BN AHA CLUB OF THE YEAR!

[Petedadink]

Congradulations to Everyone !

[blueberry]

Nicely done fellas. Congrats to all the BNers.

[mkultra69]

Great job guys!!! Cant wait to see you all up here in Seattle next year.

[rbowser]

I think it demonstrated that the BN is force to be reckoned with. At this point, I think it is a good thing for the BN. Although I did notice a pretty quiet room as a bunch of people did not expect this. I imagine people in QUAFF, DOZE, and St Paul Homebrewers might have taken it harder. My little brew club did pretty crappy. Too many drinkers.

The downside is that the BN club could easily win club of the year every year, and shut out any every other brew club. Eventually, that will hurt the brewing community and there will be a backlash. At that point, damage would be done.

It would be smart for the BN to take the high road next year and just voluntarily opt out of the running, acknowledging the inherent advantage of being an internet based brew club.

Well, my two cents.

[beerocracy]

There are plenty of people who are BN listeners but enter under their own club and I think it will always be that way. Justin has always been adamant that the BN club is for listeners who don't have a local club. He constantly recommends people support their local club and home brew stores even though they have places like B3 & Northern Brewer as sponsors. in fact, he has said many times that listeners demanded the club - he had nothing to do with setting it up originally.

What was really surprising to me was how spread out the medals were in the second round. It seemed like there were a lot more clubs winning medals instead of just the big guys you hear every year. Also, there didn't seem to be the huge home advantage you would sometimes see in past years where a majority of medals would come from brewers in the local region. Could it be possible that home brewers nationwide have access to a wealth of brewing knowledge through the BN so that more high-quality beer is being brewed throughout the country? I would argue yes. I spoke some with Justin in the hospitality suite after the awards and expressed to him my belief that NHC would be half its size without the BN

So, to make a long story short, to anyone pissed off about the BN being club of the year: SUCK IT.

[JohnF]

I think it demonstrated that the BN is force to be reckoned with. At this point, I think it is a good thing for the BN. Although I did notice a pretty quiet room as a bunch of people did not expect this. I imagine people in QUAFF, DOZE, and St Paul Homebrewers might have taken it harder. My little brew club did pretty crappy. Too many drinkers.

The downside is that the BN club could easily win club of the year every year, and shut out any every other brew club. Eventually, that will hurt the brewing community and there will be a backlash. At that point, damage would be done.

It would be smart for the BN to take the high road next year and just voluntarily opt out of the running, acknowledging the inherent advantage of being an internet based brew club.

Well, my two cents.

This doesn't really square with history as the backlash should have already happened. Sonoma Beerocrats won for over a decade in a row I think and QUAFF for 7 years. Beerocrats was before my time (so was QUAFF, but a little less before my time), but people certainly noticed that QUAFF qualified beers in a number of regions (for various reasons) and I know that some people bitched but there was no wholesale backlash and the rules were being followed.

I would guess than within 7-10 years someone will figure out how to beat TBN just like QUAFF figured out how to win, SPHBC figured out how to beat them and DOZE figured out how to beat them. DOZE did it by getting absurdly high participation among their local members but the QUAFF and SPHBC paths were a little more nuanced.

[BeerPal]

So, to make a long story short, to anyone pissed off about the BN being club of the year: SUCK IT.

Don't get me wrong; I love Justin and his motley crew and The Brewing Network, and everything they, and it, have done for homebrewing and I support TBN by donating monthly. And I am not surprised that TBN won Club of the Year. But the fact that the award was given to TBN says much more about Justin and his internet radio superstardom than it does about about a disparate group of homebrewers spread out over fifty states who call themselves a "club". A club that holds no meetings, has no officers, collects no dues and whose only membership requirement is writing the words, "The Brewing Network" on a homebrewing competition entry sheet, is no club at all. And as somebody wrote in another thread, the argument can be made that awarding Club of the Year to a non-club like TBN cheapens the award. A sentiment I happen to agree with.

So enjoy your award while you can because hopefully, whatever loophole in the competition rules that allows your "club" to exist will be closed before Seattle rolls around.

[siwelwerd]

A club that holds no meetings, has no officers, collects no dues and whose only membership requirement is writing the words, "The Brewing Network" on an homebrewing competition entry sheet, is no club at all.

There are weekly "conference calls", if you will, disseminating information to the members. Dues are voluntary. I can write QUAFF or DOZE or whatever I want on an entry sheet without being a member. Just because it isn't exactly like what your club is does not make it "no club at all".

If a group of people helping each other make better beer isn't a homebrew club, I don't know what is.