Structure & Organisation

[Padraic]

Hi everyone, I think it would be very good for us to start thinking of some ways of making sure our club remains the best club in the country!

I was just checking out the website of the London Amateur Brewers and their upcoming event reminded me that we have discussed similar idea's in the past. But we have not yet been great at implementing such projects.

So basically I am starting a thread to get some conversation going on what things people would like for us to implement going forward?

I would like for our brewdays to have a bit more going on. I think that we need to try to have a workshop every month and things like that.

So post your idea's below about other things we could get going.

There have been lists in the past so if you come across them link them below and I will try to pull everything together for us to discuss sometime soon!

http://londonamateurbrewers.co.uk/2013/10/next-meeting-monday-4th-november-2013/

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

I am a member of LAB, and I will be at that meeting (I make most of the meetings).

For reference LAB was founded about 6 years ago, to get brewers competition fit. As a result there tends to be a lot of structure in the meetings, as the club is doing a lot.

There is an annual schedule, which will typically feature 4 meetups around an interclub competition, one annual internal competition, and one meetup is at the GBBF. The other 6 meetups will offer a mix of presentations on any theme, members beer tastings,  guest speakers and specialty trials (vary 1 ingredient out of a fixed recipe).

There are a number of non-meetup events, including a couple of collaboration brew days (the lads go and make a beer on pro kit that gets sold).

This has a few negatives. It can be hard to facilitate members tastings, and it can all be a bit overwhelming for novices too - we see a lot of people who turn up once and don't return.

It takes a fair amount of work, and there is an active committee. It also helps that the membership is large, and pro active too.

If you have any questions, I can bring them up at the next meeting.

[Shane Phelan]

Yeah I like the idea of a bit more structure, even if this meant knowing what date's the tastings/brewday's were going to be for 3 months in advance.

The brew-day's have always gone best with brewing mingled with talks/demo's which break up the time taken to bring water to a boil, mash, boil, cool etc...

[Dr Jacoby]

I'd love to see talks on how to brew different kinds of beer. Tips of the trade and variations etc.

It would also be cool to have Q&A sessions with people who know a lot about certain topics.

[Rossa]

I'd like to have the odd pro come in to talk too. These could be yeast doctors, brewers, chemists or whatever is relevant.

[Shane Phelan]

Also BrianC was telling me about his trip to Ballymore Eustace. Would be cool to have the odd field trip. 

[Shane Phelan]

Yeah I think that would make sense.