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Author: Jonathan Greene
Big Brew Day with Spike Brewing – May 5th, 2018
Our buddies at Spike Brewing have invited us to an Open House on AHA Big Brew Day (Sat. May 5th from 2-6PM) at their new production facility in Milwaukee (3866 N Fratney St, Milwaukee, WI 53212).
The plan is to
- Brew a batch on their one-barrel pilot system (for those of us interested in brewing),
- Check out their new facility
- Share beers amongst club members and friends
Spike will provide food, homebrew, and prizes throughout the day. It also happens to be Derby Day, go they’ll have the race on their 70″ TV.
This event is open to our members, friends, and families – so bring your crew! As with all Barons related events, everyone is responsible for their consumption and transportation to and from Spike.
We’re thinking of brewing a Saison (it’s seasonal and a quick ferment) and dividing up the batch to ferment with different yeast strains. Spike will make several fermenters available for us so we can play around with fermentation temps/additions. In June, Spike Brewing will join us on the Homebrew Patio at our World of Beer Festival to serve the different homebrews to attendees.
Wanna join? Please fill out this form to let us know you are interested, and how many guests you are coming with. This helps us with planning food and prizes!
2018 Membership Renewals
Barons, thank you for your continued support of our club!
Annual membership dues are a critical source of funding that enable us to continue offering you fun and uniques beer-related programming and education. Membership renewals for 2018 are now available in our webshop. Renewing online helps expedite the process, so please consider renewing online. If you prefer, you are always welcome to renew in person at the next general meeting.
Not currently a member? No problem! You can become a member at anytime by paying the dues. We encourage you to take a look around this site to get a sense of what we are all about. We’ve been promoting the education and enjoyment of fermented beverages for nearly 30 years!
A reminder to current members, your 2017 memberships cover the January 2018 meeting. However, we encourage you to renew for 2018 now to help us get ahead on making new membership cards for the February 2018 meeting.
Thank you for your continued support. Prosit!
Madison Bus Trip: Brewery Hop – Feb 24, 2018
It’s time for another Barons Bus Trip! This time, we are heading to Madison to check out some of our favorite places to our west. Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 24th. The cost is $20 per person which covers transportation only – a safe and fun way to travel between destinations. We are renting a coach bus this year. Participants will be paying for their own beer samples and food as we travel from place to place.
This trip is open to members and non-members alike. We need to have 30 people signed up in order to make this trip feasible. If we do not get enough support, we will happily refund any reservations.
Here are some details:
We are leaving the The RedZone MKE at 9:30 am and then heading to the Goerkes Corners Park & Ride to pick up the rest of our guests. We will leave the park and ride by 9:50 am. We’ll hit Madison by 11:00am and the proposed itinerary will be:
- Ale Asylum (limited lunch available)
- Karben4
- Next Door
- Funk Factory
- Tyranena (if time permits one the route home)
We plan to spend between 60-90 minutes at each place. We will return to the Park & Ride by 9:00pm.
Here is map of the locations:
All participants need to have a safe driver to take them home after the event.
Reserve your tickets here!
Register your entries for the 2017 Schnapp Hans Cup!
The 2017 Schnapp Hans Cup is in the final week of open registration. Get your entries in now for a chance to take home the Cup, and to have your recipe ramped up at the Delafield Brewhaus!
We could use a few more judges and stewards too, so if you can help us out on October 14th, please sign up.
Register your entries here! And/or register as a judge or steward! Best of luck!
The 2017 Summer Picnic Cometh
Our annual picnic will be on Saturday September 9th at Picnic Area 3 on the Root River Parkway (see map below) rain or shine. We kick off about noon with a food provided (burgers, brats, chicken breast, salads) along with all our drafts lines pouring homemade beers, meads and ciders. We encourage you to bring a dish to share, chairs, pop-up tents, towels, yard games or any other summer-outdoor-type-of-thing.
Bring your best beer, mead, or cider for a chance to win our ‘best beverage’ get your name etched on the Jerry Hetzel Memorial Mash Paddle. There is also a ‘food-made-with-beer’ competition for any edible you bring that includes beer/mead/cider as a recipe component. Both competitions are popular-vote style, voted on by our guests.
We will be holding our annual picnic pay-to-play giveaway again this year. We will have a lot of great things in the pay-to-play giveaway and will update this post with more details as they become available!
Timeline: We’ll be there at 11am. Food starts around 12:30pm. Giveaway starts at 5pm.
Image: https://www.steakhouseprices.com
March 2017 – General Meeting: Yeast Parallel with Good City
March’s general meeting will be a hybrid Homebrew/Commercial night featuring a yeast parallel collaboration with Good City Brewing Company.
About 1 month ago, several Barons collected about 60 gallons of Irish Red wort from Good City and brought it home to ferment it with different yeasts or different conditions. Using the same wort, we can eliminate all of the variables associated with the brewing process itself and focus on fermentation characteristics.
Join us while we get an opportunity to sample all 12 of the examples side by side and discuss the differences from the yeast and comparing it to the commercial example. The meeting will start at 7:30 at Clifford’s.
We will also be welcoming Andy Jones, Owner and Brewmaster of Good City, to discuss his beer and sample what he has to offer. Andy is a graduate of UC Davis, has worked at Goose Island and most recently spent about 8 years working for Lakefront.
Heads Up!
- Will not have room for member beers on the Jockey Box this month. Please bring some bottles to share instead!
- The March Swap Meet will be happening before the meeting. It starts at 6:30. If you want to bring stuff to trade, please get there by 6:00. See the Swap Meet post for details.
- Starting at about 7p we will have about a half-dozen BJCP judges available to give you immediate feedback on your homebrew. This is a great way to get feedback on your brews, without waiting for the next competition. The judges will give you constructive criticism, suggest ways to make improvements, and if any flaws are detected, they will help diagnose the source.
Photo: Good City
February 2017 – General Meeting: 3rd Sign & Octopi
On February 22nd, we will welcome Sara Brauer, the Sales Manager of 3rd Sign Brewery and Octopi Brewing companies, and Sam Green the header brewer for 3rd Sign. Please join us at Clifford’s at 7:30pm for a fun-filled and educational evening as Sara and Sam introduce us to 3rd Sign and lend insight into the new contract-brewing outfit in Madison: Octopi Brewing.
Both 3rd Sign and Octopi are relatively new. Octopi was created as a one-stop contract brewing resource to help smaller breweries with everything from brewing, packaging and distribution. 3rd Sign is the in-house brand of the Octopi team.
We look forward to seeing you at the meeting. If you would like to bring a beer for the Jockey Box, please email the officers and let us know.
Lastly, if you would like to get some helpful feedback on any of your beers – without putting them on the Jockey Box – we will have a few of our club’s BJCP judges available to provide one-on-one feedback during social hour. Feel free to bring and bottle and find the judges!
Milwaukee Bus Trip: New Breweries
Update:
Tickets are now sold out
In 2016, Milwaukee had an explosion of newly opened breweries and tap rooms. We plan to make a day out of visiting a few of them. Reserve your spot with us as we travel our fair city on Saturday, February 25th checking out many of the newly opened breweries. The reservation is for the bus transport only – a safe and fun way to travel between destinations. Participants will be paying for their own beer samples and food as we travel from place to place.
This trip is for club members, with each member allowed to bring guests. We need to have 30 people signed up in order to make this trip feasible. If we do not get enough support, we will happily refund any reservations.
Here are some details:
We leaving the the Loomis Rd. Park & Ride at 11:30am and heading for Black Husky. After that we hope to hit:
- Company Brewing (will have sandwiches available to order)
- Like Minds
- Enlightened
- Urban Harvest
- City Lights or 3rd Space (depending on availability)
We will return to the Park & Ride by 6:00pm.
All participants need to have a safe driver to take them home after the event.
January 2017 – General Meeting: Gadget Night IV
Happy New Year, Barons!
Spending the fourth Wednesday evening of 2017 watching our very own Dave Campbell present his latest do-it-yourself presentation is the best way you can ring in the new year. For the past 4 years, Dave has been inspiring us to make our own brew stands, temperature controllers, keg washers, flame shields, tap handles, and all other manner of gear for our brewhouses and taprooms.
Dave has a rich background in designing and fabricating all kinds of things. He is an Experimental Machinist Fabricator by trade and has a killer personal shop at his home, where much of our club’s DIY gear is prototyped. Dave also hosts small-group welding seminars for members, and a variety of club build days.
Come on by, and join us in learning just how far we can stretch our household budgets in the name of brewing.
The meeting will be held at Clifford’s on January 25th at 7:30pm. If you would like to bring a keg of homebrew for the Jockey Boxes, please contact [email protected] and let us know.
Lastly, please remember that we are starting the membership renewal process this month. Club memberships officially expire at the end of January, so your 2016 memberships are valid for this meeting. However, we will be asking members to renew for 2017, and this can cause some delays in check-in. Please consider renewing your membership online to save yourself some time!
See you soon!