First homebrew club meeting...

For any of you guys that are not sure about joining a club, I must say my experience last night was great. Obviously it all depends on the club, however getting exposure to first hand knowledge on brewing was incredible.

We sampled beer from many of the brewers, including a few members who are BJCP national judges. We also had the founder of Allagash Brewery from the Sebago Lakes region come in to talk about Rye styles.

I randomly bumped into a buddy from highschool. Back then I wouldn't have known who Charles Papazian was, or think to ask my highschool buddy if that was his uncle (same last name). After we caught up on things post-highschool, he told me I probably have his uncles books. *jaw drop*

Pretty crazy what you get out of a Homebrew club meeting. Obviously your mileage will vary. Who knows: maybe John Palmer's cousin is a member of your local club.

I have to say I have learned as much or more from the local homebrew club as I have from this forum. Being able to actually TRY dozens of examples of different styles of beer (I think I have sampled a homebrew of every style in the BJCP now, including Lambic) is very educational, and the brew get-togethers where you see other peoples' equipment gives you ideas for improving your own brewhouse. Not to mention the feedback you can get on your beers and all the fun you have too. And the parties with 25 kegs... OMG!!

Chris Colby, editor of BYO, is a member of our local brew club the Austin Zealots and Marc who is a contributor used to be a Zealots member before he moved to Oregon. Our mailing list has about 280 members subscribed.

NoClueBrewMaster said:

Who knows: maybe John Palmer's cousin is a member of your local club.

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Actually.....

....No, but brew club meetings are GREAT!

I belong to a brew club that meets a short 30 minute drive from where I live. We each bring two bottles of beer (preferably homebrew, but some people bring interesting microbrews).

There's just something exciting about sitting around, tasting 30 different brews and talking about homebrewing.