Anyone here a member of Chicago Beer Society

I'm thinking of joining, and I was curious about the "Thrist Fursday" tomorrow night. I've got a couple of brews that I'm iffy on, and wanted to get more experienced pallets to taste them and tell me what's wrong, and whether or not they think the flavors will balance with age, or if I should just pitch them and reclaim the bottles they are in.

Is it acceptable for a non-member to show up to the meeting with their beer for tasting/judging? (I would just join, but my birthday is next Thursday, and membership to CBS is one of the things on my "list".)

(Part of me doesn't want to do this, as I'd rather my first impression to the group be with really good beer, not the sub-par ones I've been brewing lately. Oh why, oh why didn't I keep any of that Vanilla Porter around? Oh, yeah, it just tasted too damn good not to drink!)

Definitely go. Take your beers. Enjoy your time.

Very cool group of guys and highly experienced and influential in the beer world. I took my second beer ever to a CBS meeting and had some of the Siebel instructors drinking my mediocre beer, and they gave me fantastic advice in a helpful non-condescending manner.

The other club members that were there were also helpful, had a good attitude, and were fun to be around.

Aside from scheduling conflicts I know of no reason not to go.