Big Brew 2007 @ St. Greggory's Abby
As many of you may or may not be aware, the AHA sponsors a National Homebrew Day every year the first Saturday of May. One of the best features of this "holiday" is the Big Brew event. The premise is simple enough: get a group of homebrewers and their friends together and have everyone brew at once at a single location. We here at KLOB have participated in the past and this year was no exception.
However, this year we added a new spin to the occasion. Thanks to the efforts of member Andy Grindel, we coordinated with St. Gregory's Abbey located in Three Rivers and they agreed to host this year's Big Brew event. Given the location, we thought to take the brewing theme one step further and have everyone brew Abbey style ales. The two seem like a perfect fit and we were excited to pair them together for the first ever KLOB Abbey Ale Big Brew.
Save for an overcast day, the event couldn't have gone any better. We had more than 10 Belgian-themed brews going from a variety of styles. Many additional members came to lend a hand and share homebrew with their friends. The monks of the abbey even got into the action as well, questioning members on their brew setups and recipes and partaking in several samples themselves. The whole day was capped off with a BBQ meal graciously offered by the abbey and accompanied with side dishes donated by members. By the end, every carboy and stomach were filled and everyone went home happy.
We at KLOB would like to thank St. Gregory's for their hospitality, especially Brother Cuthbert who helped coordinate the entire event. They helped make this one of the best Big Brew events we've ever had and we owe them a great debt.
