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Wort Hogs quarterly Newsletter!

Dear all fellow homebrewers, drinkers, and lovers of beer in general,

Welcome to our first installment of the Wort Hogs newsletter. In an effort to streamline our communications while keeping everyone informed of our events, we wanted to give this a shot. Expect one of these every 1-2 months (or as we remember and realize another quarter of the year is approaching). Anyways, onto the newsletter!

Table of Contents (there’s a lot here):

I. Facebook Group/Website
II. February Meeting
III. FeBREWary – Multi-club Homebrewers Meeting – 2-8-2014’
IV. Brooklyn Brewery Glory Days (Sterling) Beer Dinner – February 13, 2014
V. Lost Hog Barrel Aged Series Bottling Day – February 17, 2014 (Presidents Day)
VI. Real Ale Party – March 16, 2014
VII. Annual Brewer of the Year Dinner – March 2, 2014
VIII. National Homebrewers Conference (NHC)

I. Facebook Group/Website

The Wort Hogs do have a facebook group AND page. Many of you are members of the facebook group. However, web postings on our website are automatically posted to the Facebook page. For those who are members, please try to join the Facebook page. Our goal is to get everyone to “like” our Facebook page. The use being that many of our upcoming events and meeting information will be available more regularly on the facebook page.
Website: http://worthogs.com/
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/theworthogs
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/theworthogs/

II. Monthly Meeting

The next monthly meeting will be held on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, with it falling on Wednesday February 12, 2014 at Mellow Mushroom in Herndon. Styles for this months competition are Stouts! BJCP 13. As usual, an email soliciting for entries will be coming out in the days prior to the meeting.

III. FeBREWary – Multi-club Homebrewers Meeting – 2-8-2014

There will be a multi-club homebrewers gathering on Sat, Feb 8 starting at 1:00 p.m. at the Rock Bottom in Arlington, Virginia. Members from DCHB, BURP, Nova, GRIST, and of course, us Wort Hogs have all been invited. The gathering will be in the Martha’s Parlour area next to the back bar and we’ll be able to “spill over” into the adjoining main dining area as needed. Homebrew to share is encouraged (please remember 2-oz limit). However, we cannot bring commercial beer or any outside food to share. Rock Bottom will supply glasses, bus trays, and ice.

Our club will spring for a shared appetizer platter; other food and drink will be on individual tabs. Please be kind to our hosts and buy some Rock Bottom beer and food as well so they welcome us back!

There will be a DCHB / BURP Belgians competition (all of BJCP 16, I think). If you are were interested in entering, contact Nick Griner at BURP, nbgriner@gmail.com.
We would like to get an approximate headcount prior to the event, so please respond if you think you can & will attend. Also looking for people to hand out nametags. Please email Rob Frye at rob.frye.wtftech@gmail.com if you’d be willing to do so. Thanks and we hope to see you all there!

IV. Brooklyn Brewery Glory Days (Sterling) Beer Dinner – February 13, 2014

Our friends at Glory Days Sterling have invited us and other beer friendly groups for a dinner with beers by Brooklyn Brewery. The dinner features four courses paired with a different beer from Brooklyn Brewery. If you are interested, please RSVP at 703-430-3456. Please see the attached flyer for more information.

V. Lost Hog Barrel Aged Series Bottling Day – February 17, 2014 (Presidents Day)

After we brewed Lost Hog last year we transferred a few barrels worth to used wine, whiskey, and sour barrels. These have aged nicely and are ready to drink or continue their aging in the bottle. We are looking for ~15 volunteers to spend the day, or part of their day helping bottle. For those of you who have bottled at Lost Rhino before we won’t be using their counter pressure bottler; but we’ll be hand bottling with buckets, priming sugar, and some yeast. It’s hard work but I think everyone who has helped work in the past has thoroughly enjoyed it!

VI. Real Ale Party – March 16, 2014

You all should have received the evite now for the Real Ale Party on March 16, 2014. Rob and Cathy Frye have graciously (soon to be regrettably) offered their house for this party. Please email us or see the evite for more information about the party!

VII. Annual Brewer of the Year Dinner – March 2, 2014

This year’s Brewer of the Year Dinner will be held on Sunday, March 2, 2014 at Rock Bottom Brewery in Arlington, Virginia (inside Ballston Mall). The event will begin at 4:00 p.m. Tickets will be $50 ($40 for designated drivers). An evite for this event has already been sent out and can be found here: http://www.evite.com/event/01ADQ7FDLJOLH4SI2EPDRNLIVTZK3Q

VIII. National Homebrewers Conference (NHC)

The 2014 National Homebrewer’s Conference is fast approaching! This years conference is being held in Grand Rapids Michigan! For more information on the conference check out their website here. http://www.ahaconference.org/

We had several members attend last year and we even had our own booth with some of the NovaHombrew club members. I think I can safely say for everyone that went, it was a great experience. During the day there are seminars you can attend that may be presented by homebrew authors such as Mitch Steele, Gordon Strong, Jamil Zainasheff, or even just a regular homebrew guy who gives a talk on his process. There’s a lot to be learned at the seminars but it’s not all about the education. Club night (clubs from around the country serve up their best homebrew), The Award Ceremony and Banquet, the Expo (meet with merchants in the homebrew community and ask about their products) and social times.

If you think you are interested in attending please reply to this email so we can include you in our planning and preparations. Registration opens sometime in February to attend the conference, and you must be an AHA member to buy a ticket and attend. It’s about a 10 hour drive, or a 2-3 hour flight. Hope to hear from some of you!

Thanks and as always, please feel free to email us if you have any questions!