Announcements
May 5th is the American Homebrewer Association’s annual Big Brew Day, an effort to get as many people around the world all brewing beer at the same time. We will be celebrating with Lift Bridge Brewery in Stillwater. This is a chance to join thousands of homebrewers around the country in celebration of homebrewing.
Currently a homebrewer? Sign up for one of the limited number of spots to brew onsite at Lift Bridge. In addition, Lift Bridge will be brewing up a big batch of unfermented wort available for homebrewers to take home for a small fee. This year they are brewing a Honey Lager, one of the two official Big Brew Day recipes. You do need to sign-up for either a reserved spot to brew with your equipment onsite or to reserve wort, space and quantities are limited. Sign up here.
Interested in knowing more about homebrewing? Come join us. See different homebrewer set-ups. Talk with everyone. Listen to some educational sessions.
Location and time details are on the club calendar for the event. More details from Liftbridge are here.
AHA’s suggested recipes are on their Big Brew page.
And if you can’t join us in Stillwater May 5th – or you do and realize how much fun this is – we’ll be celebrating a second time with Unmapped Brewing in Minnetonka on May 12th. Join us for both!
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The MHBA had out annual business meeting this past Tuesday, March 6th at Summit Brewing. On top electing officers for the next year, there was a fantastic opportunity to experience twelve different beer off-flavors through the use of an off-flavor sensory evaluation kit the club purchased. Dave Matson and John Longballa spearheaded the tasting with people providing great information about each of the samples and how they occur. Finishing up the evening, club friend, homebrewer and Summit employee Amanda Kutzke gave a great tour of the Summit facility!
Other items of note, John Longballa showed off the brand new limited edition club logo pint glasses. If you are a dues-paid club member and didn’t get one at Summit, show up at an upcoming meeting and ask a club officer.
First round judging for the National Homebrew Competition is happening at Summit Brewing in early April on the 13th and 14th. If you are interested in helping out, there is more information available on the competition website.
It may seem like a long way off but it’s time to get your tickets to our annual Sinning with the Saints outing to CHS field in St Paul! The date is set for June 11th and it’s sure to be an awesome time!
Our next club meeting is on April 10th at Allow Brewing in Coon Rapids.
The new MHBA officers for the upcoming year are:
President: Dave Matson
Vice-President: Pat McNeely
Secretary: Dave Royer
Treasurer: Jon Hunter
At-Large for 2018 and 2019
– Cory Monson
– Josh Mahoney
Returning At-Large for 2017 and 2018
– Alex Carlson
– Brett Glenna (replaced John Vircks who stepped down)
President Emeritus
– John Longballa
March 6, 2018 – 5:30 PM – 9:00 PM
2018 Business Meeting & Off-flavor Seminat at Summit Brewing
The annual MHBA business meeting with Officer elections will happen at Summit Brewing! We will also be pairing this with an opportunity to test your palate against several common brewing off-flavors.
We’ll have socializing until 6:30, and the club is providing pizza. Summit’s amazing beers will be available for purchase, and please remember to tip ridiculously well! Homemade beverages are welcome.
At 6:30 we will have our 2018 business meeting, which includes a treasurer’s report and election of board members. The offices of president, vice-president, treasurer, and secretary are all open, as are two, two-year term at-large positions. Please let president John Longballa know of your interest in running for a position. The club LOVES having new faces and ideas on the board, and there are current board members who are ready to step aside.
At 7:00 we will have an off-flavor seminar, wherein we use a Siebel Institute Flavor kit to doctor some lighter Summit beer. Your pre-seminar study assignment is to familiarize yourself with the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) Beer Faults information.
Join us on Tuesday, March 6th for a private event for mhba members, friends and family Summit Brewing Company in Saint Paul.
April 10, 2018 – 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
9th Annual MHBA Homebrew Review
Join us for our annual MHBA Homebrew Review. This is the event for you to bring out your favorite homebrew and go head-to-head against your fellow club members. Bring something you have been looking for some feedback on, bring your favorite creation or just bring yourself and a tasting glass and try what everyone else is bringing!
This is a closed event for MHBA members, family, and friends, and the taproom (which is normally closed on Tuesdays) will be open JUST FOR US! This is a great event to bring a friend who is contemplating homebrewing or joining the MHBA.
During the event, we can help you with your membership. The first 50 MHBA members in good standing will receive an Alloy Brewing drink token! The new, members-only club logo pint glasses should be available at this event.
The event will happen on April 10th at 6PM at Alloy Brewing Company located at 2700 Coon Rapids Blvd, Coon Rapids, Minnesota 55433
May 12, 2018 – 9:30 AM – 1:00 PM
BigBrew Day at Unmapped Brewing
It’s Big Brew time. Join us at Unmapped Brewing in Minnetonka for the MHBA’s cellebration of the annual AHA Big Brew Day. Brewing details will be coming but MHBA club member and Unmapped Head Brewer Derek Allmendinger is looking forward to having us out to brew at his place! This will happen on May 12th starting at 9:30AM at Unmapped Brewing located in Minnetonka.
June 11, 2018 – 4:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Sinning with the Saints in 2018
Monday, June 11th is your opportunity to participate in one of the club’s most-cherished traditions–tailgating at the Saints!
At 4:00 that day, people and families begin chilling, swilling, and grilling in the tailgating lot, located to the east of CHS Field, in the corner of Lafayette and Kellogg.
The club provides the meat and grills, and you provide the beverages and delicious homemade potluck items.
At 7:00, we venture into the stadium to see the Saint Paul Saints take on the Fargo-Moorhead Red Hawks. We will all be seated together in the section behind first base.
Tickets are $20 each, and must be purchased through the online form by Monday, May 14th. Please use the link below to make your purchase. Tickets will be distributed in the tailgating lot just before the game.
Read MoreJoin us this Wednesday, January 10th at Pryes Brewing for our first social event of 2018!
Join us starting around 5pm at Pryes Brewing in Minneapolis. Come join the club after work. We will hang out and catch up on what everyone brewed over the holidays and what you are looking forward to next year. Around 7pm we will get a behind the scenes tour of Pryes Brewing where we can hear all about the process of expanding from a homebrewer, to the partnership with Lucid/InBound into his own large-scale brewery.
We’ll leave the homebrew at home for this event but please bring your friends and family to what is sure to be a fun event! This event is open to anyone and everyone interested!
Look for us in the Mill Room at the brewery.
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Thanks to everyone who joined us for this past year’s holiday party! We had a great time sharing homebrew and food! Congratulations to Cory Monson, whose Imperial Stout won the People’s Choice beverage award, and to Mike and Sue Moranz, whose garlic mashed potatoes made with beer won the People’s Choice food award. Josh Mahoney‘s Black Currant and Honey Cider won the prize for best cider made from this year’s cider purchase, so our collective club hat is off to him as well! All those wonderful folks took home some lovely prizes.
Happy New Year! Now is a GREAT time to check to see when your membership is expiring. 🙂 As always, you may extend your membership quickly, easily, and safely on the club website, mnbrewers.com
Wooden Nickel Wednesday at Dangerous Man! This Wednesday, December 20th, any club member in good standing may come enjoy a free pint at Dangerous Man, beginning at 6:30. Club funds purchased the barrel and barrel rack for this past winter’s club barrel project, and now that that has run its course, the rack has been traded to Dangerous Man for some beer. This is a social event, and no homebrew may be consumed, but at 7:00, there will be a board meeting. Six positions are up for election come February, so perhaps you would like to observe the board meeting, then run for a position? We need to turn over the board positions every so often, in order to get new blood and new ideas, so please consider stepping forward. No board member would be the least bit upset if you ran–honestly! 🙂
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It’s time for the amnual MHBA Holiday Party! Bring your Homebrew, Bring some food to share and bring the friends and family! This is open to anyone and everyone interested.
Starting at Noon, arrive, socialize, enjoy live music! There will be PURPLE TV on-premise and turned on (hint, hint–that’s all we can say about that!
1:00 = Potluck begins, music and purple stuff continues. Families are welcome!
2:00 = PRIZES!! Prizes for the best cider made from this year’s cider purchase; door prizes; Pin the Homebrew in the Snowperson’s Hand prizes; People’s Choice prizes for best potluck item and best beverage. Bring labeled bottles of your best stuff for a bottle swap.
3:00 = Keep socializing
4:00 = Clean up
If 10:00 a.m. comes Saturday, November 4th, and you don’t find yourself in a deer stand, then we’ll expect you to be eating egg bake and sampling homebrew and cider with the club at Barley John’s! If you haven’t attended a meeting before, and you’re there at 10:30, then I GUARANTEE that a veteran member will introduce herself/himself and pour you a beer.
Barleys John’s is once again kind enough to allow us to take over their patio for the day. They’ll have a special egg bake ready, so come hungry! Two volunteers will be brewing demonstration batches outside, and supposedly some of those brews will find their way to the Holiday Party (Sunday, December 10th). There will be a door prize or two as well . . .
Bring homebrew to share; there will be a special judging area where you can get feedback from BJCP judges.
Bring CIDER! There will be a prize for the best cider.
Pick up your cider purchase! There will be a prize at the Holiday Party for the best cider from this year’s batch. THE CIDER PURCHASE IS CLOSED. Members purchased all 500 gallons, so if you are a non-member who was hoping to get some at the end of the purchase period, you will just have to join the club before next November. 🙂
Learn about cider! At 11:00, our club scientist Dave Matson will present ciders to be sampled; the ciders were fermented with nine different yeasts. Dave might also have some doctored ciders to show the effects of adding acid and/or tannin. Following Dave’s presentation, he and noted cider expert Chris Smith will hold a cider conversation where attendees may ask questions about the cider-making process.
Drink lots of Barley John’s great beer! While you eat egg bake, sample ciders, and wait for your turn in the cider line, please make certain to drink lots of John’s fabulous beer. Homebrew is welcome, but we want to make this worth Barley John’s time. We also want to be known as a club that tips like there’s no tomorrow.
We’ll see you incider or outcider Barley John’s on the 4th! People will be brewing and mingling until at least 2:00 . . .
Read MoreThe days are getting colder and nights longer and that can only mean one thing…it’s time to ferment some cider!
Once again the MHBA is having its annual cider buy. For only $5 per gallon, you can get some of the best, freshest, tastiest apple cider available.
If you have never made hard cider, it’s not hard. Check out our getting started guide. If you have the equipment for brewing beer, you likely have what you need for cider.
Cider is available in 5-gallon quantities and runs $25 for 5 gallons. The slight cost increase this year covers increased cider costs, credit card processing fees and reimbursing gas for the volunteers hauling the cider to the pickup.
- Once again, the cider purchase is limited to current club members to start with.
- You are responsible for bringing your own plastic buckets to bring the cider home in. Please DO NOT BRING GLASS.
- Cider must be picked up on Saturday, November 4th between 11am and 3pm at the Learn to Brew event at Barley Johns Brewpub.
- If you are new to cider making, take a look at our getting started making cider article from a few years ago.
If you have any questions, please contact Dave Matson.
Reserve your cider now!
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It’s time again for our annual cider purchase at November’s Learn to Homebrew Event.
For those who haven’t experienced this in the past, the club is purchasing 500 gallons of fresh pressed, unpasteurized apple cider from a local orchard. They do this special for us and you can’t get this cider at the orchard. This cider is amazing and has helped numerous club members produce some amazing cider.
Cider is available in 5-gallon quantities and runs $25 for 5 gallons. The slight cost increase this year covers increased cider costs, credit card processing fees and reimbursing gas for the volunteers hauling the cider to the pickup.
- Once again, the cider purchase is limited to current club members to start with.
- You are responsible for bringing your own plastic buckets to bring the cider home in. Please DO NOT BRING GLASS.
- Cider must be picked up on Saturday, November 4th between 11am and 3pm at the Learn to Brew event at Barley Johns Brewpub.
- If you are new to cider making, take a look at our getting started making cider article from a few years ago.
If you have any questions, please contact Dave Matson.
Reserve your cider now!
2013 MHBA Cider Buy