Greetings Brewers! Happy Fall everyone! Time to finish off those light summery beers and fill those kegs with pumpkin beer! (or not!)
This month's meeting is this Tuesday and we'll be visiting Andrew and Brian, our own "graduates" of Lehigh Valley Homebrewers at 5 Maidens Urban Cidery in South Bethlehem. I was blown away by the diversity of flavors and overall quality of their offerings. And I'm not generally a cider drinker!
Lehigh Valley Homebrewers made the residents of Easton a little happier last Sunday as they poured their craft creations for the 7th Annual Clam Jam festival. Congratulations to Larry Anders who was crowned the People's Choice winner with an English style Pale Ale. Congratulations to the judges's picks too, more on that below!
This month is the next event in the Homebrewer of the Year (HbotY) competition featuring sour and wild ales. Please RSVP so you can be assigned an entry number and bring your entry (2 bottles/cans) to the meeting on Tuesday. Depending on the number of entries, we'll judge on site or designate a separate judging event within the week.
Another opportunity to pour for the public is coming up on October 2nd with the Lehigh Valley Brewers Guild, 12-4PM in Emmaus Community Park. Unfortunately, as of right now we do not have enough interest in this event to participate. We need at least 5 brewers to represent the club. Please RSVP by the September meeting so the officers can tell the organizers if we are able to participate.
Finally, the club has been asked again if anyone can participate in the D-Town Brew Down beer festival and competition. Please see below and reach out to the organizers if you'd like to pour and compete at their charity event. I hope to see everyone on Tuesday.
John Litak
LVHB Club President
Future Meetings:
Meetings are open to anyone (21 and older) who home brews (beer, wine, cider, mead) or is interested in learning about home brewing. Our club has over 30 certified judges and several members who have "gone pro" by opening their own brewery, meadery, or distillery! - So bring your latest craft creation and get some constructive feedback and/or accolades!
Meeting Minutes from Last Month
August Meeting - Tuesday, 279 July 2021
In July, Lehigh Valley Homebrewers met at Buttsville Brewing and was attended by 18 brewers.
Agenda included:
Club Business and Announcements
Tour of Buttsville Brewhouse
Hops Aroma Sensory Analysis Kit Standard Review
Sharing of Homebrew
UPCOMING CLUB EVENTS
Here are some upcoming events, we'll add more specifics as we work out the details for these events.
LVBG Beerfest October 2nd
October Meeting, October 26th, Gallows Hill
Learn to Homebrew Day - November 6th 2021
LVHB & Weyerbacher Homebrew Competition - November 13th 2021
Holiday Party and HBoTY Award Ceremony - December 2021
OUR BREWERS (are awesome)
7th Annual Clam Jam Homebrew Competition
People's Choice:
Larry Anders English Pale Ale 1st Place
Judges' Choice:
John Litak American IPA 1st Place
Daniel Feltimo British Golden Ale 2nd Place
Josh Hellwig Berliner Weisse 3rd Place
Congrats to all the winners!
Lehigh Valley Homebrewer Mark Fedorov has shared his candidacy for Lehigh County Commissioner. Please support Mark in his candidacy if you'd like to see a fellow homebrewer in local government!
Join us at the next meeting to hear about the successes and contributions of our brewers to the homebrew and professional brewing community.
CLUB COMPETITIONS
Lehigh Valley Homebrewer of the Year
The fifth flight in the competition will have its entries due at the September Club Meeting. Judging will be done that night or later in the week (depending on number of entries), please make sure your entry is packaged appropriately! Please RSVP to get your entry number.
The Peoples Choice competition event will be part of the Weyerbacher Homebrew competition on November 13th, followed by the last event due on at the November meeting (Iron Brewer ingredient: Maple).
Check out the details here. Start planning your next entry!
UPCOMING BJCP COMPETITIONS
Full list is available here.
Downingtown Library Beer Festival -
Update:
We are looking for some more brewers to enter our library fundraiser home brewing competition, the D-Town Brew-Down. Saturday October 30th from 1-5pm. This is a self pouring competition that is open to the public. Not a bottle drop off. A 4-5 gallon batch is required per brew, you can enter 1-4 brews per entrant. 1st place $400, 2nd $200 and 3rd $75. The public will be given chips to vote for their favorites. The winner of the Peoples Choice will have their recipe (within reason, subject to substitutions) brewed by Locust Lane brewery in Malvern, a 475 gallon batch.
This is BJCP sanctioned and you will receive brief feedback (written) from the professional judges. Please forward this to anyone you may think is interested. Registration closes October 1st.
To register:
To stay informed like our Facebook page:
Note: If there are several LVHB members planning on attending, we can arrange for the club jockey box to be there.
Stoney Creek
Registration due 10/30/2021
Registration Fee: $8
Motown MASH
Registration due 11/05/2021
Website N/A (yet)
OTHER CLUB INFO
The details for most of our happenings (news, events, etc.) will either be included in the monthly newsletter or will be found on the LVHB Website Club Info page. More random thoughts, photos, and links will be shared via the club Facebook page. Find photos of our brewing activities on Instagram! @lehighvalleyhomebrewers
LVHB T-Shirts
LVHB t-shirts are being redesigned..
Member Benefits
Keystone Homebrew Supply offers 10% off online and in-store purchases for LVHB members as well as a points based loyalty reward program. They offer weekly local delivery on Saturday at Bonn Place in Bethlehem (just place your order by Thursday). Keystone offers full sacks of grain as well as a large selection of brewing and wine making equipment. Also, for most local competitions they provide a drop off point so you don't have to mail in your entries! https://www.keystonehomebrew.com/ Hop and Grain offers members 20% off purchases on their online store, free shipping and flexible local pick-up options. You'll find them very accommodating, even if you require a special order. https://hopandgrain.us/
There's no excuse not to brew because you can't get ingredients or equipment! Thank you to the local shops that support our club!
See all the benefits of membership as well as how to join here.