Bristol Craft Brewers is one year old Today, 18th November

BCB meet on the 1st Monday of every month at 8pm in the Royal Navy Volunteer, King Street.
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SteveW
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Bristol Craft Brewers is one year old Today, 18th November

Post by SteveW »

Hip! Hip! Hooray!
Raise your glasses of great homebrewed beer high!

BCB is one year old today!

How far we have come from this:

Matt, Colin, Roger and Steve met at The Three Tuns in Bristol on 18th November to have an intial chat about setting up a home brewing circle in Bristol. Several hours and fine ales later the foundations of Bristol Craft Brewers had been laid. The club name, meeting frequency, shortlist of meeting locations and agenda for the first meeting were all agreed in pronciple (sic).
Image
er.. this far:
2011-11-12 17.55.57.jpg
I thought it might be an idea (ideal!) to share, not what we have done for the BCB but what the BCB has done for us.

I have enjoyed our first year, Highlights for me are:

Meeting other home brewers and swapping stories, Ideas, techniques and hops, also finding other Durden Park devotees.

Bretts (where did that guy go?) talk on American Hops and hopping regimes - a real eye opener for a BADRAG devotee who loves dark beers.

Bulk buying of Hops and Malt opening up new horizons to amazing hops.

Training in how to pick apples to make cider!

What are your thoughts and highlights of our first year?
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The craft beer revolution will not be sanitised!
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I_used_to_brew
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Re: Bristol Craft Brewers is one year old Today, 18th Novemb

Post by I_used_to_brew »

I've enjoyed every meeting and I've learned something at pretty much all of them.

Brett (where is he?) also inspired me with his talk on Americano beer styles which led to me thrashing him at the national comp!!

I've also enjoyed at least 90% of the beers that have been presented, although obviously not the wheat beers or l*ger types...

Huge thanks to all that have been responsible for bulk orders for making our brewing even cheaper, long may that continue for fully fledged club members.

And thanks to Matt for getting the whole thing going even if he had a rubbish name for the group to start with (Avon and Frome amateur brewers) who wants to be named after a cosmetic company and a distant market town anyway!?
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MapperMatt
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Re: Bristol Craft Brewers is one year old Today, 18th Novemb

Post by MapperMatt »

I think the thing I have enjoyed most is the sense of having a community of brewers who are all striving to make the best beer they can. I have enjoyed getting to know everyone and of course learning quite an incredible amount about brewing. I have been amazed and heartened by people's good will and enthusiasm to help each other and the club out in the name of brewing.

One of the highlights for me was Rich's talk on hops and the subsequent planting of a fuggles rhizome which I later harvested and brewed with. This, like many things this year, is something I wouldn't have done without BCB. I also really enjoyed the summer party.

Thanks to everyone who has come to the meetings and made this first year a success. I hope next year is as enjoyable for everyone as this year was for me.

Matt

PS Roger.... it was the rivers... as well you know!!
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alikocho
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Re: Bristol Craft Brewers is one year old Today, 18th Novemb

Post by alikocho »

I've really enjoyed meetings, and it was great to find others to share the hobby with and learn from.

Highlights for me have been:

Meeting a great bunch of people and spending convivial times with them

Organizing bulk buys that meant things were cheaper (Russian Imperial Stout was an affordable beer to brew!), and we got some exciting varieties of hops

Building links with local professional brewers

Being able to pull of a successful National Competition and finding others who are enthused about becoming judges too

Tasting a broad range of beers, the vast majority which have been very good, and noticing the improvements that people have made in their beer (in some instances complete beginners becoming National winners inside of a year). I've also quite enjoyed the prodding of people in the direction of styles they'd not encountered or not considered brewing before, and seeing the reactions and results of their beers.

Learning about kegging, which meant I could finally work out how to get myself set up and could ditch the long bottling sessions (this has also pleased my wife, as now she can easily find beer she wants to drink rather than having to hunt through the Saison)
Ali

BJCP National Judge
BJCP Assistant Regional Director (North-East/Europe)
American Homebrewers' Association International Subcommittee
Organizer, National Homebrew Competition
CBA UK Competition and Training Coordinator

http://serenbrewing.com
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I_used_to_brew
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Re: Bristol Craft Brewers is one year old Today, 18th Novemb

Post by I_used_to_brew »

I also thought the summer social was brilliant, that must be repeated :)

Odd things that stick in my memory are;

MikeP's showering of a customer with beer dregs out of the window of the Cornubia
Jeff turning up with cans of natch at the Summer bash
Stinking out the cornubia when splitting hops
The randall
Hop vodka
Peter's 25+ year old barley wine
The urban fox at the first meeting at the Three Tuns
MikeP's pork scratchings
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alikocho
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Re: Bristol Craft Brewers is one year old Today, 18th Novemb

Post by alikocho »

Trunky wrote:
Odd things that stick in my memory are;

Peter's 25+ year old barley wine
Which I thought was in fact a stout
Ali

BJCP National Judge
BJCP Assistant Regional Director (North-East/Europe)
American Homebrewers' Association International Subcommittee
Organizer, National Homebrew Competition
CBA UK Competition and Training Coordinator

http://serenbrewing.com
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Bimster
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Location: Generally Bristol

Re: Bristol Craft Brewers is one year old Today, 18th Novemb

Post by Bimster »

For me, I think you've all pretty much covered it.

Every meeting, I find that I'm learning things and discovering beer styles I never knew existed. This alone is magic and I'm glad to be part of it.

For someone who only started brewing this year and to get fourth in category at the National Homebrew Competition speaks volumes of the success of BCB.

Oh yeah, I guess the other major achievment for BCB was winning the club award at the National Homebrew Competition.
James

BJCP Certified Judge
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I_used_to_brew
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Re: Bristol Craft Brewers is one year old Today, 18th Novemb

Post by I_used_to_brew »

alikocho wrote:
Trunky wrote:
Odd things that stick in my memory are;

Peter's 25+ year old barley wine
Which I thought was in fact a stout
Or was it one of the Durden Park old ales?
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