Home brew club growing pains... ideas, please

[Mpez]

I am part of a home brew club that is going through some growing pains. We are looking at ways to improve how we run the tastings at our style specific meetings.

In the past we have typical sat together as a single group, poured a beer, discussed it, and then moved on to the next. People would point out things they liked or did not like, off flavors, etc. Also we might have people ask the brewer about the beer. This seemed to work pretty well when we had less than 20 people, but we are now getting 30-40+ people at our meetings and this is not really working very well. The number of beers and people makes it feel like your just quickly downing a beer to make room for the next one coming your way. This leaves little to no room for discussions.

We have come up with some ideas on how we might change the format, but I thought I would look for some advice from others on how they have handled this problem.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

The group I go to has around 30 people. The format typically starts with a group activity, whether that's judging beers in a contest we've got going on or a lecture, etc... We then break up into tables of 8-10 and you share your brew with the table. So you won't taste everything that was brought that night but you'll at least get that intimate discussion.

 

[McKnuckle]

Why not have a rotation instead of everyone bringing something every time? Like maybe 5 people bring tasting samples each meeting (number varies according to size of the club).

 

[cannman]

Perhaps you need to have club events that are pure tasting events and subject to x amount of people, brewers ONLY. Privatizing events like this will help you control costs, obtain the feedback you're looking for, and also encourage lurkers to finally start brewing.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Or... Instead of judging/commenting on EVERY beer, why not have a handful, 3-5 at the most? Most of the brewers that have been brewing longer don't really need or want input on their beers.

Once the 3-5 are judged/discussed, let the other growlers/bottles float about for the other beers. Make sure everything is labelled adequately, so that someone will know what style, and who brewed what beer, and can ask that person directly about it if he/she so chooses.

MC

 

[TheZymurgist]

Our club will typically have about 20 to 25 people attend each meeting, and most of the time, about half bring samples. We send around a sign-up sheet, limiting it to 10 entries per meeting. Anyone that doesn't make the list is welcome to share their beer casually before or after the meeting. I think as we grow, we will look at splitting into groups for the tasting session, but that's not an issue for us yet.

 

[Brettomomyces]

You could do sign ups, limit the groups to say a few entries per style and as people arrive to the meeting they sign up for particular styles they would like to work with. Or ask for head counts in advance and assign people in advance if that causes issues. Anything outside the limits is just drinkin' beer.

 

[soccerdad]

You guys make me appreciate the local club We get together roughly once a month and brew. We rotate around to various houses who host the day, Anywhere from 2 to 6 guys (who are portable) will brew, the rest of us help them as needed, and we all bring some home brews, some commercial brews that we like, and some snacks. In the intervening days we stay connected through a facebook group. We are very informal.

 

[AnOldUR]

Like soccerdad, the club I belong to is small and informal. We meet at a local bar once a month. Members bring two or more bottles that get passed around and commented on. Most of the time we're somewhere around a dozen people. It has more of the feel of a group of friends getting together than a “club”. I would never stand in the way of progress, but I will miss these days when they inevitably come to an end. I feel your growing pains.

 

[LandoLincoln]

My guild has monthly meetings, and we have style-specific (mostly) competitions about 5 times a year. On those occasions, we select three people that didn't brew anything for the competition to judge and those three sit down with judging sheets and they sit there and judge and discuss while the rest of us are walking around sampling each other's beers. So for the people that had no interest in the style for the competition it's just another guild meeting where other brewers sample their beer and get to hear what other people think. For people that DID take part in the competition, they get to walk around with their beers and have people give them a critique AND they get the judges to give them some detailed notes on what they liked and did not like.

The only drawback to this is that if there's a lot of entries in a competition, then the three judges are stuck there at the table not having anybody sample the stuff that they brought / aren't enjoying the camaraderie associated with being a part of a brewing guild/club. Our December meeting is also our Christmas party and that's always a big deal, and lots of people brew something for the December competition, so we've decided that for that competition we're going to have people submit their samples early and we'll have someone judge them before the December meeting so that the three judges don't miss out on the Christmas festivities.

 

[Mpez]

Thanks for the ideas!