What is everybodies take on brew clubs..... in your opinion

I'm thinking of starting up a brew club...and I mean a club in the looses sense of the word. I'm not terribly interested in managing a club per say, but I would like to be more involved with local brewers.

I am calling it a club as a way to advertise myself & homebrewing locally to get together with some other brewers in the area with the idea that getting a few people together in the guise of a club will prompt me to get off my lazy duff when it comes to brewing more beer and growing my skills a bit, rather than just going batch by batch making all my own mistakes damnit! (its sometimes nice to watch others make mistakes for you )

Also as a club benefit getting other brewers nearby interested in doing group buys with the LHBS ( nearly 50 miles away) and bring the grain bill down a little by buying in bulk as well as having that sort of resource of local brewers in emergency situations (like oh, poo forgot to pick up yeast and LHBS is closed/ too far).

Personally i've come to consider this forum as the club i belong to. I've looked into joining a local club, too, but ultimately decided not to at this time. There's a vast knowledge base here for the tapping, and I already have the best brew buddy possible (SWMBO aka BrewWench). However, there are some nice things about local clubs, such as big group brew days, group buys on ingredients and equipment (think bourbon barrels), and beneficial connections with local breweries.

I say go for it. You'll probably meet some great people and even if the club falls through you may gain some lasting friendships.

Austin Zealots is a neat club. No dues and they meet once a month at the Gingerman downown to do beer tastings of everyones beer. They have a summer picnic and a Christmas Party. It's more of a social gathering of brewers than anything else. No structure what so ever and no rules. Brewing Chaos that works.

There's a local club that I've pretty much dropped out of; just didn't feel worth my time.

There's also "Yankee Ingenuity," which is a REALLY loose group of MA/VT/NY folks that gets together maybe four or five times a year to brew, to drink, and to hang out. That group of people is a blast, everyone's been uber-cool, and it's all HBT folk. No rules, no nothin'; when someone wants to get the group together, they post a thread and people show up or they don't. Very laid-back.

I've been in a club for a bit over a year now and it has its pluses. First thing is, they've been established for over ten years so it's running smooth. There's a core set of members that have been there from the beginning and never miss meetings or events. I think you need that for a club to be successful long term. The advantages I can see so far:

1. You end up tasting way more beer styles than you would if you were left to your own devices.

2. You get critique on your brews without having to ship anything.

3. Group brews are more structured in a way.. we ALWAYS brew together on AHA Big Brew and TAFTB.

4. We pull off a lot of big projects that I'd never do myself like Flanders, Meads, and Ciders in 60 gallon oak barrels.

I don't feel like it would hold up as my ONLY source of brew comeradery which is why I'm so active here.

we have a very very very loose, worse than a dead hooker in your trunk loose, club. It seems to be pretty cool and laid back, we just do whatever, whenever

I'm a very new member of BAM.

it's great, we get together once a month to discuss beers and we have quarterly style competitions within the club. i always get a little too drunk at the meetings

they also host lots of events. it's a great way to get other people's opinions and to know what's going down in your area.

if you're going to start a club, tho, i'd at least suggest you regularly plan communal food/drink/etc. to bring people together. investigate local events and go out to brewpubs, etc.

We recently had a brew-in. nothing like having 6+ people brewing together in a parking lot while sampling homebrew i didn't make it in time to brew, tho...next time.

On Saturday I'm hosting the first official non-meeting event for the newly founded local 'CAMRA' (Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale). It's been just monthly meetings so far, plus a forum online, but stuff like this needs to be built up over time. I think that voluntary involvement from members is key to long-term viability.

I just joined the local club. I'm not sure how many meetings I'll make (held once a month) because it's a fair distance from my house.

But:

• I take advantage of bulk grain purchases coordinated by one of the members.
• I'd like to enter into some club only competitions periodically.
• They do a lot for the homebrewing hobby with brewing demonstrations at local festivals...etc.
• They've worked up some member discounts at local pubs.
• Everyone I've met is pretty cool and I've even had someone pick up my grains for me when I couldn't make the pickup.
  
• And it's $25 a year...

If I can ever get to one of the meetings, I'll let you know. I have always had something come up when the meetings are held. Until then, HBT is my quasi-homebrew club...

There are a few clubs in my area. I've tried contacting the heads of those clubs through the contact info listed on the AHA site, but nobody has returned a phone call or email. Maybe the clubs aren't active anymore, maybe the people are just *****es, who knows...

I think that clubs do have a number of benefits as have been mentioned in this thread, group bulk buys and group brew days being the ones most attractive to me.

Lately I've seen a fair amount of Connecticut people on HBT, maybe it's time I organize my own CT club...

I've actually been in contact with c.n. budz about meeting up, and I'd love to be apart of something that is laid back and isn't too serious. I've been around car clubs for a while, and I have a pretty bad stigma about those from seeing how people can treat each other.

Thanks for the replies thus far the idea of starting up a "club" I admit might be slightly self serving ( group buys and such) but in reality it goes a bit further than that.

I see all benefits at this point in time for at least TRYING to launch a club whether it takes off and becomes its own entity in the future (ie an "official" club w/ dues and such ) is beyond me right now.


I like evan!'s thought of the first official non-meeting meeting ...LOL

I belong to two cubs, one in Portland (OBC) and one in the Corvallis/Albany area (HoV). OBC is more structured and larger, and participates in many Portland brewing events. HoV runs a major HB competition and a brewfest on their own. I enjoy them both, although it's a long drive to either. There are bulk buys now & then, I don't bother. Wood rat, mouse, vole,etc. secure storage would wipe out any savings.

A friend at work started a club and at first it was just he and I at the meetings. Now there is about 8 of us that meet once a month. It is really nice to share brew and experiences with others. To encourage others to join we started rewing every meeting. More of a social thing for me since I am one of the more advanced brewers in the group (which is not saying much). Over all it was definitely worth the effort and I encourage others to do it.

I joined a local club last summer. It's been a great experience and has really helped my brewing. We are a very laid back club with no real structure and no dues. We have a fairly active forum and get together every month for a quick tasting meeting and discuss problems and shoot the ****. We put together bulk grain orders and have done three brew days since I joined. We just did one on Saturday were we brewed a Dark Belgian Strong and are going to age it in a Jack Daniels Whiskey Barrel. We also coordinate with the other local club on getting competition entries to regional comps.

Joe C said:

I've actually been in contact with c.n. budz about meeting up, and I'd love to be apart of something that is laid back and isn't too serious. I've been around car clubs for a while, and I have a pretty bad stigma about those from seeing how people can treat each other.

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Where are you in MA? You and Budz need to come up to a YI gathering. I know Jester and Red are planning on throwing a party up north sometime this summer (Yankee Ingenuity VII: Northern Exposure).