October 2018

1) Six CRABSters poured beer at this year’s Homebrew Extravaganza, which was held at Checkerspot Brewing for the first time ever. There were more than 30 beers, and three CRABSters were in the top half of the popular vote. Rob Kiernan was 12^th, Ben Schwalb was 10^th, and Jason Heinen was 4^th.

2) Fire sale on CRABS T-shirts. Only $5 each. For available sizes and designs, contact Joe O’Keefe at jfo363@verizon.net

July 2018

1) Due to Heavy Seas construction, we met in a quiet back room.

2) Several CRABSters went to HomebrewCon in Portland. Some of them visited 20+ breweries before the conference. They brought several commercial Oregon beers to share. See Ben Schwalb’s write-up of the conference and also his two-week trip leading up to it at http://www.benbrew.com/WestCoast/westcoast.html. In 2019 the conference will be in Providence RI on June 27-29.

May 2018

1) Congratulations to Rob Farrell for a 1^st place and John Jester for a 3^rd place in FOAM’s Battle of the Bubbles. See http://bob.brewcomp.com/ for full results.

April 2018

1) Congratulations to the following folks for winning categories in some recent homebrew contests:

·Tom Pagano and Reed Ulrich won the Brown British category in the DC Homebrewers’ Cherry Blossom competition. See http://www.dchbcompetition.com/ for full results.

·Rachel and Craig Szczesiul won the Mead category in BURP’s Spirit of Free Beer. See http://sofb.brewcomp.com/ for full results.

March 2018

1) Heavy Seas is in the process of installing a pilot brewery and a new bottling line.

2) The DC Brewer’s Ball to benefit cystic fibrosis was held on March 3^rd in Washington DC. CRABS poured 6 beers. The website is https://www.dcbrewersball.org/ but the EVENT PHOTOS link doesn’t seem to have any photos. Photos of last year’s event, where CRABS also poured, are at https://ontaponline.com/photos/brewers-ball-2017/

February 2018

1) 2018 dues are due. $25 for individuals and $40 for families. Please pay Don if you haven’t already.

2) 2017 Brewer of the Year awards were given out.

3) Some Maryland legislative bills will be debated this Friday 2/23. A few CRABSters will be going to the hearing. If you’d like to go, contact Ed at ed@thesheas.org. Here are the bills to be discussed:

January 2018

1) The Guild 20^th anniversary party is coming up shortly!

·Saturday January 20, 12-4 PM, at Duclaw, 8901 Yellow Brick Rd, Rosedale.

·Your ticket includes unlimited sampling of 16 DuClaw brews, a crowler of the anniversary beer (a kolsch), and a 20^th anniversary sampling glass.

·Homebrew is allowed but cannot be brought into the tap room.

·Food truck(s) will be onsite for food (pay as you go).

·Ping pong, pool table, and corn hole will be available.

December 2017

1) The December meeting and holiday party featured lots of great food and beer, a 750 swap, and many beer donations for the Heavy Seas folks.

November 2017

1) The Guild holiday party will be on Saturday December 2 at Heavy Seas. The CRABS table theme will be “Summer in December”, with beach-themed décor, hamburgers, hot dogs, sliders, and other stuff. There is a Google doc where you can write what you’re bringing and see what others are bringing at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FqJhohv6sHo4jvVFbpMM_NzzhnlNoxKCKWCc2NIrfDs/edit#gid=0 . Tickets are on sale at this link:

October 2017

1) CRABS had a nice showing at the Homebrew Extravaganza at Little Havana on October 18. There were 36 entries, and CRABS took 3 of the top 11 spots: John Jester took 11^th, Thomas Pagano and Reed Ulrich took 4^th, and Jason Heinen and Ben Schwalb took 1^st.

Meeting Minutes