What is it that you are looking to get out of being involved in a club?
I ask because I was turned off to the idea of homebrew clubs after making a visit to a local one here.
Then, a few of kind of started an informal club. No meetings or dues. We just get together to brew, drink beer, shoot the bull, etc. I get honest feedback on my beers from this crew, and have a good time hanging out.
We use our group power to scan and nab anything on craiglist, organize group buys to save on shipping, borrow yeast/hops/grain from each other, and even pull off 2000+ pound bulk grain buys.
So... I think I am getting everything I could possibly want out of my informal club, and none of the BS I don't want (no politics, no dues, etc).
edit: the president of one of the local clubs here is also part of our informal club, and I think he likes the informal club better.
I was stoked when a club got started around here a few years back. Went to the early meetings. Boring as ****. All discussions about bylaws and dues and crap like that. Very little beer discussion. Life got busy, I dropped out.
Fast forward to last month. Decide I'll give it another shot.
Just as bad.
1. The club VP is clueless. He works at the homebrew shop where the meetings are held, and has no idea about brewing. He was trying to decribe a beer that he brought, all he knew was that he used a kit and added a little extra extract. No idea what hops or anything. "What kind of yeast did you use?" "Liquid yeast." "Yeah, but what strain?" "Uh, LIQUID yeast!"
2. The club prez is the homebrew shop owner, he's an OK guy but has the very annoying habit of always making semi-joking snide remarks about buying stuff in his shop. Like, someone showed off a chiller they made: "Why didn't you buy one here?" Someone mentioned washing yeast: "C'mon, you don't want to reuse yeast, buy more!" All joking, but making it very uncomfortable. Can I talk about shopping at online vendors, or show off my KegCowboy plate chiller, or talk about gear that I've made, without him being an ass? Just makes everything uncomfortable.
3. One very annoying woman who just dominates every conversation by being loud but not witty. Just a personality conflict, I can't stand her and she NEVER SHUTS UP.
4. Very focused on extremely elementary brewing, to the point of boring me to tears. Like, the kid who was showing off his chiller, it's nice and all... but he took a length of copper tubing, coiled it around a keg and put tubing on the end. We don't need to talk about it for fifteen minutes.
Just really, really boring, in the end. LOTS of additional discussion about "club business" like choosing a new logo and collecting dues.
What was good, there were a bunch of people there that were really cool, and a freakin' smoking-hot redhead (bad was that her boyfriend was there, too). Good that they were planning a field trip to a local maltster (apparently there's a small malting operation about an hour from here). Good that they put together a BJCP class last year.
Overall, though... how do you have a homebrew club that bores ME to tears? I mean, ****... I can talk about beer and brewing forever!
Yankee Ingenuity hasn't had a get-together in a while, that's been kind of the northern equivalent to GRABASS. But, heading out to see Paulie and Yeager and Cape and the other east-coast boys in a couple weeks. That's enough of a club for me.
EDIT: The other thing I *hated* about the local club... I've never heard a single word of criticism towards any brew that's been shared, and plenty - PLENTY - have deserved it. Certain clubs just don't have the culture of being open with honest, constructive criticism.
EDIT 2: Other weird thing; when hanging out before the meeting started, someone else casually dropped a swear word, not anything terrible, I think they might have just said "****." Guy my age or younger. IMMEDIATELY looked around and apologized profusely to everyone. What the **** kind of culture IS this club, where people feel compelled to apologize for saying "****" or "dammit"?