April Meeting

This is a friendly reminder that we will be having our monthly meeting this coming Monday, April, 16th at 7pm at Old Dog Tavern in downtown Kalamazoo. The topic this month is the beer style of Porter. Geoff Groff will discuss the many different variations on this style as well as its history. The presentation will include tips on creating your own recipes and interpretations at home.

Great Taste of the Midwest Tickets

We're once again excited to announce that our club was able to secure 25 tickets to this year's Great Taste of the Midwest event in Madison, WI hosted by the Madison Homebrewers and Tasters Guild. For those of you who have never attended, this is an amazing beer festival held in August that features over 100 breweries from all over the Midwest, each bringing some of their finest brews. Tickets are always very limited and sought after so the fact that our club is lucky enough to get this special treatment is a very big deal. Read more about the event below:

http://mhtg.org/great-taste-of-the-midwest

We'll be holding our own internal lottery at the April meeting for these tickets so all members have an equal opportunity to attend. To be eligible, you must be a member in good standing so if you have yet to renew for 2012, now is the perfect time. If you receive a ticket, we need payment of $50 in cash or check that evening, so come prepared. In the past, tickets have been available for pick up at the July meeting.

If you have any questions, contact Chris Elston (chris@klob.org).

Big Brew 2012

Once again we are happy to announce our partnership with Bell's General Store in order to host another AHA Big Brew event!

For those not already familiar, Big Brew coresponds with National Homebrew Day (Saturday, May 5th) and is sponsored by the American Homebrewers Association. The idea is to celebrate all things homebrew by trying to gather as many brewers together to simultaneously brew as many gallons of beer as possible. We hope to have all-grain, extract and everything in between going that day.

Festivities will begin at approximately 10am as our all-grain get started and will go through the afternoon. At noon there will be a toast that will be held all the way across the country. We will be arranging all the brew rigs just to the side of the Bell's General Store facing Kalamazoo Avenue. Even if you don't brew yourself, this is perfect opportunity to see how the process and learn more about how the beer you enjoy is made. Likewise, you can invite friends, family and co-workers to introduce them to the fine art of homebrewing.

If you are interested in volunteering to brew that day, please contact us (chris@klob.org). There are two AHA-provided recipes but you can choose to brew anything your heart desires. Read more about the event below.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/events/national-homebrew-day

Bell's Brewing Demo

The Bell's General Store is continuing its home brewing demonstration series this coming Wednesday, April 18th. This month's homebrew demonstration will focus on the "brew in the bag" method - a good primer for all-grain brewing without the big expense up front. The Kolsch from March's demo will also be bottled.

http://bellsbeer.com/eccentric-cafe/events-calendar/?select=1&pkeyEventI...

Looking forward to seeing you all on the 16th! Keep checking the club website to see the latest information and to share information will your fellow brewers.