What a whirlwind of a month – in many ways! December was one of the windiest months that I recall in Anchorage, and busiest for me (and I think many others too). The newsletter will be shorter than usual this month because I have been so tied up with work and family travel (but I have lots of highlights – keep reading). In fact I am writing this month’s Prez Sez from Surprise, Arizona where we spent the Christmas holidays with family. This was quite a change from all my past family get togethers: no snow! I hope everyone also had a wonderful holiday. But enough about the weather, family, and holidays…time to get back to brewing!

I want to thank Billy Opinsky for sponsoring the Humpys Big Fish Homebrew Competition, Arctic Brewing Supply for accepting the entries, and Jason Ditsworth for leading the activities. The results are posted on our club website under Competitions. Congratulations to Don Lewellyn and his co-brewer, your humble Prez, for taking the Best of Show for the second year in a row – this year with an American Barleywine.

The club holiday party (70s theme) was fantastic! If you missed it, you missed out! Unfortunately, I had to catch a 6 a.m. flight on Sunday so I could not stay for the “last dance”.  Many thanks to the Michael’s, McDonald’s, and the Plews (there were probably others I am missing) for their generous donations of time to ensure a memorable event.  Check our facebook page for a pictorial view of the night’s festivities. 

The Fur Rhondy competition is coming up quickly – don’t miss this one! Checkout the details included in this months newsletter. Entries are due Feb 10th.

The club brews: Many of you have asked about the status of these brews (Flanders Red and a Russian Imperial Stout) and I am happy to tell you that they are done! We will have 5 gallons of each available for enjoying at the January meeting. We are also going to be discussing with Dennis (past Prez) a plan for re-distributing the remainder back to the original contributors. Check out last months newsletter article for more details and watch your email inbox.

January is one incredible month for beer in Alaska. Check this out:

First:

If you don’t have tickets for the Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival (GABBF), don’t wait, get them now, right here: http://auroraproductions.net/beer-barley.html.

Second:

Closely monitor this website for all of the activities for “Alaska Beer Week” (will be up shortly from what I am told): http://www.akbeerweek.com. There will be TONS of places around town that will be hosting beer dinners, tastings, and other beer related shenanigans.

Third:

Our club meeting this month is very unique (different date/people/places/things) as we will be sharing the stage with the folks from the Alaska Brewers Guild (you can learn more about that here: http://www.brewersguildofalaska.org/). Jim Roberts (aka Dr. Fermento) is the president of the Guild and will be assisting us with the meeting activities – a great asset to the club in deed. Our meeting will be held on THURSDAY, Jan 19 at 7:00 p.m. upstairs in the Goose Theater – show up early to help setup and socialize a bit. Our special guest speaker for this event will be: Stephen Pauwels from Boulevard Brewing Co. This meeting will be a great opportunity to meet Stephen, as well as many brewers from Alaska and elsewhere. Don’t forget to bring your homebrew to share, and some commercial beers and/or beer paraphernalia for the auction. And as always, we need your help with every meeting to make it a success, here is the breakdown for the club responsibilities, by last name: A - J Food K - P Setup R - Z Cleanup. Please do your part.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a private meeting that will ONLY be open to card carrying members of the GNBC, members of the Brewers Guild, and invited VIP guests. If you have not paid your membership dues, now is a great time to do it, by visiting our website: http://www.greatnorthernbrewers.org/membership.html We don’t want any tears in your beer because you forgot to pay your dues!

I think that wraps it up. As always if you have any questions/concerns/suggestions, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line at president@greatnorthernbrewers.org.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in January.

Stay warm and brew strong!

Flame out…
Tim