BN AHA CLUB OF THE YEAR!

[Whitebeard_Brewer]

!st off.....CONGRATS to the BN ARMY!!!!!! Club of the YEAR....BITCHES!!!!!!

2nd- I have been a supporter of TBN since 2005, when I first discovered them, and what a great fucking time I have had in all these years. At the time, I didn't have a local HBC, but now I do, and I entered my 4 entires under our banner.....Hoppy Homebrewers of South Mississippi.....and YES, it is still illegal to brew beer here.....but fuck um, as I always say.

3rd, To quote Gordon Strong, from his post on the AHA site: "Or they could do it the old-fashioned way: brew better beer and more of it. Brew more styles. Get more of the club to brew under-represented styles. Judge the beers before entering them so you can enter them more appropriately. Take care of packaging and shipping. A successful club effort takes focus and effort from individual members plus more coordination at the club level to maximize coverage of the judging categories."

I agree 100% with Gordon.....MAKE BETTER BEER....and as much as I hate to say it, there were some really bad beers at club night, if some of those beers were actually entered into the Nationals, those brewers need some honest feedback from others in their club...if they have judges in their clubs, then those judges need to step up and say "hey man, this beer isn't good" and here's why!!! If they don't have judges, become one....that's what I did!!!!

Learn about the craft, and make better beer!!!! Then, your "club" might gain enough points to knock us off the stage.

AND YES, I was on stage....PROUDLY sporting the even tho I didn't enter this year as TBN, (I did last year), I still represent them in everything I do...That's one reason my licence plate says BN ARMY!!!!!

Lastly, I have met a TON of great brewers through TBN, people I have, and will continue to in the future, travel great distances to hang out with, and drink great fucking beers with, because I consider them ALL FRIENDS!!!!!

[bigdan]

I can see both sides of the issue, but I entered under the TBN, because I don't have a local club the closest one is about a two hour drive and they meet on Thursday nights. Great guys and would love to meet up with them more often, but that's a long way to go when I start work at 6am. More importantly I entered as a member of The BN because I started brewing from a book about ten years ago. Made some pretty good beers and learned a lot but the info an inspiration the BN provides is something I can't find around here. The world of brewing has really changed and I hope that the few brewers in the area can soon have a local club to get that inspiration from. I'll probably be looking for advice from you guy's to get a club started, but I'm still a proud supporter of the BN and am glad to have helped with the win.

[SoCalBrewer]

I agree with Whitebeard there were some bad beers at Club Night and I dumped a bunch of them and notice that the dump buckets all a lot of tables were pretty full. I watched and talked to some well know Pro brewers at Club Night and I would be real embarrassed to poor them some tasters of that shitty beer.

[BrewTa2]

Posted on AHA:

[quote author=zen_brew link=topic=8001.msg99847#msg99847 date=1308802919]
For me, my local club represents community, camaraderie, friendship, and regular interaction.[/quote]
And that is what the BN Army Homebrew Club is for me and many others. I will venture to say that we know more about our fellow club members and have more interaction than most other club members do. I was a member of the Oregon Brew Crew for 7 years and with a couple of exceptions, could not tell you anything about my fellow club members except if they could brew or not. Not so in my four years with the BN. The BN Army Homebrew Club is so much more than a homebrew club. We are a club, not an organization, association or company. I will grant you that we are more than a club; we are a community to some and a family to others. Maybe this has damaged our perception since we are open to all. The BN Suite at NHC is open to all, we don't have a password or secret handshake, we only accept people that want to have fun and share a few beers. That works pretty well for us, and I for one want to keep it that way.

It pisses me off when I hear that we are a virtual club and don't know each other. I don't get too pissed with the folks that don't go to NHC because it comes from ignorance, but when it comes from people that have been to any of the last three NHCs or Brewing Network events, it must me based on some agenda that I don't get. Many of us go to NHC, GABF, BN Winter Fest, and meet up at regional events. We know each other! How many of you have paid to help a fellow member come to the NHC from another country? Hands? 60? Thought not. Hell, if one of us is just spending the night in a town, chances are we'll arrange to meet up with at least one BN Army member.

JP has described us as being from the Island of Misfit Brewers, and I think that is spot on. Do me a favor. Go through each region and look where the the brewers with advancing beers hail from. For the most part, they are like me - miles from any club. And the ones that have a club close by? They just might be Misfit Brewers and don't want to associate with the local club. Listening to some of the comments directed at the BN, I can understand this.

To the point of an unfair playing field - Bullshit. DOZE had more beers advancing than did the BNA Club. Yes, DOZE has a higher percentage of Great brewers, and those Great brewers sent more great beer per-capita than the BN. Personally, I figure Nathan Smith got screwed by flight position or bad judges, otherwise they would have beaten us again. The BNA Club isn't a juggernaut. We are not the dynasty that the Sonoma Beerocrats were, maybe if the AHA makes us get organized we will be...

As we go forward our members will reach out to other brewers in their area and form their own clubs or discover clubs they want to be a part of. This has happened since the BN has come onto the scene, and it will continue. We BNA Club members do see the value in a well run local club and as Justin said when he accepted the award on our behalf "If you have a local club - enter for your local club." For those that don't yet have a local club - there's the BN Army Homebrew Club. Join us and pretty soon you might find a few other brewers in your area that you wouldn't have known otherwise, then you can form your own club and pick your own goofy acronym-name.

It's beer, have fun.

Tat

[TheDarkSide]

I entered 3 beers under the BN this year, and I think they actually took away CoTY point from the BN because of it.

I have 2 clubs near me ( the famous Brew Free or Die is the next town over ) but they meet at times when I can never make it. So the BN is my club and will be for the forseeable future.

[Magilla]

I just moved 2k miles away from my local club. I am still current on dues, and if I enter in comps in the near future I'll still put my beloved "local" home brew club on the form. According to some this is unfair right? There is a local club at my new location, but they are just too big for my tastes as I am not crazy about meetings just turning into keggers.

I will most likely never put the BN as my club, but I would also never want the BN disqualified for any reason. If anything, I think of TBN as my second club. Just as I think of some of you, whom I have never really met, my friends.

I don't get the animosity shown toward the BN on other boards (won't name them, but one in particular). As has already been stated, IT'S JUST BEER! I left one club because of a guy who acted as thought he invented the f'in hobby. I am just surprised to find it on this forum as well...

[TimC]

TheBrewingNetwork.com is a company, owned and operated by Justin Crossley and supported by monetary donations from listeners.

The Brewing Network is a club (as recognized by the AHA), based in Pacheco California but with members from across the country and beyond. Many of the same listeners that support TheBrewingNetwork.com also identify themselves as members of The Brewing Network club. This is a club with no officers, no dues, and no official agenda. There are no official face to face meetings, but club members and others regularly meet virtually while listening to TheBrewingNetwork.com radio shows to share knowledge and ideas relating to homebrewing. These members also attend conferences and festivals together and meet informally across the country constantly.

To say that this is not a club is very narrow-minded. Now let's all brew some beer and get over it!

[Spurtrax]

To all TBN haters,

(insert sarcasm font here)

I am sorry your beers lost, in a blind taste test, to beers brewed by people in isolation who are forced to use their own iniative to get additional information on brewing techniques. This disgusting thirst for knowledge involves spending many hours listening to podcasts, often at work or at the expense of time spent with family.

Thank you, TBN haters for identifying a cause of workplace productivity loss and family strife. You are doing a service for the economy and children of the country.

I propose these changes to the rules. If a person wants to enter a beer under TBN, they will have to spit in the fermentor. This will even the playing field. TBN entries will also not be allowed to "cheat" by controlling their tempuratures using artificial methods. They will brew beer at the tempurature God wants them to.

Hopefully, this movement to make everything fair will carry over to every facit of society. People deemed "too attractive" will be forced to wear bags over their heads and those who are "smarty pants" will be given dumb pills.

Thank you TBN haters for trying to make things right, they way they used to be, before the pesky Brewing Network started mucking things up. Lets set the brewing bar back to where it was in 1985.

Sincerly,

Spurtrax