featured
Thanks to everyone who came out and joined us at Casket Cinema for the screening of Crafting a Nation. Our hosts, Mark Wojahn and Wilbur Ince, both said it was the most attended movie event they’ve ever done.
The film was very interesting and shot well. We had a nice showing of MHBA members and we had some pretty good beer as well.
The players were Wilbur Ince and Mark Wojahn – co-founders of the casket cinema and Brenden Harris, Director of Photography for Crafting a Nation. We also had a short discussion of the effort it takes to start a brewery in Minnesota by Brett Michlitsch and Lonnie Manresa.
(more…)
Congratulations to everyone who entered beer, mead and cider in the 2014 Upper Mississippi Mashout! A big congratulations to everyone who medaled as well!
For those unfamiliar with Mashout, it is one of the largest homebrew contests in the country, drawing nearly 1000 entries from coast to coast. Mashout was started in 2002 and is sponsored by the Minnesota Homebrewers Association and the St Paul Home Brewers Club. Judges and volunteers from around the region, and around the country, descend on the Twin Cities to judge these entries as well as take part in educational seminars and catch up with friends.
(more…)
On December 13th, our group held our annual Christmas party at the CSPS Hall in St. Paul.
This year we were able to create a family friendly, festive atmosphere with colored table clothes, red and green beads,
candy canes and great food, beer and music. The 70 or so group of attendees were treated to live music throughout the evening as Reuben Ristrom and his band
played a number of Jazzy seasonal songs and classic jazz pieces. We had enough food this year to take care of everyone and still had a little left over! Thanks to all who brought something to share!
Congratulations to Jeff Luskey and his “Chernilla Stout” for winning the beer competition. (Updated: We originally credited Paul Illa for this.) (more…)
Read More
Thanks to everyone who showed up to Barley John’s on Saturday to help with our Annual Cider distribution. This year the MHBA purchased 500 gallons and probably set a record for how quickly it was distributed, with it all going within about 3 hours! As usual, Barley John’s Brew Pub in New Brighton hosted our event and had a fantastic collection of beers available for us to try while filling buckets and carboys.
For anyone who is still sitting on their cider, here are a couple resources to get you started fermenting!
Brewing TV Video
Our very own Chris Smith shares his amazing Cider making knowledge with the Northern Brewer Brewing TV crew in this 2012 episode all about Cider. The recipe from the episode is also available.
Read More
“Learn to Brew” day was held this year on Saturday, November 2nd at Barley John’s. And it was another excellent turnout! The weather was very nice this year which made it much easier to stay outside and see all the action. The day started with our normal setup of multiple brewing stations. Thanks go out to Al, Gera, Todd, Paul and TJ for taking the time to bring your setups. They treated us to extract and all grain brewing methods, which ranged from a 5 gallon batch to a 30 gallon batch. Marie, manager of Barley John’s, and her staff did a great job of taking care of our group and serving excellent beer and food. We had one guest who was promoting his availability of honey and another promoting their website for beer recipes. There were a number of new people asking lots of questions and wanted to become members of our club. We had great gift sponsors in Northern Brewer and Midwest Supplies as we raffled off 2 new brew kits as well as a lot of glasses, t-shirts and other beer swag. Big thanks go out to Gera for putting this year’s event together! Thanks to everyone who participated! (more…)
Read More
Just a reminder about our upcoming meeting this Saturday!
Our November meeting celebrates AHA’s Learn to Homebrew Day. Once again, Barley John’s Brew Pub has invited us to hang out on their patio while club members provide demonstrations on how to brew both extract and all-grain beers. The meeting is from 10 am to 3 pm on Saturday, November 2nd. Home brew is welcome and remember that Barley John’s offers great beer and wonderful food, including a delish egg bake that they are making just for us again this year. (more…)
Read More
On October 12, the Minnesota Home Brewers Association was invited for a private tour by Surly Brewer, Derek Allmendinger. Derek is a member of the club and homebrewer turned pro! Derek started his career in professional brewing at Schell’s in New Ulm before coming back to the Twin Cities and joining Surly Brewing.
(more…)
On September 4th, Summit Brewing Company opened their doors to us and generously provided a fantastic tour of the entire facility. From the malt storage, to brewing and on to fermentation, Summit has a fantastic setup and it was fun to see their setup.
Read More