It was a warm night and the brewery was even warmer (hot actually), but we had plenty of commercial and hombrewed beer to keep out minds off how much we were sweating.
It was another month of welcoming several new perspective members. We were joined by Alfred, Ted, and brew partners Dwayne & Chuck. We also had Mike and Denny visiting from Rochester NY and decided to stop in to check us out. Their friend Steve has visited us every fall for the past several years and is spreading the word.
CRABS has club insurance though the AHA and it costs the club about $200 per year. This is not too bad, but AHA is giving us the opportunity to carry the insurance for free this year. If 75% of our members are AHA members, the AHA will fully cover the cost of our insurance. If you are not an AHA member, consider joining. If you are a member, please log into you account and verify that you are associated with the CRABS club.
Heavy Seas is expanding and will be significantly increasing the size of their tap room. They still plan to host us since we have been meeting at Heavy Seas for at least 15 years (and we are low maintenance). However, there may be some issues during construction where we may not be able to meet here. Construction is set to begin later this year. If we need to, we will most likely move to MD Homebrew temporarily. We will send notice out in advance.
MASHOUT will be Aug 17-20 @ a new location, Fort Royale Farm in Bedford, PA. Registration is lagging and we need at least 150 people signed up to break even. Tickets are only $35 now, but will increase $45 after 29 July. If you have been to MASHOUT you know what it is all about. If you haven't, you don't know what you are missing. Visit campmashout.com to register.
Speaking of MASHOUT, we needed to decide what the theme of our food competition should be this year. Ideas thrown out there included ground meat, eggs, and tacos. After a very short discussion, it was decreed that the competition shall be "Ground Meat".
Catonsville Co-op will be on 5 August several CRABS members will be serving their beer, but there is still room for more. Contact Josh Dix for detail.
Crabs for CRABS will be on September 10th at Guilford Park, Guilford Road, in Jessup. This is the same location as last year.
We are planning a group trip to Asheville on September 15-18th. Most of us plan to leave the Baltimore area on Friday morning September 15th so we can get down there by early afternoon, and will return on Monday the 18th. You do not need to follow this schedule exactly and can come/go earlier/later if you would like. A Google spreadsheet has been created for people to sign up and provide some information (Driving, need a ride, where staying etc...). If you plan on going, please add your information to the list.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V4ZqWcngLI7i26NPbLVFpOOKtrkS7Zx1vIhwFHAfgAM/edit?usp=sharing
There will be a meeting in August, but no competition since it is the day before MASHOUT. In addition to bringing some beer to share, bring a gadget that others may find useful. It has been several years since we have had gadget night, and it is always good to get some brewing ideas from fellow homebrewers.
Here are the top 5 beers from the Wheat Beer competition.
1. Don Zwatch - Weissbier (Hefeweizen)
2. Tim Paulin - Weissbier (Hefeweizen)
3. John Jester - Witbier
4. Craig & Rachel Szczesiuls - American Wheat
4. Craig Bryant - Witbier
5. Andy Niviasky - Witbier