Minutes from Bull Falls Brewers Meeting May 10, 2007, 7pm - Hereford & Hops, Wausau

 Bill Flood called them meeting to order with 14 members present.

A new potential member, James Maierle, introduced himself and we went around the room introducing ourselves to him.

There was discussion about the results of the 2007 Golden Growler competition.  Bull Falls won!  Congratulations to Bill Flood, Brett Danke, and Travis Skroch who brought home the trophy with their Northern English Brown Ales.  Specials congrats to Brett Danke who won 1st place overall!  Next year's GG style is American IPA.

Kevin Bowen, brewmaster at Hereford & Hops, presented an idea to run a homebrew competition at H&H with the winner getting to brew their beer at the brewery.  He said he'd like to make it an official BJCP recognized event with BJCP judges, and that H&H would definitely need help running something like this and made an appeal to Bull Falls Homebrew Club to help.  Mike Roman made a motion to form a committee to work with H&H to organize this event.  Greg Sperry seconded the motion.  Motion carried.  Anyone interested in being on the committee should let Bill Flood know.

Brett Danke mentioned that Nitzy 9's Speakeasy is having a Unibroue Garden Party on May 19.  Unibroue is hard to find in these parts so it was a real suprise to Brett.  Discussion among the group ensued about how to get bars and grocers to bring better beers into our area.  We're going to set up a page on our website listing good beer bars and stores to see if that will help.  Maybe we can get grocers to post a little card by some of their beers that says "Recommended by Bull Falls Homebrewers" or something along those lines.  This idea will be followed up on in future meetings.

Scott Burton mentioned that Northern Brewer will give a discount to AHA members.

There was a lot of discussion about ways the club could make money, but also that these efforts required a lot of volunteer effort.  There was a lot of talk about ways to encourage participation and what the rewards would be.  No official action was taken.  Individuals are asked to talk to Brett Danke (treasurer) about their ideas and the officers may bring this up in a future meeting.

Brett Danke gave the Treasurer's Report:  We have $774.07 in the bank.  Last month we spent $100 on a copper kettle, $9.45 for tasting cups, and $30 for beer at High Noon.

Travis Skroch and Greg Sperry presented an opportunity for club members to do BJCP style tasting and judging at area craft breweries.  The combined results of the experience will be written up as a 400 word newspaper article for the Marshfield Herald.  We will be paid $25/article and the Herald wants one article a month.  There was a lot of discussion about how this would be a positive thing for club members, club reputation, area brewers, area beer sellers, and the newspaper.  The first tasting will be held May 11 at Central Waters in Amherst.  Future tastings will be announced on the e-mail list and any member is welcome to attend.  The article will always include a link to Bull Falls Homebrewer's website.

Mike Zamzow walked in during the discussion about the newspaper article.

Mike Zamzow made a motion to have the officers and Jeff Behrens decide what to do with some of the recently acquired equipment the club has purchased for large brews.  Mike Roman seconded.  Motion carried.  The officers and Jeff will meet Thursday, May 17th at Jeff's house.

Scott Burton motioned to adjourn.  Greg Sperry seconded.  Motion carried.

Respectuflly submitted,
Travis Skroch - Secretary