BN AHA CLUB OF THE YEAR!

[codewritinfool]

Dude.

All it takes to register a club with the AHA is a club name, street address, city, state, country, zip code, website, contact first name, contact last name, contact email address, contact phone number. Nothing else.

When you do that, they list you as an AHA club. That's it. In my state, there's even a single-person brew club.

I looked at https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dG1VUUNYS1BnRUxySm1sNTlIZkFxSVE6MA and didn't see any other rules for clubs, you'd think that's where they'd be.

So if I live out in the sticks, what club do I use? If I formed my own single-person club, do I pay dues? Do I attend meetings?

The answer is no. The arguments about dues and meetings are unnecessary and only cloud the issue. Do you report your dues & meeting notes to the AHA? No, you don't, so for all we know, you could have had 10 meetings or none. You could have collected $500 or $0.

The Brewing Network fills a need for those who don't have a club or choose not to be in any other club. I guess I fail to see the difference in The BN and your "club" (in quotes, as you put it). What makes your "club" a club?

The AHA themselves awarded TheBN club of the year, nobody else did. They may change the definition of a club, but from what I can see, they haven't even defined it beyond what is listed on the registration form.

The brewers that entered the NHC contests voluntarily used "The Brewing Network" as their club, and why not?

None of my arguments are bullshit. Clearly The BN is a club or they couldn't have won the award.

[JohnF]

I didn't try to break any rules on the show, sport. Anything my team did was absolutely within the very loosely defined "rules" of the show

And everything TBN Club did was within the loosely defined rules of The Club of the Year Award. So quit your crying. It seems like the people who actually get points for DOZE, who are the ones who should feel the loss the hardest, can handle losing with some grace.

[BeerPal]

OK, I promise (for now, anyway ) that this is the last I will bitch about this. But I want to reiterate that I never said TBN wasn't a club under current AHA rules. I also never said that anybody broke any rules. Never said any of that. So you can stop inferring that I did. What I said was that TBN does not meet the accepted definition of the word "club."

Clearly the problem with the current AHA rules is that they do not define what constitutes a "club". The playing field is not level and that has should be changed, IMHO.

So congratulations on your win, and I mean that. When I entered this conversation I did not mean to come off sounding like sour grapes. I think it would be very interesting to hear the AHA's position on this issue, if they have one.

[Lichtersnatch]

Clearly your interpretation of what a club is differs from others, but the only interpretation that matters is from those who hand out the trophy.

Wash that sand out of your vagina.

[Chaz]

There's a topic on the AHA forum now if anyone is interested in reading...

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/f ... pic=8001.0

Also the Club of the Year Top 25 results:
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/p ... ns/winners

Here's top 5:
1 202 The Brewing Network Pacheco, CA
2 188 Diablo Order of Zymiracle Enthusiasts (DOZE) Concord, CA
3 184 QUAFF Carlsbad, CA
4 78 Saint Paul Homebrewers Club Saint Paul, MN
5 74 Fellowship of Oklahoma Ale Makers (FOAM) Tulsa, OK

[CRBrewHound]

I agree in that the playing field for this award is not fair, with or without the BN, due to the vastly differring sizes of clubs. You can not get a level playing field out of the current implementation of the "club of the year" award. Just like my club of 35 members can not possibly compete with the large numbers of clubs the very large clubs with three or four hundred members. The BN now even has an up on them because it is a club comprized of thousands of members.

So the definition of "club" is really irrelevent to this award, as it provides for no way to keep the contest fair. So, my personal and this is my personal opinion, The Gamrinus award is what I consider the true winner of the club of the year. This award keeps the contest fair whether you are a club of 1 or a club of 1000. That to me speaks to who the real champs are!

So congrats to the Southern Nevada Ale Fermenters Union (SNAFU) as the rightful winners of club of the year. You guys rock.

[TheDarkSide]

What an enjoyable day reading all the whining about the BN winning CoTY. And to think I was so close to getting a membership on Homebrewtalk. Maybe I'll up my DUES to the BN instead.

So glad it's about the homebrew and not the medals and recognition with these guys

[BrewTa2]

Thanks for the link Chaz. Seems that the consensus is the same over there: "...not surprisingly, most there seem to feel that it's tough ta-tas for anybody that doesn't like it."