few members talked about (some of) the revelry had in Pittsburgh and the great presentation put on by Aaron and Matt. Once the recordings are posted to the AHA site, you know we will be sharing that link!
• There are a few events coming up
  • Sat Jul 30 is the Summer Party at the palatial Mittelstaedt estates
  • Thu Aug 4 is Taproom Takeover at Barrel Theory, which lands on National IPA Day again, so come grab a hazy over in St. Paul
  • Nick is charting out another bike ride in August on the Minnehaha Creek
  • A few folks are coordinating a field trip and are looking at a craft beer train ride toward Duluth on October 7, so keep an eye out for that event!
• The yeast experiment is still going to happen, but there have been some delays in getting the wort creation on the calendar. Keep an eye out for more on that coming soon.
• Brew For Good, an amazing homebrew-only beer festival supporting ESNS, is happening in Sun Sep 18. If you are a brewer who would like to pour your beer for the public, reach out and we will get you connected. If you are a beer drinker who would like to try some one-of-a-kind beers available nowhere else, you definitely want to be there!
• A few barrels are being transferred over the next weeks and months
  • The Rittenhouse Rye barrel has Imperial Stout coming out and Doppelbock going in
  • The Lodi Lambic-style is getting the same pale sour recipe exchanged
  • HOBO is being emptied for the last time and then the barrel will be retired

Keep an eye on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for other events and updates as they happen. The club is open to anyone of any skill level to talk, learn, and experiment around our favorite fermented beverage. Come join us at a local taproom or monthly meeting any time!

Cheers! 🍻

Minnesota Homebrewers, here is your chance to share your brews with the public while supporting a great Minneapolis community organization, East Side Neighborhood Services!

Join this one-of-a-kind event at Forgotten Star Brewing Co. on Sunday, September 18 to showcase your unique beers, meads, and more. Sign up today as a club or individual!

Brew For Good – Brewer and Club Sign-Up

Make sure to tag #brewforgood as you brew, package, sample in preparation for this great event! Find more info about the event at brewforgood.com

Cheers! 🍺

NaCl? CaCl₂!? MgSO₄?!? What are these letters and numbers in my beer??

The monthly education topic is brewing salts: why we use them and how they affect beer. Pour yourself a tall glass of your brewing water and let’s chat about our favorite cations and anions!

Thursday, July 21 7:00-9:00pm at ESNS

All are welcome to join! Bring homebrew to share if you have some — and tasting glasses regardless! Cheers!

Happy Father’s Day to all the Brew Dad’s out there!

It was so nice out for the June meeting, we moved it outside to the ESNS pavilion. We shared some beers and talked about cream ale as the education. Here are some others notes for this month about recent and upcoming events and activities.

• Officer elections are in January with nominations being collected started in November. Tyler, the current Finance Director, has elected not to run for re-election, so that position will be open for nominations later this year. The election will also include the Communication Director and Vice President. Please feel free to reach out to anyone from the leadership committee if you have any questions or would like to discuss these roles.
• We have been looking into a vendor for one-off merch orders, but they have not been responsive since the site was set up, so we are investigating other options. We have some t-shirts, a few work shirts, and some tasting glasses in stock now. If anyone has a lead on a one-off merch shop we can research, please reach out!
• Our recent Taproom Takeover was a trip up to Coon Rapids to visit Alloy Brewing! A few members took the trip and we were happy to visit a great sponsor to our competitions!
• There are a few upcoming events:
  • This week a few members will be going out to Pittsburgh for Homebrew Con. Be sure to say hello if you see us around the convention!
  • On the first Thursday in July, we will be visiting Venn brewing for the monthly Taproom Takeover event. Come grab a pint!
  • Nick is coordinating more group bike rides between breweries. Keep an eye out in the club email and Discord for details around those casual strolls.
  • The Summer Party will take place at the palatial Mittelstaedt estates in Minnetonka on Saturday, July 30. That gives plenty of time to brew up a batch for the low gravity (≤5% ABV) competition and find a recipe for potluck side-dishes.
  • A few folks are researching a field trip later this year perhaps to a fresh hop harvest festival. Once we have more information, keep an eye out to join in.
• The Sour Times competition was a great success. We really enjoy this new competition in our rotation and look forward to doing it again! Thank you to everyone who entered a beer, helped judge, and helped coordinate! Congratulations to Adrian who won TWO first place prizes for his Flanders and Berliner entries!
• With more news to follow soon, Brew For Good will be returning in September with coordination from the NBA and partner homebrew clubs. This is exciting!
• The barrel committee met recently and tasted through the club barrels. There are a couple that are ready to come out — the imperial stout in the Rittenhouse Rye barrel, the pale sour in the HOBO barrel, and the pale sour in the Lodi lambic-style barrel — so keep an eye out about getting your beer and the opportunity to re-fill.
  • The HOBO barrel — Honey Oak Barrel One — was the first in the club barrel program. Based on some recent beers turning a bit ascetic, this barrel will be retired with this empty. There are some ideas on its replacement (tequila-barrel gose?! yes, please!), so more news will be shared as barrels are sourced and sign-up is announced.
• During the Beginner’s Corner section of the meeting, Carl brought up recently moving from Northeast Minneapolis to St. Anthony and finding that despite his zip code not changing, his water source did — and not favorably. He asked what members recommend for improving his water now.
  • A couple members recommended $0.39/gallon distilled from the grocery store
  • Tyler told the club about his recent installation of a tankless under-counter reverse osmosis system that generates 5 gallons in about 15 minutes.

Next month we will meet again at East Side Neighborhood Services, of course, where the education topic will be about brewing salts. We look forward to seeing you there!

Keep tabs on other events and news on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Brewers of all skill levels and experience are welcome to join us any time!

Cheers! 🍻

Thank you to everyone who entered, coordinated, and judged for the Sour Times homebrew competition. It was a huge success and there were many great beers. Here are the final results. Entrants can find their score sheets by logging into SourTimesNBA.com

Cheers!

Best of Show Winners  

Best of Show – Beer

Winning Entries  

Table 1: Fruited Sour (12 entries)

Table 2: American Wild Specialty (17 entries)

Table 3: American Wild (14 entries)

Table 4: Flanders (9 entries)

Table 5: European Sour (8 entries)