Hunter Brewing Club

[jdsaint]

great find he also had a few diferent brews in the comp
cheers Linz

 

[Kingy]

Like I said the only other brewer I know is my old man <_< Anyway No hard feelings B)

ive been brewing since october last year and im only 24 and have 185 bottles full . And a 2 keg setup on its way tomorrow. :beerbang:

i dont know any other brewers at all.

All my information to help me with my hobby comes from here (AHB) and my local HBS. All my beers have been fantastic.

Now i have my kegs coming its time to steer towards doing my first AG.

as ive said all my information comes from here and i dont see the point in joining a club untill i master the AG. each to there own i suppose. plus im from the mountains and i hate driving to the city.

this post seems to have wondered off the track a little,i think bcoz im having an Alcohol free day. sorry

 

[bigfridge]

Strange.....There was a 'Hunter All-Grainers' listed as club entries in the Vic 'Beerfest' competition results??

Linz,

So kind of you to provide an opportunity to clarify the situation.

There is no general beer club, but there is a collection of 'All Grain Brewers' that meet regularly to discuss beer styles, beer judging, grain brewing ingredients and advanced brewing science. There tends to be an informal get together each month, but nothing is structured. You can also read about these activities in the earlier posts on a Hunter beer club. This may sound elitist, but it is simply a meeting of mates that have a similar level of interest.

Sounds like a club to me.

Clearly JD was after a more general brewing club which to my knowledge does not exist, but again Mark's Shop tends to be the nucleus.

Dave

 

[Linz]

Linz,

So kind of you to provide an opportunity to clarify the situation.

Dave

Anything to help a mate ! B)

 

[MHB]

About HAG (Hunter All Grain), it isnt a brew club just an informal, intermittent get together of like minded mash brewers, and people heading that way. There are only 2 rules "it must be beer related" and "we do it for fun", the organisational structure is a nice uncomplicated oligarchy, participation is by invitation.

The first event was a brew day at Potters.
The second was a beer dinner at Redoak.
The third is a Baltic Ported day organised for ANZAC day.
The forth will be a brewing weekend at the "Pub with no Beer".
We (HAG's) do tend to spend some time drinking and talking beer, but not in a formal way, mostly just social - but it has to be good beer.

Re: - comp entries, my shop acts as a gathering place for any comp/case swap entries locals want to submit. Some people use the HAG tag, some don't.
We encourage people to enter comps to get quality feed back on their beer. To make it easier, we always pack the collected entries and will cover any freight costs but the entrant pays the fees.

In the case of the Vic Beerfest I believe the entrant, who attends HAG events, organised his own entries and freight, and put him self down as a HAG, I didnt know this comp was coming up, had I there would have been more entries from the Hunter - maybe next year.

Honesty I dont have time to organise a brew club. If anyone wants to please go right ahead, any help I can provide like notices in the shop or a group e-mail - just call.

Cheers and good beers
Mark
MHB

 

[Tony]

ive been brewing since october last year and im only 24 and have 185 bottles full . And a 2 keg setup on its way tomorrow.

i dont know any other brewers at all.

All my information to help me with my hobby comes from here (AHB) and my local HBS. All my beers have been fantastic.

Now i have my kegs coming its time to steer towards doing my first AG.

I waas the same.

only i had 800 bottles and 150 liters worth of kegs h34r:

I started out in tamworth................ knew no other brewers and lerarnt everything from Grumpys forum Before the trolls got it and everyone came here) A big thanks to GT for his help and support :super:

I then found AHB, god...... doesnt seem like 3 years ago but the folks on here have been great to learn from.......... i hope i have helped a few out now and then too.

I have moved back to my birth place of the hunter valley with my family and now am a HAG!.

Im not a member of a club but i an a Hunter All Grainer !

I am going to add my 36 cents worth here. This usually gets me in trouble but its been a while

Everyone is different.......... everyones situation is different.......... some people love to be in a club environment with lots of time to spend devoted to it. you need that for a club to florish because ittakes a lot of some peoples time to organise everything. They dont just run themselves.

when i was young and single, i spent a lot of time involved in a club (not beer related) and you will find that about 98% of the members of a club dont have the want or more importantly..... the TIME to be involved in making everything work. Unfortunatly you need more than this........ or some very dedicated people.

Now i personally dont have the time between working a demanding job and a family with 4 kids, 3 of them 3 and under to turn up to meetings let alone help out with club activities. I had to build a brewery to make 50 liter batches so i could brew more..... less often because i just dont get the time to brew as much as id like to.

I guess im trying to say that even if there was a club i wouldnt be able to commit to it because of persomal and family comitments that have to come first.......... no matter how much i would like to get on the piss with 25 other top blokes at potters.

non of us learnt to do everything in 6 weeks! Its a slow progression into the wonderful world of brewing. If you take your time, do things properly it can be very rewarding.

JD........ i know where your comming from! just most people dont have the time for the whole club thing so its kind of stayed informal and id dare say..... it will stay that way.

Thats just the lay of the land.

There was some good advice earlier............ slow sown.......... take your time to build some friends on here and before you know it you will be having drinks with people, going to the odd brew day or HAG meeting.

cheers

 

[///]

The HAG's run very similar to the IBU's, keep money and formalisation out of things and you end up with a group of guys who want to turn up to events and heaven forbid, they like each other!

The HAG's are a great group of fella's and they are the most keen bunch of volunteers to do the heavy stuff round the brewery. Whens the next HAG day at Potters fella's???

Scotty

 

[Tony]

what u got on tap scotty?

tony

 

[///]

Blonde, Ezi ontap and eagerly awaiting the day to have Switchfoot (Amber) and Dead Canary (Porter) on as well.

Anyways, back to the thread...

Scotty

 

[Barry]

Good Day
The ESB Peakhurst are very similar to HAG and IBU and that is the way we like it. We meet last Friday each month, at different members houses, taste each others beers and talk about brewing. Great feed back.

 

[Kingy]

i grew up in Newcastle in the wonderful suburb or Maryland and the reason i live in The Blue Mountains is work commitments. If dont keep making money i cant keep brewing and save money in the process.

2 of my mates have just started brewing up there in novocastrian land so if they havent herd yet ill direct them to this thread. And ill also be directing them to Marks HBS.

p.s is that the one on the main road at mayfield?

 

[bigfridge]

And ill also be directing them to Marks HBS.

p.s is that the one on the main road at mayfield?

No, mark was there up until a few years ago - he is now in Islington.

See here for location info.

 

[jdsaint]

i grew up in Newcastle in the wonderful suburb or Maryland and the reason i live in The Blue Mountains is work commitments. If dont keep making money i cant keep brewing and save money in the process.

2 of my mates have just started brewing up there in novocastrian land so if they havent herd yet ill direct them to this thread. And ill also be directing them to Marks HBS.

p.s is that the one on the main road at mayfield?

no MHB is at islington Maitland rd NOT MAYFIELD

A club I am talkin about was somewhere to meet other brewers, to discuss new material,new KK kits, recipes, what people are doing brew wise at the moment.

I did not want 1 for: Free piss, to get on peoples nerves, to make bulk buys behind the LHBS as someone suggested to me, I am not here to run people out of business and by this thread I am going to have to try and get people trust in me back, as for sure alot of people are just gonna kick me to the kurb.

Look to not cause problems, I will sit on this for a while and think about the problems regarding running something like this (brew club). As I said before my old man is in a native orchid club which meets every month their are at least 3 brewers out of the 25 people that hire that community hall every month on the last week, I can get info from them what needs to be done as they are sponsored by my uncle and some others so that could be a starting point for info to run one of these brew clubs.

Next point is people's time:
I understand some people gotta work and have other commitments, but what I am talkin about is a once a month 2-4hr night time meeting talking about different topics at each of them, bringing in a problem trying to get it solved, and just for plan old chit chat and socialize events from their. Their are people with kids and jobs and boss's and my case WIFES who just cant get the 2hours away from personal comitments, then their are others that can....

I will sit on this topic try and gain people trust again as I have surely lost it, I have no hard feelings towards anyone cheers brewer's JDSAINT (Dragons Brewery)

 

[crozdog]

JD,

The moment that $, committees, structures and rules come into play, the whole "club" concept gets ugly especially the whole insurance & liability aspect <_< . Look at the number of interest & community groups around the place that are run by 1 or 2 individuals &/or have issues including a lack of finances.

The responses to date aren't knocking the concept of a club, just saying that brewers prefer to keep it informal, avoiding those issues above, but still doing the things you mention. As others have pointed out, clubs require a lot of commitment, time & $. It's clear (to me at least) that HAGers, ESB'ers, IBUers, the ISBers & I assume MALE all work by the same principles ie no structure, informallity, responsibility for your own actions, infomation & yeast sharing. Basically its the KISS principle in action.

As far as ISB goes, an email / AHB post circulates asking what eveyone would like to do / when. Majority rules. If you can make it good, if not see you next time. Simple. Bring beer, sausages, yeast, whatever. Enjoy.

Don't feel like you've had your head bitten off re the club thing, this forum is full of excellent people & info. You'll learn heaps here. The members of AHB are even better when you meet em face to face. :beer: :super:

So just hang around here, post, ask as many questions as you can, offer what advice you can, go & talk to MHB, hang out there, discuss your issues & experiences, PM some of the HAG's. Before you know it I reckon you'll get to know the HAG guys, be invited to someones brewday & become involved in their "club".

Keep brewing, experiment (there are no rules). Enjoy & have fun.

RDWHAHB

Beers

Crozdog

 

[DJR]

I'll give you my $0.02...

It's hard to start up the club, you will find people are interested but without some critical mass you won't be able to have really regular meetings. It sounds like the HAG brewdays are fairly regular but don't happen very often. That said they sound excellent, go and use some commercial gear to make some beer and have a chat. Shame they can't run more often though. We have set up the ISB and really its a very informal club that we don't want to set any strict schedule for or involve any money. We just put the word out there that we want to organise a meet and it flows from there. Most of the time we meet to do a batch of beer and the tasting/chatting/poking fun at people that don't brew follow but there has been some more informal meets such as a few of us going to the Australian to see the Mountain Goat guys.

Don't get discouraged, these things take time and people are out there, you just have to bide your time with it. Set a date to meet somewhere, like a decent pub in Newcastle and see who turns up, then let it flow from there.

If you're really desperate you're welcome to drive down and check out one of our brewdays - get the train, driving back might be a bit hard afterwards but

 

[jdsaint]

View attachment 11603That's all good! B)


Were in Newcastle can I try this Little Creature's Plale Ale?

I have not seen it in bottlo's

 

[Tony]

JD...... you shouls be abe to get it just about anywhere

I will be at marks shop tonight after 5 sometime if you want to drop by for a chat.

Or anyone else

I cant stay for too long but mark is helping me with a project to finnish off.

See....... its as easy as that!

cheers

 

[Weizguy]

View attachment 11603That's all good! B)
Where in Newcastle can I try this Little Creature's Pale Ale?

I have not seen it in bottlo's

jd,

A lot of bottlo's should have it. Mac's liquor have had it, maybe Liquorland. Dan Murphy's at GreenHills have it, as well as Corkers in Beaumont Street Hamilton (they have pint bottles of it). You might wanna try the Kahibah bottle shop - Plenty of god beer to spend your money on, including Murrays Brewing pale ale (plug, plug for Shawn, their brewer).

On tap U will find it ( LCPA) at the Clarendon in the city (Hunter street, near the Civic Theatre -for those who care to seek it out). You will also find good imported beer at the Mary Ellen (aka Hairy Melon) at Merewether/Junction. They have Erdinger weizen, Grimbergen pale, Stella Artois, Newcastle Brown ale, and the usual suspects such as VB and Tooheys.

Erdinger is also on tap at the Warners Bay tavern, if I have been reliably informed.

BTW, don't feel disheartened by the lack of response re the club. It maybe that your enthusiasm is seen as being pushy...and homebrewers don't like that. We are a very relaxed (low-pressure) looesly-associated group of people. People just need to get to know you, as Crozdog mentioned.

Beerz
Seth

 

[Offline]

View attachment 11603That's all good! B)
Were in Newcastle can I try this Little Creature's Plale Ale?

I have not seen it in bottlo's

LCPA is available just about everywhere in Newcastle. For more exotic beers try the Kahibah bottle shop. (They definitely stock LCPA as well though).

 

[jdsaint]

thanx for all the responses guys cheers!

Will be sure to check the bottlo out again....

Going to MHB tomorrow (brew shop day)