Rock Hoppers Brew Club Agenda
01/17/2019 6:45 PM – C.B. & Potts, Highlands Ranch
President’s Report – Eric Gould
Welcome New Members!
- Intro
- How long you been brewing?
- What do you like to brew?
- What would you like to learn?
Pay Your Tabs, Please
Support our local partners and beer-related businesses owned/operated/brewed by Rock Hoppers Alumni:
- 105 West Brewing
- Bruz Beers
- C.B. & Potts
- Castle Rock Homebrew Supply
- Jagged Mountain Brewery
- Lone Tree Brewing
- Rockyard
- Know any more?
Sign up a Friend
- Recruiting a new paid member will earn you a free entry into the 2020 Bière de Rock competition in January.
Rock Hopper Pro-Am Page
- Recognize and celebrate your success!
- Promote your beer tapping, GABF pouring day, etc.
- We received a $140 rebate from AHA this year for club insurance – thank you members
Officer Elections – March 2019
Taking nominations for all officer positions at the February meeting. Here’s a breakdown of each position…
President
Responsibilities:
- Be the face and voice of the club
- Drive decision-making for club priorities for the year
- Work with all officers and members to ensure the club is delivering on its mission
What do I get out of being President? I get the opportunity to develop leadership, networking, and speaking skills while having a say in what we do as a club. I enjoy working closely at the next level with other homebrewers who want to shape who we are.
Event Director
- Hopper Happy Hours
- Meet-ups at Events (e.g. GABF, Big Beers)
- Planning and coordination of annual brewery bus trip
- Big Brew Day planning and coordination
This position works closely with the other officer positions to ensure ample communication events, potential educational tie-ins to events, and necessary funds.
In my year as Event Director I had the opportunity to better integrate myself into the club and get to know members. This lent itself to connections and brewing partnerships I may not have otherwise sought. I had the opportunity to create outside connections in the greater brewing community for various events which furthered my own ideas and inspiration for what I am able to create.
Communications and Social Media Director
Responsibilities:
- Collect and report information that are of interest to the members of the club by:
- Email (via MailChimp)
- Social Media (via Facebook) – Engage with members on both the club page and the members page.
- Website – Create meeting agenda for the monthly meetings and other resources as required.
- Create imagery to support the general club brand and coordinate with membership to post photos they have taken.
- Create promotional items and “swag” to give or sell to membership to promote and benefit the club.
- Keep track of and provision the club supply box that has items that are traditionally used at meetings (pens, tickets, gong, bullhorn, magic mouse, paper, bottle caps for voting, etc.).
- Bring technology to display club meeting agenda to each meeting
What do I get out serving the club? It’s an excellent opportunity to use some of my skill set to fulfill club needs, as well as communicate and mingle with other like minded individuals while learning of additional brew styles that were outside of my wheelhouse. It pushed me to get involved with judging and stewarding competitions. I got to know the member base more than just on a casual basis, interacting with a network of brewers that is different than a “run of the mill” beer appreciator might experience.
Education Director
The Education Director is responsible for beer and brewing education. Ideally, the Education Director should be either studying to be or is a BJCP judge. If not, the person should work closely with those in RHBC who are. Responsibilities include:
- Coordinate and/or facilitate educational sessions at meetings.
- Be the main resource for general brewing, BJCP, and AHA related education.
- Work closely with the events coordinator in obtaining guest educational speakers.
I have gotten from my experience as Education Director the opportunity to explore and think deeper about various brewing topics. One of the best ways to learn, is to teach. By trying to prepare interesting, concise and informative presentations, I have developed a much greater understanding of the application of brewing science. Working as education director was instrumental in helping me achieve the status of BJCP judge as well as helping me to develop and exercise my presentation skills. During my tenure, I was able to have more meaningful discussions with club members as they sought to explore brewing questions and developed a greater confidence in my brewing knowledge, which translated to brewing better beer. Finally, I was able to leverage the role to reach out to industry professionals, both expanding my professional brewing network and opening up channels for learning from pros.
Competition Director
Responsibilities:
- Planning, coordination, and execution of the club’s annual competition, Biere de Rock.
- Maintenance of the list of annual competitions.
- Be the main resource for BJCP- and AHA-related competitions.
- Coordinate quarterly intra-club competitions and publish an annual schedule.
Coming back to the role of Competition Director after a five year hiatus has me once again flexing my creative muscles in an effort to encourage members to have confidence in their products to compete at the club, local and national levels. It’s the Competition Director’s job to encourage members to seek the next level of evaluation of their creations by entering them into BJCP-sanctioned competitions. Entering competitions isn’t all about the medals – although shiny things are always nice – it’s about getting non-biased, critical feedback to help improve our brewing skills. The position also has afforded me the opportunity to hone my organizational skills with the planning and execution of the intra-club competitions and Biere de Rock. You gotta be pro-active, forward-thinking, and managerial to make sure all the people and pieces fall where they’re supposed to.
Treasurer
Responsibilities:
- Keep records of PayPal and bank account.
- Take payments during meeting.
- Do all the accounting and counting on votes during intra-club competitions.
- Handle raffles for fund raising.
- Handle all payments with club debit card
- 2 year term
Being an officer helped me become a better brewer – the monthly officer meeting allowed me to learn more as I got feedback from a smaller group. Plus, as a newer member, I was able to learn more about the club and its membership.
Event Director’s Report – Chelsea Lamont
January 31 – Hopper Happy Hour
- 6:30p – Bent Barley Brewing Company [Map]
Competition Director’s Report – Geoff Humphrey
Visit the competitions page for complete competition listings.
Past Competitions
January 11, 2019 – Big Beers, Belgians, and Barleywines – Breckenridge, CO
- Geoff Humphrey
- 2nd in American Porter and Stout – Imperial Stout – “Stalin’s Skidmarks”
- Ed Moore
- 2nd in Strong British – Old Ale – “Rhonda Old Ale”
- 3rd in Trappist Ale – Tripel – “Sammy Tripel”
- 1st in Fruit Beer – Fruit Beer – “Tony Orange Stout”
- Dax Rush
- 2nd in European Sour Ale – Lambic – “This is Mary’s Little Lamb-ic”
- Phil Whited
- 2nd in American Wild Ale – Wild Specialty – “Yesterday’s Triumph”
Upcoming Competitions
January 26, 2019 – Bière de Rock – Castle Rock, CO
- 10th Annual Rock Hopper-Sponsored Competition!
- All BJCP Belgian and French beer styles; wood aged, experimental, wild ales, etc. that are Belgian- and French-inspired.
- Get involved!
- Sign up to Judge or Steward by 5:00 PM January 22
February 8-9, 2019 – Peterson Air Force Base Homebrew Competition – Colorado Springs, CO
- Entry deadline: 2/01/2019
- Drop off deadline: 2/01/2019
- Bottles: 2
- Fee: $8 per entry
- All beer, mead, and cider
February 23, 2019 – Sweethearts Revenge – Loveland, CO
- Entry deadline: 2/15/2019
- Drop off deadline: 2/15/2019
- Bottles: 3
- Fee: $7 per entry
- All beer, mead, and cider
Intra-Club Competitions
- See the Intra-club Competition page for the 2018-2019 schedule.
- NEXT meeting: Big Beers
- Quarterly intra-club competition to celebrate the Big Beers, Belgians, and Barleywines homebrew competition.
- Doppelbock (BJCP 9A), Eisbock (BJCP 9B), Baltic Porter (BJCP 9C), English Strong Ale (BJCP 17A), Old Ale (BJCP 17B), Wee Heavy (BJCP 17C), English Barleywine (BJCP 17D), Imperial Stout (BJCP 20C), Double IPA (BJCP 22A), American Strong Ale (BJCP 22B), American Barleywine (BJCP 22C), Wheatwine (BJCP 22D).
- Fruit/spice/adjunct/wood-aged variants are welcome.
Communication Director’s Report – Eric Frazier
- Glassware is available for purchase.
- T-Shirt available for purchase.
Treasurer’s Report – Dan Croll
- Financial report.
- We have $1,046.97 in funds with an extra $200 reserved for medals for next year’s BDR.
- Dues – pay now (get it out of the way), online, or at the meeting. Eric has the square reader for cc payments.
Education Director’s Report – Mike Bostwick
- Building Your Annual Brew Schedule
Tasting and Socializing
- Share your fermented creations.
