1. Another great turnout with about two dozen folks and a lot of beer.
2. 2024 dues are to be paid to Rob K. via cash, check, or Venmo @Rob-Kiernan-CRABS
3. Our April competition will be Heavy Seas Powder Monkey clone. Maryland Homebrew will work to get us the necessary ingredients.
4. Our May competition will be same grain / same hop. See https://www.crabsbrew.org/competition_schedule for rules. Specific ingredients for a 5-gallon batch are:
- 7 pounds pilsen malt
- 2 pounds white wheat malt
- 1 pound flaked corn
- 8 ounces carahell malt
- 2 ounces Delta hops
- 2 ounces Idaho 7 hops
5. Our food+beer pairing will tentatively be in May but no date has been set.
6. Maryland Homebrew will host Big Brew on Saturday May 4.
7. The Guild summer picnic will be on Saturday June 1, noon-dusk, at Patapsco Valley State Park, Hollofield area, shelter #300. There will be a hedonistic homebrew contest.
8. Denizens will have their Winter Cask Classic on Saturday February 3. See https://www.giftrocker.com/secure/Order/?h=efb2c416 for details.
9. The St. Patrick’s Day South Baltimore pin crawl will be on Saturday March 16, 12-8 PM. Starts at Checkerspot, then goes to Pickett and Wico Street (with possibly another location also). Each place will have a pin or firkin, plus there will be some other special beers (barrel-aged, etc). More info at https://www.facebook.com/events/742490993994921/?ref=newsfeedb
10. MASHOUT will be August 15-18 at the same Cumberland location.
11. Third Hill Brewing will have a homebrew competition. See https://www.thirdhillbrewing.com/hbcomp/ for details and https://www.thirdhillbrewing.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/HBC-Submission-Form.pdf for the entry form.
12. The Guild holiday party at Bay Life Brewing had well over 100 attendees. A bit fewer than the previous year but proceeds were higher due to raffle ticket sales. Folks liked having it in a brewery again, though the space is split by a wall rather than being one open space. The next Guild holiday party might be at Bay Life again, or perhaps Heavy Seas will be able to accommodate us.
13. This month’s competition was hedonistic. There were 14 entries. Winners were:
- 5th (tie) – Bob Baroncinni
- 5th (tie) – John Jester
- 4th – Trevor Rose
- 3rd – Marty Mengele
- 2nd – Brian England
- 1st – Chris + Christa
14. Next meeting: Wednesday February 21. Competition will be IPAs (English, American, specialty, hazy).
15. Go to http://crabsbrew.org for CRABS-related information. The 2024 CRABS competition schedule is at http://www.crabsbrew.org/competition_schedule