It’s the end of another year, and we’re going to wrap up with a super casual get together at The Wheaty this Wednesday night from 7pm. Nothing says Christmas like beer and pizza and a hot day right? Hey, at least you’re not cooking and you get to hang out with rad peeps — win-win! it’ll be a hot day too. Our meeting last month was also on a 42C day and the back room at the Wheaty was surprisingly cool.
SECRET SANTA!
Please bring a bottle of your homebrew beer for Secret Santa. Please don’t bring a bought bottle from behind the bar or anywhere else. You can decide to pop your name on it if you like, or leave it a complete secret!
There will also be beers from the Left Barrel Brewing brewing day to taste on the night. If you brewed at LLB at at the club day in October, bring some along for comparisons.
Brewer of the Year 2019
Brewer of the Year is SABC’s annual award that recognises a member’s consistency in brewing throughout the year. It also acts as an encouragement to everyone to just enter beer in competitions because you can always learn from feedback and might even be surprised that it’s actually better than you thought.
This year’s Brewer of the Year is John van der Zalm. With a young family and demanding job, John doesn’t brew a lot but when he does, everything he makes is excellent. Over the last two year’s at least his beer has won or placed in every category he’s entered at our comps, SABSOSA and even does very well nationally. Last year his simple ‘thrown together’ English bitter won best of show at SABSOSA. Congratulations John!
Wrapping up 2019
Some words said at the end-of-year BeerBQ summer party last weekend.
Thank you to everyone who came to the SABC end of year summer party last weekend sharing your beers. Also, thank you to everyone who helped cook or contribute something.
So it’s another year and the club has had a good one – from our Southern vales brewery tour, brewing at Left Barrel, Summer and winter competitions getting really big and our successful running of SABSOSA.
Then there were all the monthly meetings that saw really great attendances and I think everyone enjoyed coming along. That’s all because of you, the members, but also the club’s committee which really makes this stuff happen and I want to personally thank them for always being there to step up, step in and come up with the ideas and shoot down the not so good ones.
I also think we need to thank and acknowledge our families – the partners and spouses who let us not just make beer but take time out from family life to sit around and talk about it – and maybe drink it a bit too.
The club is about community – it gives members a connection to others who love doing what they do and a support network of friendships that isn’t just about brewing beer but a whole lot more in life.
It’s been really heartening to see the members use the club’s network to call out for help when their equipment fails or are in urgent need of advice and mentorship. Certainly online there is often offers to help within minutes and I’m sure it’s not just about brewing.
Thanks to all our members for an awesome 2019.