Carolina Brew Scene - Summer 2023

BREW SCENE

HOMEBREWERES

SPIRIT OF CRAFT

Outer Banks Distilling crafts the past, present and future

MEADS MOMENT

An ancient drink is having a modern resurgence in NC

THIRST IN FLIGHT

Piratical pints

PUBLISHER

Kyle Stephens EDITOR

Lewis Smith

New Horizons

DESIGN & LAYOUT

Michelle Leicester

CONTENT & PHOTOGRAPHY

Lewis Smith

Karen A. Mann

Ben Saltzman

Geof Fountain

Baxter Miller

ADVERTISING

Lewis Smith

Chris Taylor CONTACT

Bwilson@apgenc.com

LSmith@apgenc.com

Carolinabrewscene@gmail.com

CarolinaBrewScene.com

Welcome to year seven of Carolina BrewScene! As we contemplated what 2023 was going to look like for our year of publication, we’re making an effort to take a wider view of the craft beverage scene in North Carolina and try to get to grips with the next chapter of the story.

Imagine our surprise when it turned out these new folks in newer felds that we’d encountered hailed from some familiar places we’ve visited over our seven years of bringing you this magazine. For example, our visit to Kill Devil Rum involved revisiting some of the legends of Outer Banks brewing, like Weeping Radish, Outer Banks Brewing Station, and Lost Colony, as well as exciting newcomers Swells’a Brewing. These connections were only highlighted by an article from the OBX Homebrewer Club, featuring longtime favorites as well as letting us know about a brand new brewery coming to Corolla this summer.

Our look at meaderies reveals a whole collective of awesome people brewing new and exciting beverages, highlighting up and coming breweries as well as local legends, and we make some new friends at NC Beer Factory, a new spot in Rocky Mount.

There’s also time for fun, as we pay a visit to Edward Teach Brewing to wish them a happy 5th birthday and take some time to appreciate OBX BrewTag, a longtime favorite event with us, and one we always make the time to attend.

We’ve got a lot for you to enjoy this issue. Before we start–we’re grateful to the friends who made this issue possible, whether by contributing their story, their work, or supporting us with their advertising, or both. They are the lifeblood of this publication, and their gift keeps this never ending story ongoing.

Cheers, everyone!

Lewis Smith Editor

Photo by Baxter Miller

Spirit of Craft

From molasses to glasses, Outer Banks Distilling sails on a rising tide.

By Lewis Smith

Kill Devil Hills has always been a crossroads of history—colonial and aviation, to name but two. But it’s also the genesis of North Carolina’s craft brewing revolution. Back in 1988, the Weeping Radish Brewery began the craft beverage movement on the Outer Banks and in North Carolina as a whole, joined soon after by the Lost Colony Brewery and Outer Banks Brewing Station.

That tide has been rising ever since.

Outer Banks Distilling could be said to be born from that history, both in terms of its location in Manteo NC and in terms of its principals. Matt Newsome and Scott Smith had worked at Weeping Radish Brewery and Outer Banks Brewing Station in the years prior to the establishment of the distillery in 2015, and they, along with their two partners, carried their principles of experimentation honed through years of craft brewing into the production of their signature Kill Devil Rum varieties.

They sum it up thusly: “It’s a craft brewery mindset but in distilling.”

The seed was planted in 2014, when Newsome and Smith were working at Outer Banks Brewing Station. Matt and Scott met up with two likeminded souls Adam Ball and Kelly Bray, both of whom were natives to the Outer Banks. Adam had studied at the Siebel Institute of Technology and had worked at Ballast Point prior to his return. Soon enough, the four became something of a secret club as time went on.

The quartet felt that craft beer was reaching a saturation point, and saw more of a future in distilling spirits. But while their focus might have

changed, they carried a craft-honed knowledge base and willingness to experiment into this new area, bringing ideas of craft beer to the distilling process.

The distillery works with different strains, barrels, sugars, spices, and ingredients with unstinting creativity and a commitment to integrity.

The choice of rum seemed an apt one, given their location. According to legend, “Kill Devil Hills” drew its name from a strain of rum “strong enough to kill the Devil.”

To hear Matt tell it, “it felt right.”

There was a practical aim as well—unlike with bourbon, rum offered more freedom. Coupled with the craft approach, this set them in sharp relief with the larger rum distilleries, and gave them the freedom to fnd their way. Soon enough, their fagship Silver rum was joined by other stalwart companions-- Gold and Pecan Rum, as well as their limited-run Shipwreck series, distinguished by their unique green bottles.

The commitment to integrity is important to the four, and is considered one of their founding pillars.

Eschewing rigid formulas

and artifcial favoring and static favor profles, everything that goes into Kill Devil Rum is sourced locally and naturally, and they strive for an honesty and authenticity at every level of the process. No idea is too oddball not to be worth a try, and even the pecan trees in their backyard might well be pressed into service as an ingredient.

“We wanted a quality product more than great marketing,” Matt says. “I mean, is it really craft if you don’t have your boots on?”

With a plan in place, the next step was to fnd the right place for the plan. The old Quinn Furniture Store location on Budleigh street, dating back from 1946, was the ideal location for the enterprise, and the notion of renovating an existing structure and keeping its history was compelling. The building needed to be gutted and refurbished to make room for their still and be brought up to code in accordance with the safety regulation that all distilleries are required by North Carolina law to operate. Although the cost of renovating a building of that size and re-purposing it to the needs of the distillery was a high hurdle, bank loans and help from the principals’ families helped, as did running tours while they worked on brewing their frst releases.

But along with those challenges, however, were benefcial elements— there was wastewater infrastructure that was benefcial to their operation, favorable attitudes from the Manteo town government, and a community that embraced the group right away, eager to educate visiting tourists on the subject of rum.

“Everyone was rooting for us,” Matt remembers.

In the 8 years since, Outer Banks Distilling has worked to return the kindness shown them, and to be a good neighbor. They’ve entertained visitors from as far away as New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, while simultaneously building a dedicated fandom in North Carolina and

Virginia.

“We’re always willing to reach out,” Matt says, recalling their collective experience building community in the craft beer scene.

“The more bars that are carrying craft spirits, the better for everyone. Not everyone is like this, but we’re an open book, and we’re eager to work with other people who are.”

That outreach has taken many forms, from barrel-sharing with breweries, distilleries, and wineries, hosting pop-ups (tasting sessions not dissimilar to a tap takeover in a craft brewery), and even sharing their homebrew supplies with the recently opened brewery in Kill Devil Hills, Swellsa Brewing. Outer Banks Distilling maintains great relationships with Swellsa, 1718 Brewing in Ocracoke, and Outer Banks Brewing Station.

After all, according to Matt: “It takes a lot of beer to make rum.”

The past 8 years have been amazing, and as Outer Banks Distilling looks to new horizons, there’s a lot of changes coming. The Distillery is in the process of fnishing a massive renovation, including the installation of a still special-ordered from Germany, as well as renovating the taproom and retail space at the distillery and hopes to have it complete by the beginning of the summer 2023 season.

In terms of future spirits, as well as a continual release of special Shipwreck releases, they’re also quite eager to fnally perfect and release their spiced rum to complement their three fagships.

The spiced rum project has been in constant development at the distillery, and the old principles of experimentation and hands on approach are still in evidence from 8 years ago when 4 people came together to take the history of a place, merge it with their skills and experience, and write the next chapter of a long history-- one dry, smooth, and clean sip of rum at a time.

Meads Moment

The ancient drink is having a modern resurgence in North Carolina

By Karen A. Mann

If you’re like many people, your awareness of mead, or honey wine, probably came from works of fiction, like the Old English epic poem Beowulf, or the historical TV drama Vikings, both of which illustrated the importance of mead as a delicious and potent drink, and the mead hall as a cultural and political ancient gathering spot. Or, if you’re like Ben and Becky Starr, the owners of Starrlight Mead in Pittsboro, you may have imbibed your first mazer, or horn, of mead (along with a giant turkey leg) while watching a jousting match at a Renaissance Fair.

That is, if you’re aware of mead at all.

“Mead is the oldest beverage you've never heard of,” says Ben Starr, sitting at a table at Starrlight’s spacious and welcoming tap room, which intentionally looks more than a little like an ancient mead hall, at The Plant, a 17-acre “ecoindustrial park” just outside of town.

“Many people think of it as just a style of beer because they see the frothy mugs of it in cartoons or whatever like Beowulf, foaming out of the horns

or whatever. And what we make is very different than that.”

Starr recounts some advice he and Becky got from David Myers, the meadmaker from celebrated Colorado meadery Redstone.

“He was very helpful and very open to talk to us. And one of the things that he would frequently say is that every 2000 years mead comes into fashion.”

From the looks of the mead scene in North Carolina, mead is having another fashion moment.

“Mead has grown massively in North Carolina,” says Nicolas "Nico" Hogrefe, founder of Stardust Cellars in Wilkesboro, and the current leader of the North Carolina Mead Alliance.

“We have multiple meaderies opening every year, and we don't see that stopping anytime soon.”

North Carolina has more than 20 meaderies, scattered from Burgaw in the east (Retro Meads) to Robbinsville in the west (Wehrloom Honey). Most are concentrated in the mountains and foothills, with a few in urban centers like Durham and Charlotte. Styles vary.

Mead has a reputation for being very sweet, but in reality it’s an extraordinarily varied drink that can be made dry or semi-dry, sparkling or still, and with a plethora of ingredients including herbs, fruits, grains, hops and roots. And despite its long association with Scandinavia and the British Isles, honey wine has a rich global history in various African, Asian and Mediterranean cultures. Go to any Ethiopian restaurant and you’ll probably find Tej, or honey wine, on the menu. And mead isn’t new to North Carolina either. According to Hogrefe, the Carolinas and Georgia were producing millions of pounds of honey in the 1800s, and were home to many meaderies that didn’t survive Prohibition.

“Frankly, the current mead scene is a revitalized scene, with the oldest meaderies in the state barely pushing a decade,” he says.”

“There’s a lot more room here, and instead of competition we are all working together to get more folks to try mead, so the more of us there are, the better it is for our industry as a whole.”

One of the early mead-makers working to make North Carolina’s revitalized scene even better is Diane Currier of Honeygirl, a proudly womanowned and LGBTQ-owned small urban meadery in downtown Durham within walking distance of a brewery, a cidery and a distillery. There’s even another meadery, Moon Dog Meadery, a short drive across town. While the taprooms of other meaders include calming, pastoral vistas, at Honeygirl, you can enjoy your hibiscus lemonthyme mead – a winner at the 2012 NC State Fair Wine Competition – with a view of Durham’s vibrant skyline. An avid homebrewer, Currier was awakened to the joys of mead during a visit to Alaska, where she hiked through a field of local fireweed flowers, then visited a local meadery whose specialty was a drink using honey from those same flowers. Inspired, she began making mead herself, turning to the Starrs of Starrlight for advice and encouragement.

“We’ve always been good friends,” she says of Ben and Becky Starr. “I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t met them. They were just so open and welcoming to me as a maker.”

Seeing how mead was beginning to grow in the state, Currier and the Starrs were the ones who founded the N.C. Mead Alliance in 2008.

“We now have wineries that are making mead; there’s some wineries in the Yadkinville area. Windsor Run is a winery/distillery that’s also making mead. They also make mead for another meadery in Hendersonville called World’s Edge. There are also cideries that also make mead, right now Black Mountain comes to mind.”

“In a way I was somewhat incubated by Starrlight, and I incubated Bragging Rooster,” she says of the Warrenton meadery/brewery whose mead-maker/ brewery, R.J. Cassle, worked at Honey Girl for four years.

Cassle, for his part, was a homebrewer who hadn’t even heard of mead before a friend suggested he try it nine years ago. After enjoying the experience, he read up on the history, and became hooked. He then “dove in head first,” and began working with Currier to learn everything he could about commercial mead making. His talent brought him to the attention of Kim Catron and Rickey Branning, who were planning to

open Bragging Rooster Beer and Mead in an old Leggett’s Department Store in historic downtown Warrenton. The name itself is a reference to the Norse myth of the Yggdrasil, or Tree of Life, which is a source of luck and protection, and the Golden rooster that guards the gates of the land from the top of the tree.

“it’s a cool town,” says Cassle of Warrenton. “It’s up and coming, and I like the small town feel.”

Cassle points out that there’s another brewery, Mill Hill Brewery & Taproom, four miles away, and a distillery, Locōrum Distillery, a block away. Yet he doesn’t feel like the businesses are competing with each other for space or business.

“We’re all in this together,” he says. “So that’s what I like about it.”

Rebecca and Daniel Phillips of Moonjoy Meadery were also looking for a welcoming small town to open their business (Rebecca’s mother, Margaret Lander, and brother, Wolfgang Lander, are also owners). They found it in Lenoir, just at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Rebecca credits her mother with the family’s interest in mead. The family avoids gluten and processed sugars, and at the time Margaret Lander was a beekeeper.

“We were kind of all looking for a supplemental alcohol that didn’t have those things,” says Rebecca. “So when she came across the mead recipe, and we already had the honey, she started rolling with it.”

These days, Daniel is the primary mead maker, and the meadery offers a variety of Nordic-themed meads of varying sweetness, from Freya’s Magic, made with elderberries, ginger root and lavender, to Traditional Dry, made with local sourwood honey. They even have an earthy semi-sweet, Skogbrann, made with strawberries and radishes.

“I like to think there are scientist mead makers and there are artists mead makers, and Daniel’s an artist,” she says. “He’s all over the place. He loves trying new recipes.”

As much as possible, they use North Carolina products.

“We’re really big on supporting North Carolina aviaries. We refuse to buy money outside of the state. There’s so much of it here we are blessed with just this abundance of beekeepers in North Carolina.”

Phillips also loves the sense of camaraderie in the North Carolina mead industry.

“We love the overall mead community in North Carolina. All of them seem to be very rooted in community, and we haven’t come across many meters that feel competitive with each other which I think is really amazing. They all seem to be really supportive.”

Business has been so good that Moonjoy will soon move to a larger space around the block. Phillips says the mead scene in North Carolina right now reminds her of how cider had a popularity surge about a decade ago.

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Suds on the South Side

Highway 301’s Roadside Oasis

By Lewis Smith

“Friends, family, community—that’s what we do, that’s kind of our motto,” says Randel Langloss, veteran and owner of NC Beer Factory. “The beer is the catalyst that makes community happen.”

Langloss moved to Rocky Mount in 2016, and recently retired. Since he didn’t golf or fsh, and he already had a boat, he decided to open a brewery.

“As a home brewer, we would enjoy a cookout while making beer with friends on the patio,” he related. “As retirement approached, we wanted to grow our circle of friends and family, so we created a bigger garage and patio.”

His fagship beer, Lord Winston, was named after his son, who’d taught him how to brew when he graduated from college a decade or so ago. Lord Winston, along with a variety of other styles, were popular enough to give him the confdence to create a place where he could serve the community and support the south side of Rocky Mount.

“We used to live out at the reservoir,” Randel

said. “And there was nothing on this end of town. We wanted folks from the south side, in addition to the Sharpsburg and Elm City areas, to have a place they could call their own. The Rocky Mount Mills and Casita Brew Works (in nearby Wilson) are great spots, but we wanted to create a place that felt more like home; a place to simply hang out, have a cookout, and meet and make friends old and new.”

NC Beer Factory, located at 500 S. Wesleyan Blvd, is veteran owned and operated. Langloss’ wife Roxana is a gemologist and jeweler, and runs Nana’s Nook out of one corner of the taproom. Mr. Bill, a local legend in the Rocky Mount craft beer scene is often found at the Factory.

“Mr. Bill helped build this place, and still assists on most brewdays.”

Completing the team is Baily the door bell and Molly, the offcial greeter. These two pups add to the feeling of home at the Factory.

Despite being in the same city as the large Rocky Mount Mills campus across town,

Langloss is not in competition with the breweries that call the Mills home. If anything, they were extremely helpful when he was establishing the NC Beer Factory. Josh at Koi Pond, Jen at Goat Island, and Austin from the Mill were invaluable in getting this project off the ground, so Langloss considers them an essential part of the NC Beer Factory family.

The Rocky Mount craft beer scene is a great group of people, always willing to help each other out. This was refected at the second annual Rocky Mount Beer Festival, which NC Beer Factory was invited to participate in shortly after opening in July of 2022.

As a place to get together, NC Beer Factory has plenty of space for small to medium sized special events, such as company teambuilding, family or class reunions, birthday and anniversary parties, or neighborhood cookouts. The factory features a large events room that can support 30-50 people, a large outdoor patio with fre pit and grills, and an indoor tap room with table games to enjoy with friends.

“There are no strangers at NC Beer Factory,” Langloss emphasizes. “Everyone quickly becomes friends, and many become like family.”

Additionally, in the short time they’ve been open, NC Beer Factory has raised more than $3000 for local charities and causes including My Sister’s House, Sleep In Heavenly Peace, the Special Olympics in partnership with the

Rocky Mount Police Department, and local animal charities as well.

It’s a good start, but Randel hopes for more in the future:

“We’d like to see a little more growth,” he said. “We hope there’s enough interest in the community to support it enough to make it viable, and we’re headed in that direction. I’m pretty optimistic about it. I think our niche can be an event space for small and medium size groups, as we’ve got plenty of space in the front room and on the patio, and we see a lot of potential in that.”

By building a place refecting the cornerstones of his vision, where his family and friends work with him to serve and uplift the community, NC Beer Factory is well on their way.

Thirst in Flight

Our Flag Means Beer

By Lewis Smith

Nestled in a reconstructed fire engine house on 4th Street in downtown Wilmington NC’s Brooklyn Arts District, the Edward Teach Brewery carves a unique identity for itself in a competitive region by wrapping itself in the metaphorical flag.

The flag in question, however, isn’t Old Glory, it’s the flag of Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, legendary scourge of the Carolina coast. The motifs of the fabled pirate’s legend are well threaded into the look and feel of this unique downtown destination.

While the name of the brewery and the history of the building it calls home hearken back to days gone by, one is struck almost immediately how very modern everything inside feels. Within the walls of Edward Teach, there’s grand curves and proud bows (the upper deck is built out to resemble the fore of a ship) and I was quite struck the first time I was visited that the place seemed so much larger inside than what the outside building

would suggest. With creative use of space, they’d taken something that could have felt very cloistered and created something very open and welcoming in a very imaginative way.

While I wasn’t able to stop in for very long that time all those years ago, in the intervening years I have been able to sample some of Edward Teach’s beers at festivals and at bottle shops. They’ve always impressed me with their brewing skill—there’s real creativity and unconventional techniques they bring to bear in every creation, and sampling anything new from them has always been a lucky find.

However, I’d always wanted the full experience of sitting down at this great place and enjoying their beers in such an inspiring location.

Fortunately, this column exists, and plenty of time and I sat down to a flight of four beers I’d been eager to try at the taproom. In their element, so to speak.

So let’s get down to it, shall we?

PISTOL PROOF (Helles Lager)

A delightful opener, Pistol Proof features the hallmarks of a good lager—it’s got a bright and golden taste to it, a little bit of crispiness to in the middle, and there’s a subtle hint of sweetness in the finish. It’s an elegant beer and a great exemplar of the style. For certain, an ideal introduction for your friends who might just be a little bit craft-curious.

MARK OF FIVE (Belgian Tripel)

Commemorating Edward Teach’s 5th anniversary, this Belgian Tripel, despite having the 8% ABV, is eminently drinkable and goes down incredibly smooth. There’s a hint of peach, a lot of brightness all the way through and it has an extremely sweet finish. This is a great choice when you want something slightly fruity and a little heavy, but don’t want to go for a full-on dark beer.

LETTER OF MARQUE (Farmhouse Ale Saison)

Another intriguing offering. Has a texture and taste very much like orange juice (or a NEIPA), with a lovely splash of flavor in the middle and a great dry finish--there’s a little bitterness, but not too much. It’s got a really great juicy flavor overall—much more even across the palate than some saisons I’ve tried, which can be rather tart. An ideal summer beer for the Cape Fear.

DEVIL & THE DEEP (Oatmeal Stout)

Now this was a delightful surprise. Typically, when I think of oatmeal stouts I think of something malty with a lot of roast all the way through, but not this one. It’s a little roast at first, but there’s a wonderful shot of chocolate and vanilla that creates a sweet middle and there’s a slight pop of cinnamon in the finish that pretty much smooths out any of the malt. I’m a big fan of dark beer in general, and I was really taken by this solid beer with a creative spin on a familiar style.

And there you have it—a fine, and fabulous flight of four. In terms of the perfect synthesis of beer quality and atmosphere, Edward Teach is one of the tops.

As a location, the feel and the vibe of the place is fantastic, the people are friendly, and the beers are varied and speak of the brewer’s commitment to relentless experimentation— they’re always trying something new, never resting on their laurels, and consistent commitment like that is always worth celebrating.

I can’t recommend this place enough—next time you’re in the ILM, set a course--you’ll be glad you did. Until next time—may your favorite flavors be found in flight!

kegs on the wing

Outer Banks Brewtag is an Outer Banks original event that brings the love of flight and craft beer together in one place. Brewtag is modeled after the Red Bull Flugtag, which is a worldwide competition where contestants build and launch homemade flying machines. The difference is at OBX Brewtag, contestants compete to see who can launch and fly an empty 1/6 keg barrel the farthest from a 20-foot tower.

Proceeds from OBX Brewtag benefit the Rogallo Foundation, which was founded to honor Francis and Gertrude Rogallo, the inventors of the flexible wing. Their seminal invention, made of a lightweight fabric stretched over a frame, is easy to build and fly. The Rogallos’ invention made possible a number of airsports and watersports, including hang gliding, paragliding, kiteboarding, and sport kiting.

The Rogallo Foundation is dedicated to preserving the legacy of Francis and Gertrude Rogallo. The Foundation collects and preserves their records, artifacts, and research, with the goal of constructing a museum on the Outer Banks. It also supports research and education in aerodonetics, the science of

By Ben Saltzman

gliding and soaring flight and low-speed aerodynamics.

The Annual Brewtag event is held in Nags Head on the Outer Banks, which is a world-famous coastal destination for hang gliding, kiteboarding, surfing, and other water sports. Brewtag is a family-friendly event and a fantastic way to enjoy the outdoors, drink craft beer, witness exciting flights, and support a good cause. 2023 Brewtag will take place on October 28th at the Soundside Event Site. If you are interested in registering a team, you can do so by visiting the event website, obxbrewtag.com. Teams can be comprised of up to 4 people, and the competition is judged on distance, but also creativity and showmanship. There are awards for the top 3 teams, as well as the prestigious “Flying Chicken,” which is awarded to the crew demonstrating the most robust team spirit.

In addition to the flying competition, there will be live music, food vendors, a beer garden featuring NC breweries, a kids zone, and much more. Make your plans now for an autumn trip to the Outer Banks for the 7th Annual Brewtag. It is a fun and family-friendly event that benefits a worthy organization.

OBX HOMEBREWERS CLUB

It all started in the summer of 2013, when friends and homebrewers Gil Anderson discussed the idea of forming a homebrew club. They were joined that fall by Ben Brdlik and Frank Roepcke, and the club was underway. Tom registered OBX Homebrewers online with the American Homebrewers Association in December 2013.

The original aims of the club founders were to create a space for members to teach and learn about the craft of homebrewing and to foster a sense of beer appreciation. They believed that a hands-on, face-to-face approach to teaching brewing was essential and demanded getting together on brew days. Although having a beneficial social dimension, the club would not be a “drinking club.”

Monthly meetings consist of discussions on homebrewing techniques and equipment and ingredients and sharing and evaluating homebrews. Club members have placed and medaled in regional and national homebrew competitions. In addition, the club frequently conducts its own competitions. Guest speakers have included a national-level homebrew beer judge, as well as local microbrewery brewers. Past club social events have included summer picnics at Blake’s warehouse, dolphin tours hosted by club member Captain John Koerner, brewery tours, and oyster nights at George’s rental house.

The early club grew by word of mouth. Turns out, there are lots of homebrewers on the sandbar, and they were eager to meet up. Some new members joined up after attending a homebrew class given by our members at a local church’s After Dark adult education offering. Later, a club website was established and that morphed into a Facebook page called OBX Homebrewers.

We have grown from a group of four to 20+ active members. Meeting attendance is normally 12 to 15. We are a diverse group, including members from their late 20’s to early 80’s, of all skill levels (from extract kit to all grain),

and from many diverse walks of life, including firefighters, law enforcement officers, veterinarians, civil servants, wildlife biologist, small business owners/ operators, boat captain, brewery owners, professional brewers, retirees, and more. Our ranks include local natives as well as folks from all over the U.S. One of our newest club members, Christin Crowley, is opening the Whalehead Brewery this summer in Corolla.

Although mentioned from time to time, no officers are elected, and no dues are charged. A handful of volunteers coordinate meeting logistics, including email notifications and meal planning. Annual meeting plans are developed at the beginning of the year and are updated periodically through the year. The club raises funds via raffles of commercial beer and homebrew equipment and supplies. Dinners are planned for each meeting and attendees pay $5 a head to help cover meal costs.

Fall and winter meetings are hosted by member George Berry at his rental house. Summer meetings are hosted by various members. The club has a FB page where meeting minutes, pics, and brewing information and questions and answers are published.

We invite visitors to join us at our monthly meetings. You can reach out to a member on our Facebook page. Cheers!

The club's founding fathers - Gil Anderson, Ben Brdlik, Tom Welch, Frank Roepke