Somerset Homebrew Club

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To be honest, I think the area is saturated with clubs.

WHALES (Woodbridge)
Ferment The World (New Brunswick)
Brew World Order (Sayreville)
The Pale Ales (Princeton)

I'm the president of Whales and we have people coming in from Hillsborough, Bridgewater, etc.

I guess it depends on what the club's focus really is and if it offers something completely different.
 
It takes me about 20 minutes to get to Woodbridge and then 15 to get home. In the grand scheme of brew clubs, that's pretty darned close to you. How many homebrewers live in Somerville? How big of a club do you hope to have?
 
I've run into at least half a dozen homebrewers here without trying. The size of the club is immaterial to me.

As I said, I don't like driving around here that much, especially at night. Others clearly do.

I don't fully understand your objections. I doubt we'd steal any members from WHALES, and I don't see how an additional club would be a bad thing.
 
I don't have any objections at all. I'm just making conversation and posing an opinion that it would probably be tough to get a new one off the ground given proximity to nearby established options. Everyone has their own goals though so enjoy yourself and good luck. The more the merrier.
 
LOL, that's basically what I was talking about. With that kind of attitude, every town would have to have it's own brewclub with 4 members.

Devil's advocate, the primary benefit of a club is to have maximum exposure to different perspectives, brews to sample, buying power, etc. There is a threshold of membership numbers that needs to be reached for this to be realized. Short of that, it's more a casual meeting of a couple brewers. Nothing wrong with that either but I'm throwing out a perspective from a larger club.
 
With that kind of attitude, every town would have to have it's own brewclub with 4 members.
That actually sounds like a good idea. Kind of like the local pub in every town of yesterday. And it's something that could compliment the larger clubs if members belonged to both a small local and larger regional club.
 
LOL, that's basically what I was talking about. With that kind of attitude, every town would have to have it's own brewclub with 4 members.

Devil's advocate, the primary benefit of a club is to have maximum exposure to different perspectives, brews to sample, buying power, etc. There is a threshold of membership numbers that needs to be reached for this to be realized. Short of that, it's more a casual meeting of a couple brewers. Nothing wrong with that either but I'm throwing out a perspective from a larger club.

Attitude??? No attitude whatsoever….more of an opinion, which I am sure you are referring to. ;)

You do realize that there a lot of home brewers out there that do not belong to clubs for various reasons? I know several as a matter of fact, who I actively brew and drink with. Reasons….Some due to distance, bad experiences, lack of time or simply social disorders. Distance, in my opinion is the main issue here….especially in NJ, where travel is more difficult than it is in Southern Virginia (for example, where I recently moved from). It does not really benefit me (personally) to drive and hour each way to Woodbridge from the Flemington area to attend a meeting at 7pm on a Monday evening.

Just my opinion but I think NJ’s denser population has more home brewers per square mile than many other areas. Look at California, there are over 80 clubs and growing. A possible reason why I think craft beer is much more popular on the Left Coast and IMO much better breweries out there as well.

What is the problem with growing the hobby? Quality advice, techniques, and camaraderie over a giant club where maybe ½ the participants show at each meeting.
 
Sorry, I think you're applying the informal negative connotation of "attitude" like "what's with YOUR attitude buddy?" which I didn't intend. Not that you need a dictionary lesson :)

Yeah, if distance is the issue than new startups that are extremely localized would be the answer but odds of hitting critical mass are reduced. Like you said, even if there are 100 active homebrewers in one township doesn't mean even 20% would join a club even if they were to find out about it.

I guess the discussion, which is admittedly a complete thread hijack at this point, is the merits/pros/cons of larger spread out clubs vs smaller satellite clubs all over the place. I recognize the merits of both but my choice to be a member of the former obviously shows what my preference is. I think once you call it a "club" you suggest it's a little more organized than a random casual gathering.

Thinking back to the OP, if Somerset is too far from New Brunswick (Ferment the World meets at Harvest Moon) to drive for a club, I think you ought to consider affiliating with The Brewing Network or HBT as your club.

Flemington is close enough to Lambertville (is it?)

The ANNiHiLATED

Lambertville, NJ
Phone: (201) 970-5747
Email: [email protected]
groups.google.com/group/the-annihilated?hl=en

If that's not your cup of tea, I hope you find what you're looking for.
 
When I asked about joining Whales, you told me you have to many members. I really don't understand why you would take issue with someone wanting to start a club.
 
I know this is an old thread. I live in central Jersey I would love to join a homebrew club. My issue I work 2 jobs so I would need a club that had meetings on the weekends. The only 2 that I found was 1.5 hours away and over 2 hours away.
 
OK, I've given up on finding a club that works for my location/schedule so I've decided to start a new group. I'm thinking it will be a very informal (no dues) meetup in the Somerset/Hunterdon/Warren area, focused mainly on sampling our brews. It's on Facebook here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1427728654185293/

I feel like you linked a group that has existed for a long time, as I have known about it for years and have been sporadically attending the meets in New Brunswick. Was that the one you meant to link, and were hoping for a spin off meet up?
 
Some of the FTW guys were talking, and it sounds like it doesnt have a home now. I would be interested in going when it finds one. A long time ago something like this was mentioned to Matty back when he was like the bar manager at Northside Lounge and he was cool with it. I would have to convince the owner now, but I could see it as a possibility. She is pretty cool.
 
Important Update: The group meeting at Capital Craft has decided to formally organize, pass ByLaws, collect dues, and kick things up a notch. To differentiate ourselves from FTW, we've renamed ourselves Garden State HomeBrewers. Here is our FB page for more info. https://www.facebook.com/GSHomebrewers/ All are welcome to drop by any of our meetings.
 
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