1) Due to Heavy Seas construction, we met in a quiet back room.

 

2) Several CRABSters went to HomebrewCon in Portland.  Some of them visited 20+ breweries before the conference.  They brought several commercial Oregon beers to share.  See Ben Schwalb’s write-up of the conference and also his two-week trip leading up to it at http://www.benbrew.com/WestCoast/westcoast.html.  In 2019 the conference will be in Providence RI on June 27-29.

 

3) CRABS served several homebrews at Annapolis Home Brew Club’s Pints for Paws on June 23.  Over $12,000 was raised for the SPCA.

 

4) Checkerspot Brewing opened on June 30.  It’s owned by Judy and Rob Neff, and Stephen Marsh.  Currently they are open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, but plan to expand their hours.  We will try to have a CRABS happy hour there in October.

 

5) Baltimore Beer Week will be October 12-21.  Homebrew Extravaganza will take place at Checkerspot now that Judy has a brewery.  There’s a good chance it will happen on the 3^rd Wednesday of October, and if so we will move the CRABS meeting.

 

6) Catonsville Co-op’s 5^th annual Hometown Brewdown will be held on August 11.  Live music, food, and homebrew competition.  CRABS will serve 5-6 beers.  A total of 20 homebrews will be served.  Tickets are $25 for unlimited sampling. 

Event page is https://www.catonsvillecoop.com/calendar/2018/8/11/5th-annual-hometown-brewdown

Buy tickets at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-hometown-brewdown-tickets-47089707583

 

7) MASHOUT will happen August 16-19 in Fort Royale PA (same location as last year).  This year Sour Hour will feature a competition with prizes.  See http://www.campmashout.com for more information and to register.

 

8) The Maryland State Fair homebrew competition judging will be held on Friday August 24.  No entry fee.  Drop off entries at the fairgrounds August 21-22.  If we can get someone to gather and deliver entries from a local drop-off point, everyone will be notified.  See http://www.mdhomebrewers.org/ for judging, registration, and other info.

 

9) Crabs4CRABS will occur on Saturday September 8 at the usual location.  Free for CRABS members and $25 for guests.  In addition  to crabs there will be brisket, pulled pork, and mac+cheese.

 

10) This month’s competition was pale/bitter.  There were 9 entries.  Winners were:

 

5^th – Joe O’Keefe

4^th – Jeff Adelsberger

3^rd – Rob Kiernan

2^nd – Zach Keim

1^st – Brian England

 

 

11) Next meeting: Wednesday August 15.  There will be no competition.

 

12) Go to http://crabsbrew.org for CRABS-related information.  See the 2018 competition schedule at http://crabsbrew.org/competition_schedule

 

13) See http://crabsbrew.org/Other_Competitions for a list of upcoming local homebrew competitions.