Since its inception in 2012, the South Australian Brewing Club (SABC) has swiftly grown to become the largest and most successful brewing club in Adelaide and the country. The club embodies a diverse membership of individuals with a broad range of brewing expertise, all coming together to share knowledge and enhance their homebrewing skills. Central to the club’s calenda is the popular monthly meeting on the third Wednesday of each month, regularly attended by over 30 participants, thanks to the generous support of The Wheatsheaf Hotel. In addition to these gatherings, the club also hosts special events and brewery visits in Adelaide and the surrounding region. Find out more on our About SABC page.
A quick update on next month’s meeting. We are lucky to have Matt King coming along to talk to us about the craft beer industry and where things are heading over the next little while. For those that don’t know, Matt is one of the brains behind the Crafty Pint website and blog. As you can imagine, he has his finger pretty well on the pulse.
The September meeting is on Wednesday the 21st, and we start at 7pm, out the back at the Wheaty.
The final (hopefully) push to get the boat-bar finished for Club Night is scheduled for Saturday September 3rd. Anyone with any kind of manual skills (let’s face it, opposable thumbs will do) who has a bit of time to help out in the morning would be most welcome. Gary will throw a few snags on the BBQ, and maybe we can even persuade him to knock the lids of a couple of his finest (or you could bring one of your own…)
As mentioned at the meeting this week, we also need some more people to put their hand up to brew for the event, so if you have a keg to spare or the time to brew one in time for mid-October, or if you can help with the build on the 3rd, please let us know.
We also talked about gas supplies for Club Night. The ANHC has asked if we can organise as many cylinders as possible, so if you can spare one for the night please get in touch via the Club Night email address: clubnight@anhc.com.au
SABSOSA is still looking for judges for this year’s competition. You do not need to be an experienced judge to join in, but if you have an interest and some time available your help would be most welcome. The details are:
10th and 11th September
9am till finish (usually around 1pm)
Lunch supplied
Holdfast Bay Bowling Club
583 Anzac Hwy, Glenelg North SA 5045
If you can help out, please contact Mike Leupold at mikeleupold@internode.on.net
Unfortunately for us (and Pirate Life), the council has temporarily withdrawn approval for licensed events along that section of South Road, citing safety concerns due to the road works. This means we are not able to buy beer to drink on the premises (i.e. over the bar), and we are not able to have the food truck on premises. This would have made for a rather dreary event, so the committee has decided to postpone until November. We have been assured that by then everything will be back to normal.
Keep an eye out for further news, as we will be trying to lock in a date in the next week or so.
Please note that membership renewals are now overdue. If you haven’t renewed and are intending to, please fill out the form here and organise payment.
A few more details for the Pirate Life event, which is on Sunday August 28th, starting at 12.30pm. We will hopefully kick off with a brewery tour (and a pint), with lunch starting from 1.30pm. There will be wood oven pizzas (vegetarian available), bruschetta and garlic bread served until 3.30pm. We will have a raffle, and there will be a prize for the best pirate themed accessory or clothing.
Cost for non-members is $20.00 per person.
For catering numbers, please let us know if you are coming along, either by indicating so on the facebook event or the old fashioned way by emailing events@sabrew.com.
See you there, shipmates!
After some technical issues, we’re happy to report that the score sheets for the winter comp are now available on the Compmaster website. Please let us know if you have any difficulties accessing them.
For those that entered the stout category, please note that the aggregate scores for that category have been calculated differently to the other categories due to a glitch. The scores have all been checked manually and the placings (and indeed the scores within the category relative to each other) are consistent. If you add the scores you got from the three judges, you will get a higher figure that the aggregate score on the website. If you then divide by 4 and multiply by 3, you should get a matching figure. This has happened because when entering the judge details, we ended up with a phantom fourth judge in the stouts category, which couldn’t be deleted. The spreadsheet then expected four sheets per entry and calculated the totals as such. If you are unsure about this or require further explanation, please get in touch.
We have certainly learned a few things from our first attempt using Compmaster, but on the whole it was a positive experience. The site is under constant development, and we now have a good idea of what to look out for, so the next competition should be smoother. If you have any specific feedback, please let us know.
The Winter Competition has been run and won, with a good number of members turning out to try their hand at judging. The total number of entries across the four categories was 43, and the quality of beer entered was on the whole very high. Here’s how it panned out:
Pale Ales:
India Pale Ales:
Strong Ales:
Stouts:
Clearly, the floor was well and truly mopped by Brendan, who also took the Beer of Show prize. He has earned himself a brew day at Little Bang Brewing, where no doubt he’ll be doing some more floor mopping…
A huge thanks to our sponsors for coming up with some great prizes for this competition. Grain and hops were provided by Beerbelly, grain by Country Brewer at Kilburn, gift vouchers by Country Brewer at Clovelly Park, and of course the brew day from Little Bang will no doubt be a hoot, knowing Ryan and Fil. Thanks also to Ryan for coming along and judging the Beer of Show for us.
Score sheets will be scanned and emailed in the coming weeks, and the Brewer of the Year leaderboard should be updated in the next couple of days.
The AGM has been and gone, and thanks to all who took the time to attend. Thanks also to Clint for running it. The committee is largely unchanged this year, with one addition and a little shuffle. Here is the list of committee members:
Committee meetings are held on average every couple of months, and as always, anyone is welcome to attend. We will endeavour to post notification of committee meetings here with as much notice as possible, but sometimes trying to get eight adults together on the same evening can be a bit like herding cats.
The president’s report which was presented at the AGM is attached to this post for anyone who wasn’t there. The accounts are still being audited, however we will advise once that is complete and the auditor’s and treasurer’s report will be available to view upon request.
The AGM is this coming Saturday the 23rd of July, starting at 1pm sharp out the back at the Wheaty.
Attached to this post are the agenda for the AGM, as well as the minutes of the last AGM.
At the AGM, all committee positions will be declared vacant, and any financial member is eligible to nominate for a role on the committee. There are four club officers: President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. There are also up to four general committee members, one of which this year we are specifically targeting as a development officer. This role is essentially to build relationships between the club and potential sponsors and the brewing community generally. Anyone who wishes to nominate for a position can send an email, or nominate on the day.
Another (final, I promise) reminder that to be eligible to vote at the AGM, you must be a financial member.
We hope to see as many members there as possible, and don’t for get the Winter Competition judging is straight after the AGM.
We’ve got the SABC Facebook group up and running, check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sabrew/. If you’re a bit of a Facebook troglodyte (like me), a group is different to a page, such as our regular SABC Facebook page, in that it allows anyone who is a member of the group to post. All posts are on the main group page for all to see, rather than on a seperate visitor’s page.
The idea is to make this the place for discussion between members that we can all post to and easily see, so if you’re a Facebook-er, head over and put in a member request. There’s already some quality (?!) stuff on there…
Don’t forget to get your entries in for the Winter Competition, which is being judged after the AGM on July 23rd. Head over to the Compmaster website to enter your winning beer.
Bottles can be dropped off at the Wheaty in the week prior, or brought on the day, or if you want to organise a drop off with a committee member please email us.
The stakes are high, with the winner of beer of the day getting a brew day at Little Bang! How cool is that!