Greetings members! This is a friendly reminder that we have our monthly meeting coming up on April 20th 7pm, at Boatyard Brewery. This month's meeting will be a style presentation on Double IPAs by Chad Laning.
Next month's meeting topic will be on Sessions Beers. We are looking for a presenter on ths topic. If you know, or think you know about Sessions Beers and would be willing to give a presentation, please contact us officers@klob.org
Lots of IMPORTANT stuff below: BIG BREW, SMASH BREW, MALT HOUSE VISIT, BUS TRIP, GREAT TASTE TICKETS!!!
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BIG BREW: Celebrate National Homebrew Day! In 1988, May 7 was announced before Congress as National Homebrew Day. The American Homebrewers Association (AHA) created AHA Big Brew as an annual event to celebrate National Homebrew Day around the world. AHA Big Brew is held each year on the first Saturday in May.
KLOB is celebrating by having our own Big Brew event. Want to brew with us? Join us May 2nd, 10am. We're looking for 6-8 brew rigs to be brewing. Bell's Brewery is kind enough to host our Big Brew this year. Find us in the courtyard between the General store and the brewery. Bring all your own brewing equipment you need to brew. Water and electric are provided. If you're doing all-grain, please be ready to go right at 10am, so we can get out of Bell's hair at a reasonable hour.
2015 Big Brew recipes can be found here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/aha-events/national-homebrew-day/
Also, please respect our hosts, no outside alcohol is allowed on to the property. They do have plenty of beer at the bar you can drink :)
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SMaSH BREW EXCHANGE: What is a SMaSH Brew? SMaSH stands for “Single Malt and Single Hop.” The idea is to break brewing down to its basic elements and emphasize the flavor of a single malt and single hop variety, it can really help to define those flavors for the brewer. It lets you truly understand what one hop and one malt bring to the beer. At KLOB, we're planning a SMaSH Brew Exchange. Here's what you do: Brew a SMaSH beer (one type of grain, one type of hop and a neutral yeast like Safale US-05) bottle your batch and bring six to twelve 12oz. bottles to exchange with other brewers who used different ingredients. The exchange will take place at our May Meeting, May 18th. For more info, and a sample SMaSH recipe, visit: http://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/09/05/what-is-smash-brewing/ This is a good time to try out some of the new hops that are on the market, or maybe try a more unique base malt like Vienna. Don't forget, have your bottles ready for our May Meeting! _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
MALT HOUSE VISIT: We've excited to annouce a special tour of the new Pilot Malt House just for KLOB Members! Pilot Malt House is a brand new craft malt house that using locally grown malt. Erik May, the owner, has kindly invited KLOB for a tour of the new facility. Mark your calenders for May 23rd, 12-2pm.
Pilot Malt House is located at 1000 100th St SW, Suite E/F, Byron Center, MI 49315
Carpool: Although we have been assured there is ample parking, if anyone wants to carpool, please meet at Boatyard Brewery at 11am. Plan to leave by 11:20am to make it on time to Pilot Malt House by 12pm. Old Mill Brewery: On the way back home to Kalamazoo, Old Mill Brewery has invited us to stop in for a pint or seven. We're planning on arriving at Old Mill between 2:30-3pm if you would to join.
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BUS TRIP: Make your calender for June 13th! This is our KLOB Bus Trip tour of Grand Rapids and surrounding area breweries. We expect this to be a popular trip, so we are limiting ticket sales to members in good standing, and each member is allowed one guest. If after the April Meeting we have space available, it will be opened to additional guests. Cost will be $20 for members, $25 for guests. This is an all day event, plan on leaving around 10am from Kalamazoo and getting home around 9pm. We will be stopping by a few breweries & having lunch on the way to Grand Rapids, spending a few hours exploring downtown GR & getting dinner, then heading back south to another brewery or two, then heading home. We will have more details and a complete itinerary soon. We will start taking reservations for the trip at the April Meeting. We have a 50 person limit for the trip, paying for your ticket at the meeting reserves you a seat.
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GREAT TASTE OF THE MIDWEST: Ticket Raffle @ the May Meeting.
The Great Taste of the Midwest is one of the premier beer festivals in the United States. The Great Taste features over one hundred fifty of the Midwest’s finest craft brewers at beautiful Olin Park overlooking Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin. Event is August 8th. http://greattaste.org/
The organizers of the GTMW graciously allow our club an allotment of 25 tickets to give to our members. The cost is $60/ticket. We usually have more members wanting tickets than we have tickets. To make it fair, we hold a raffle if there are more than 25 people interested in going. If you would like to be entered in for a ticket, you must: 1- Be a member in good standing (paid for 2015). 2- Be present at the May Meeting. 3- Pay for your ticket at that time. If we have fewer than 25 people interested, additional tickets may be purchased by members.
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If you signed up for KLOB at the March meeting, we will have your membership cards available at this meeting. Hungry? The Tamale Guy Catering will be at Boatyard during our meeting, serving up his delicious menu.