​We're back to meeting together after over a year of just meeting on Zoom. We shared our latest brews, stories of brewing, and generally had a good time on the back porch of our host, Bootleggers Brewing Co.  We had founding members, long-timers, and even a couple new members!

We're considering doing a club pour at The Boot to raise funds for the local Valrico Village Players community theater.  If you have some beer to share let President Pete know that you'd like to participate via our private Facebook Group.

Next month we'll meet at Alafia Brewing Co. and get some grains for a club brewing challenge! Everyone will come up with a recipe based on these grains and we'll share tastes at the next meeting.

Dues are due for the year, just $20.  Use PayPal via this website, or get in touch with our treasurer, Brian through our club email address.

We had a productive meeting last night.  The presentation by Spearhead Hops, located in Ohio, was quite interesting. It renewed my interest in trying to grow hops. You can try their product by visiting their website, www.SpearheadHops.com.  Enter the codeword HOMEBREW (in all caps) to get 10% off your order. If you need any followup information just email Thomas at [email protected].  
The National Homebrew Con will be online again this year. I enjoyed the format last year and will attend again this year, June 17-19.  Registration opens April 6. Price is just $99.  You get access to ALL the presentations after the Con all year!
Competitions are still happening. The Hurricane, Hogtown, and The Coconut Cub are all listed on www.ReggieBeer.com.
Next month we’ll meet in person at the Bootleggers Brewery. We have the back patio reserved. There will be plenty of room to spread out, with open-air ventilation, and masks recommended, we will share our brews in a safe manner. It’ll be good to see our members in person again.
If you haven’t paid your dues, just visit the website to use PayPal/Credit Card, or contact our Treasurer, Brian Howsare.  It’s only $20 for the year. Most of this goes to cover our insurance for pouring events. You get a year of meetings/tastings, discounts at the Bootleggers Store and Brewery, and a club tasting glass (while supply lasts, if current members agree to this idea.)
Peter Terzian
​President, Brandon Bootleggers Homebrew Club

We're still meeting on Zoom monthly. We talk about what we're brewing, drinking, and planning to brew. We've had guests from other clubs join us.  And we've watched some of the 2020 Virtual Home Brew Con presentations.
We've also managed to get the Beer Booth out to some COVID-Safe pouring and brewing events.

And we have a running club display at the Bootleggers BrewWorx home brew supply store on Oakfield Rd.

We're still meeting online with the Zoom app.  While we miss sharing our brews at pouring events, a couple of our members have managed to exchange some of their beers by meeting briefly.  Others have shared with friends and neighbors. The American Homebrewers Assoc. presentations from the former Director and from the last online Brew Con have helped keep things interesting.  We learned more about the Kviek yeast at the last meeting.  It lends itself to warm fermentation which is easy to do here in Florida where every day this summer has been in the 90's!
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Still hoping to get a small meeting together soon. We have to keep an eye on the spread of the virus. 

While we had hoped to be meeting in person again by now, being in the state with the most positive tests for COVID-19 made it necessary to meet on Zoom again.  We each talked about what beers we've been brewing and drinking. Then, I shared one of the presentations from the recent National Homebrew Conference. We learned a lot about the history of the IPA and an effort by an archeologist to recreate the style complete with aged kegs and ship-like conditions. He was surprised that it turned out good enough to can!
I've been updating our public Facebook group and the membership in the club Facebook group. New members are always welcome.  Just use the Contact page on this website to enter your info and make dues payment through PayPal.  Join in the fun and learn more about our favorite beverage, BEER! Prost!

Our second meeting on Zoom included some excellent information and updates from everyone in attendance (about half of our club)!  We started with some club business regarding our dues structure, which we will continue to discuss in our closed Facebook group. We'll also be discussin planning for when, where, and how to get back to in-person meetings. 

Home Brew Con Online is June 18-20. I'll be attending and will report on the experience at our next meeting. Next year's Con is sheduled to be in San Diego.  Joe Harrick will be attending the USF Brewing Course starting in August and we look forward to hearing about that experience as well.

Some other notable mentions: 
Bru Growler Bar, Tampa  https://www.brufl.com
Swan Brewing, Lakeland  https://www.swanbrewing.com
Alafia Brewing, Gibsonton  https://www.alafiabrewing.com

Recommended: Green's Gluten Free Beer and Kona Light

Kveik Registry yeast harvesting group on Facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1263168033840104

We're having Zoom meetings until it is safe to gather as a group again. This month we enjoyed a presentation by Gary Glass, Director of The American Homebrewers Assoc. from Boulder, Colorado. He talked about the history of home brewing and listened to some of our stories. Now we know some of the real history behind our name - Bootleggers!  Turns out there was a boom in home brewing during prohibition.  There's been a spike in online searches on the subject now with bars closed and people staying at home to help stop the spread of the Corona virus. Even our website has seen a little more activity.

While we're all practicing stay-at-home we were able to have our monthly meeting via Zoom this month.  The American Homebrewers Association offered to provide a program, but it was unavailable on our usual club meeting day/time. They will attempt to schedule it on another day.  Meanwhile, we put together a quick Zoom meeting and a few of us popped in to talk about what we're brewing and how we are attempting to continue to support our local craft breweries.  Still hoping that the national BrewCon will happen in June, but it's too early to say if that will be able to happen safely. Prost!

We cancelled our March meeting, which would have been a tour of the new Bootleggers Brewing Co. facility on Causeway Blvd., in an effort to slow the spread of the pandemic virus. Be safe.

​Thanks first of all to Lee Branham for stepping up to become our VP, and for providing our program with his lovely wife Katie!  They provided us with a virtual tour of Belgium, Northern Belgium that is, sorry about the monk music, which would have been more appropriate for a tour of Southern Belgium.  Didn't we taste a Trappist ale?

Anyway, we had lots of information to share along with tasting 9 or more beers. I lost count, LOL.  IPA, Berliner, Belgians, Stout, Pils, Cider and Meed!  Some of us will be tasting statewide winners of Best Florida Beers at the Brewers Ball March 8 in Waterworks Park, YUM!

We recapped our latest serving event Almost There in Safety Harbor and we're looking forward to serving next at the National Homebrew Con in Nashville in June. We'll be doing a Star Wars theme. I've got a crazy idea for our taps. Members will get a sneak peak on our private Facebook group page.

Don't forget to sign up to judge or steward the regional homebrew competition in April at 7venth Sun in Tampa.  See https://www.brewingcompetition.com.

Bring a favorite recipe to the next meeting.  We'll share all our tips and tricks for making better beer!