Dear Yeastsiders,
We have a few updates for you with respect to the Stone AHA Rally and the 2013 Southern California Homebrew Festival .
The Stone March Madness 2013 Homebrew Competition & AHA Rally
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Saturday, March16, 2013, Escondido, CA
We are taking a day trip to this event at Stone Brewing in Escondido! Please refer to my prior blast for the nitty gritty event details. In a nutshell, we are sharing a bus ride with Strand Brewers and some other clubs. Several Yeastsiders successfully submitted homebrews for the competition, so let’s go support them! After the rally, we’ll go to Hess Brewing and White Labs for your respective educational pleasures.
Here’s your checklist to attend:
* Ensure you are an AHA member. You can also pay for this at the Stone Rally, but paying in advance at AHA would be ideal ($33, though there is a spouse membership fee of $19).
* RSVP to the Stone Rally on either the Stone website or at the AHA event page.
* RSVP with Tammy @ Strand Brewers (bus organizer) activities@strandbrewersclub.com.
* The cost of the bus ride has dropped to $30 per person payable to Tammy at Strand activities@strandbrewersclub.com. This is in addition to the AHA membership.
* Plan for a 12 hour trip, departing West Los Angeles around 10AM, arriving at Stone in Escondido at around 1PM. For more info and to RSVP email activities@strandbrewersclub.com. The tentative departure location is the Metro Green Line Station in Redondo Beach. This may change, so stay tuned.
We have room, so please come if you can. The fact that there is a bus will undoubtedly encourage more of you to come. It will make the trip safer and result in us having more fun socializing on the way down to Escondido!
The 2013 Southern California Homebrew Festival
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Saturday, May 4, 2013, Lake Casitas, CA
We sent our valiant club representative Victor Macias on a mission to retrieve details regarding this event at the latest Club Reps Meeting on January 26th. In a nutshell, this event is probably the best representation of what we homebrewers stand for. We take over the Lake Casitas Recreation Area for a weekend, pouring homebrew, camping out, barbequeing, potlucking, and just generally enjoying ourselves. The locale is one of the more beautiful places in Southern California, and the facilities are pretty top notch. I know some of you may not be huge fans of camping, but this is camping-lite. It’s a clean place, your vehicle is next to your site, and there are plenty of facilities at your disposal. Even so, there are some reasonable hotels in the area, such as in Ojai. There’s a shuttle bus among other special amenities for us festival goers. Last year was your current president’s first year going, and it did not disappoint. Many of our members have been going for years.
Here are some important bullet points to consider while planning your attendance:
* Yeastside Brewers will be participating this year, displaying their proud banner, and pouring their humble, yet sophisticated homebrews (the reason behind the jockey box project!).
* The Bragging Rights-Only homebrew competition (BRO) for the 2013 Fest will be BJCP category 22, Wood-Aged beers. Each club gets one entry to be judged Friday on-site. Details to follow.
* The Friday night mini-Fest’s commercial breweries this year will be Firestone Walker, Stone, possibly Hollister Brewing, and one more to be decided.
* The CHA is encouraging clubs to pour on Friday night for the mini-Fest if we so choose. As was done last year, the Fest site will be cleared on Friday at 5PM so that all may be officially checked in (with photo I.D.) and receive their Fest wristband (don’t lose it!!!). Once that’s done, clubs can start pouring. You should carry your photo I.D. with you at all times while attending the Fest.Those not wearing an official wristband at any time cannot have beer poured for them–no exceptions.
* Servers reserve the right to refuse service to anyone deemed underage or who cannot produce photo I.D. or who is intoxicated.
* Speakers this year are Mitch Steele from Stone Brewing and possibly Gary Glass, Director of the AHA.
* You must be a CHA member to attend, and that membership is essentially your “ticket” to attend the Festival. Apply ASAP as they may cap membership at some point before the typical “Friday before the Fest” in order to assure a positive, un-crowded, and decidedly homebrewing-related atmosphere
* Purchasing your membership early will garner you a discounted rate which will decrease and finally expire as the Fest draws near. There will also be the possibility of earning your CHA membership by volunteering for a two-hour shift at the Fest, although these positions are often filled very quickly. Please visit calhomebrewers.org for more information.
* The CHA also reminds us that the very same laws that apply outside of the Lake Casitas Recreation Area apply inside as well. In addition to the Park Rangers, Ventura County Sheriff’s officers will be on-site all weekend. No riding in the back of pickup trucks, no drunk driving, no drunk biking (!), etc. It should go without saying, but please remember that you are representing your entire club (and all homebrewers) while attending, so please act accordingly.
* There will be bands, but I am not sure if they will be homebrew-related. That is still TBD.
* Yeastside Brewers has already reserved their campsite. Please RSVP by responding to this email or signing up with Josh Jensen at our next meeting. We will require a small deposit for the campsite rental.
* Finally, if you or anyone you know has contacts at a brewery, the CHA is always looking for beer-related swag for the massive Fest raffle. Please contact them if you can help.
Josh Jensen has taken up the lead on this festival. You can contact him or your president, Jerl Leutz, for more information about attending the Fest in the coming weeks. Please stay tuned.
Wishing you all the best, and I hope to see you at both events!
-Jerl Leutz, Yeastside President 2013