A Word from Bazza / September 2017 Round-up

[Bazza]

Hi All,

Where the hell did August go?
Mostly under a puddle if memory serves me.

Better late than never, I guess. So with summer well behind us we now turn to embrace the falling leaves, the shorter days, the lessening guilt about stuff not getting done around the house, and the 5-degree drop in temperature of the constant drizzle that is the AUTUMN!!

If kicking leaves in the park and telling trick-or-treaters to feck off until October when you can properly tell them to feck off isn't your bag then, thankfully, there's a pretty bumper Q4 ahead.


Past competitions / events
Belfast ABV Fest – Carlisle Circus
Into its 3rd year now. I thought last year's was hard to top but, in terms of the range of beers, the food and overall atmosphere, I thought this year's was better still. Superbly organised again. Great to catch up with a good few of our NHC members from both North and South on the Friday evening. Alhough most of them seemed to have a head start on me by the time I arrived 

White Hag Brewery – Hagstravaganza
Did anyone attend this? I'd love to hear how it went.


Future Competitions/Events
17th September – Belfast Brewday with SPBW  - The Tasting – Somewhere in Finaghy
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/belfast-homebrewers/mayjune-meet-and-brew-day/
We're formally invited this Sunday afternoon to the home of SPBWNI member, Mark, in Finaghy to finally sample the fruits of our collaborative brew day in Brewbot last June. Light snacks will be provided. Bring a growler too; there will be leftovers that need drank quickly. No pesky CO2 here, no sir!

23rd September - Inter Club "Ready Steady Brew" Competition Wicklow Wolf Hop Location in Roundwood
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/competitions/inter-club-ready-steady-brew-competition/
A very interesting twist on the homebrew competition format, where it's essentially 'Live'. Can't wait to see how this one goes.

30th Sept – South Kildare Lager  Competition  - Lock 13 Sallins
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/competitions/south-kildare-lager-competition/
Registration has now closed on this one. Good luck to all the entrants and to the organisers!

7th October - Capital Sour Competition – 57 The Headline
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/competitions/capital-sour-comp/
Registration closes on September 23rd, so get those entries in!

Belfast Quintessential Competition – IPAs
Sadly, due to the uncertainty of the future of our regular venue, Brewbot, and also given the sheer number of other competitions happening over the next couple of months, we're about 95% decided to postpone this one to a later date 

4th November - Maiden City Brewers: Simply Red Competition
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/competitions/maiden-city-brewers-simply-red-competition/

25th November - Brew Na Bóinne 2017 Stout Competition - Boyne Brewhouse
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/competitions/save-the-date-brew-na-boinne-2017/

February/March 2018 – the Nationals
More information to come but get brewing!

12th May 2018 – Brewcon - Smock Alley Theatre Dublin
There's a lot of work/organising/networking going on in the background for this event but stay tuned for some exciting announcements real soon!


Other Topics
NHC Merchandise
The first round of the NHC glasses order is complete, payments are in, and they're currently making their way round the country to their new homes. Initial feedback has been very positive so, if you missed out on this round, then stick your name on the next order:
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/new-board/nhc-stem-glass-order-batch-2/

With the glasses established we'll finally be able to turn our attentions the other requested items; the tshirts, mugs and hats. Also, feel free to add your ideas for future merchandise items to the following thread:
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/chit-chat/merchandise-ideas/

Club Membership / NHC Groups / Competitions
Membership is still only 10 euro so blackmail your friends and neighbours into joining.
As always, please let us know if you need any help growing your club, organising a competition, or anything else you think may be of benefit to your brewing group and club-wide.


Lastly...Bazza's final thought
Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's a hangover from the summer, but there seems to be a marked decrease in forum postings at the minute. This could be due to any number of things: everybody's content with their setup and process, we're a naturally shy race, Whatsapp is better and more immediate than using a website or Tapatalk, etc. Whatever the reason, please don't forget to use the forum to communicate anything that's going on with you or your club, any advice you're after, interesting articles you've found, etc; it will help guarantee the longevity, usefulness and ultimate success of the NHC.
(Also, it really is in all your interests to ensure that the bulk of forum posts don't comprise Youtube videos of Swedish electro posted by yours truly after one too many sherberts.)


Cheers,

-Barry

P.s. As ever, please let me know of any omissions or inaccuracies in the above text and I will correct.

[nigel_c]

Yeah as good as the WhatsApp groups are they are definitely taking activity off the forum.

[fishjam45 (Colin)]

Yeah as good as the WhatsApp groups are they are definitely taking activity off the forum.

I agree.
When I first joined the NHC the amount of help I received from many members here amazed me.  Any questions I asked were answered very thoroughly, that is not the case now.  It probably just makes it harder for newbies to get help because they wouldn't be in any whatsapp groups. They'll probably go elsewhere for help and may never come back, so longterm it could be a worry for new members.

[molc]

Yeah the whatsapp groups have taken over in a big way and it's quite local at this stage, which does mean new members get less feedback and the forum appears less active than the membership suggests.

[imark]

General day to day local stuff has definitely migrated to whatsapp.
A lot of questions are already answered on existing threads so probably explain some of the drop off.
I miss the kit build threads.

[delzep]

Has the ease of using WhatsApp meant a decrease in people turning up to meetings I wonder?

[Pheeel]

Has the ease of using WhatsApp meant a decrease in people turning up to meetings I wonder?

Not sure there's a correlation between the two

[nigel_c]

I miss the kit build threads.

Everyone is tea bagging these days with the grain father and not building their own kit.

[SkiBeagle]

Rise of the Planet of the Tea-Bagging Whatsappers, attacked by the 50ft Woman drunk on Zombie Dust...
Is it the end of life as we know it?