Thank you to all of the attendees of the 2011 Summertime Brews Festival at the Greensboro Coliseum on July 16 that tasted our brews.  We brought our best, tastiest and strangest brews that we could find and from where we stood, everyone had a great time.

HOPS had beer from pretty much all walks of life.  A Pineapple and Jalapeno Wheat beer, Peanut Butter Cup Stout, Carrot Wheat, Almond Joy Porter and even a Peanut Butter and Jelly golden ale.  Who can resist such diversity?  If you weren't feeling adventurous, we had some other classy beers being served that were much more to style, such as Skidmark Brown Ale, Stoney Baby Stout and Dirndl Dropper Altbier.  All told, we brought 14 total kegs, roughly 70 gallons, of homebrew to serve.

In addition to the beers we were serving, we also sold "Beer Bones", which are dog biscuits that Janis McDonald and Bev Marble made from spent grain.  Each baggie of those was sold for a $1 donation, which 100% was donated to the American Red Cross.  Speaking of donations to the American Red Cross, a couple of our friendly servers applied liberal amounts of lipstick and sold "smooches" for $1 each, which those proceeds were also donated to the cause.

All told, HOPS raised $150 for the American Red Cross.  A very special thank you to everyone that came out and tasted our brews and especially those that helped us help a good cause.

Todd Bowman (left) presents Dan Morgan (right) with the 2010 Carolina Brewer of the Year and 2010 Carolina Master Brewer of the Year awards on May 14

Congratulations to Dan Morgan for being awarded the highly prestigious Carolina Brewer of The Year award as well as the Carolina Master Brewer of the Year award for the 2010 season.  As a member of the Battleground Brewers Guild last year, Dan was able to earn awards that most North and South Carolina homebrewers can only hope to achieve.

In addition to 2010, Dan was also a brewing machine in the 2009 season.  He was met with some stiff competition from Battleground Brewers Guild and HOPS member Derek Meyn, who captured the titles in record breaking fashion.  Not to be deterred, Dan came back strong and nearly toasted the competition in 2010.  Palmetto State Brewers member, Joel Masters, gave Dan a run for his money, but in the end it was Dan that took home the trophies.

The Carolina Brewer of the Year is the title that is awarded to the homebrewer with the highest number of points across the 6 CBoY santioned events, which are currently held in Raleigh, Charleston, Charlotte, Asheville, Greensboro and Columbia.  Within those competitions, the brewers who win 1st place are awarded 3 points, 2nd place is 2 points and 3rd is 1 point. 

The Carolina Master Brewer of the Year is the title awarded to the brewer with the highest average score across their top 6 scoring brews from those same competitions.  As Dan says, the Master Brewer award is the most difficult because it isn't a product of where you place in the flights, but how good your beer truly is.

The Piedmont Triad region is extremely fortunate to have the last 3 Carolina Brewers of the Year right here in our back yard.  Jim Smith won it in 2008, Derek Meyn in 2009 and now Dan Morgan in 2010.  That speaks volumes for the level of homebrewing that is happening right here in the Triad area.  Who will be next? 

January 10, 2010 was a special day.  It was the day that Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery was holding a special event to commemorate their 10th anniversary by releasing their imperial amber named Decade and it was also the day that several local High Point homebrewers decided that a homebrew club in High Point sounded like a pretty good idea.  One month later, on Febuary 10, we had our first HOPS meeting and the rest, as they say, is history.

The idea behind HOPS was to give back to the community in the form of homebrew; whether that be serving our beer at area festivals, holding brew demonstrations or utilizing our efforts to be able to donate to local charities.  In the past year, we have held true to those principles and have a lot to be proud of.

Within our first 3 months, our esteemed master brewer and amazing woodworker, Derek Meyn, unveiled a HOPS bar that would serve as our centerpiece.  Using donations from all club members, whether it was parts, cash or the occasional manual labor, Derek constructed a 6 tap bar that was easily transportable to any location we were serving our beer, yet look like a bar that anybody would be proud to have set up in their homes.

Taking that bar on the road, HOPS was privileged to serve at 3 area beer festivals:  The Summertime Brews festival in Greensboro, Great North Carolina Beer Festival in Winston-Salem and the Charlotte Oktoberfest in Charlotte, NC.  In each of those festivals, HOPS had no less than 12 kegs of homebrewed beer and as many as 18.  It is estimated that though all of those festivals, we served roughly 225 gallons of our special brews to some very appreciative folks.  In addition to those 3 beer festivals, HOPS co-sponsored two tasting events at the High Point Elks lodge.

In May, HOPS was set up in the Liberty Steakhouse and Brewery parking lot where 3 members brewed three different beers and using 3 different methods, all in celebration of National Homebrew Day.  Liberty customers were encouraged to stop by and ask questions, sample some of our brews and view the way beer is brewed on a homebrew level. 

Through the efforts of Janis McDonald and Bev Marble, HOPS was able to raise over $150 for the Guilford County Animal Shelter.  They did this by making dog biscuits, known as Beer Bones, from the spent grain from the brewing process and then packaging them up to sell at the local festivals.

While we were busy brewing beer to serve wherever we could, we also were able to continue entering competitions on the Carolina Brewer of the Year circuit.  At the close of the 2010 season, two HOPS members were among the top 10 brewers in North and South Carolina; those being Terry Smith and Derek Meyn.  In addition, HOPS was able to finish in 4th place in the Brew Club of the Year standings. 

2010 was a great year, but 2011 will be even better.  We will continue our festival participation, our charity work and our public brewing demonstrations.  We are also planning on having a monthly "Open Brew Session" at various members' homes.  We hope to have other exciting things to announce in the upcoming months as well, so stay tuned!