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Working with the Boreal Brewers, Representative Tom Anzelc (05B, Bovey, DFL) and Senator Tom Saxhaug (5B, Grand Rapids, DFL) have introduced legislation to revise Minnesota Statutes to allow homemade beer and wine to be removed from the premises where made, for the use in organized affairs, exhibitions, tastings and competitions. This is an important issue for us as we have repeatedly tried to find ways to host public tastings and be allowed to share samples of our fermenting craft at organized public events.

Representative Anzelc introduced HF2999 and Senator Saxhaug introduced SF2604.  They should be commended for their efforts to support community events that involve sharing or sampling of homebrew.  If you live in an area where you have different legislators representing you, you should contact them and ask them to support or even co-author these bills.   Senators    Representatives    Who Represents Me?

March 12: First reading in both Houses

March 19th:  SF2604 Was heard in the Senate Commerce Committee.  It was laid over for possible inclusion in the Omnibus Liquor Bill.  We provided testimony and answered questions.

March 19:  Representative Dan Schoen (DFL) District: 54A added as an author to HF2999

The Minnesota homebrew bill talking points are in this document: Homebrewed Beer Talking Points 3-21-2014

Another important source of information for contacting legislators can be found on the American Homebrewers Association web site AHA Talking Points.

We will meet next on Wednesday March 19th, 6:00 PM in the Boardroom at KAXE, Northern Community Radio in Grand Rapids.

The business part of the meeting will include membership cards (contact Steve at spbevets@hotmail.com before the meeting if you need a card), voting to clear up language in the Bylaws, and an update on the MN legislation to allow homebrew to be shared at public events.  We’ll probably have some discussion on the location of this year’s Big Brew Day, the Spring Tasting and some talk about the Deer River BBQ and Brew Fest.  Members and prospective members are welcome.  We’re pretty friendly and welcoming.

The social part of the meeting will be potluck food, potluck beer, and lots of talking about beer.

The Advanced Homebrewing class will begin Monday, March 3rd at Itasca Community College, Wilson Hall room 107.  The class is held Monday nights, 5:00 – 10:30 PM.  We meet 5 nights, with the last night being April 7 – we skip one week to give the beer another week to ferment.  We brew/bottle four batches of beer in class, and the students split up the 200 bottles on the last night.  How many classes have you taken where you get to take beer home?  And, except for the first night, the students decide what we’ll brew for the other batches of beer.  Since it’s usually maple sap season, we usually end up brewing a fifth batch of Maple/Wild Rice ale.

There are PowerPoint presentations each night, covering brewing, how to choose and brew different beer styles, ingredients, equipment, brewing techniques and bottling.  This is  more comprehensive than the intro class, as we work with all grain brewing.  We’ll cover details and techniques in recipe design, mashing grain, working with yeast to get the best potential, using both whole leaf and pellet hops, how to cultivate hops at home, use of brewing software and how to begin using kegging equipment for handling your beer without bottling.  Each night includes hands-on brewing, fermenting, bottling and sampling examples of many beer styles.  While it may help to know some of the brewing process, you do not need any experience to take this class, except the experience of having lived to be at least 21 years of age.

Call ICC at (218) 322-2410 to register.  The total cost of the five nights of class is $75.  Though walk-ins can be accommodated, preregistration allows for better class planning.  Brochure at www.getlearning.org  Online registration is at this link, scroll alphabetically to  “Advanced Homebrewing.”  However, a PHONE CALL IS BEST.  The online system only showed the class to be full earlier this year, so people didn’t register.

Since this class goes for a few hours, we bake beer bread in class each night, plus have soup, stew or other hearty food to keep going.  Potluck additions are welcome.

The Introduction to Homebrewing class will begin Monday, January 27th at Itasca Community College, Wilson Hall room 107.  The class is held Monday nights, 5:30 – 9:30 PM.  We meet 4 nights, with the last night being February 24 – we skip President’s day to give the beer another week to ferment.  We brew/bottle four batches of beer in class, and the students split up the 200 bottles on the fourth night.  How many classes have you taken where you get to take beer home?

People constantly tell me if they’d known how fun the class would be, they would have taken it years ago. Some have so much fun, they take the class repeatedly.

There are PowerPoint presentations each night, covering brewing, brewing history, how to choose and brew different beer styles, ingredients, equipment, brewing techniques and bottling.  Each night includes hands-on brewing, fermenting, bottling and sampling examples of many beer styles.  You do not need any experience to take this class, except the experience of having lived to be at least 21 years of age.

Call ICC at (218) 322-2410 to register.  The total cost of the four nights of class is $75.  Though walk-ins can be accommodated, it’s safest for you to preregister so you don’t find out the hard way the class is already full!  Preregistration also allows for better class planning.  Brochure at www.getlearning.org  Online registration is at this link, scroll alphabetically to “Homebrewing” or “Advanced Homebrewing.”

Advanced homebrewing classes begin Monday, March 3rd.  These classes go longer each night because we’re doing all-grain brewing, which takes more time.  There are five nights of advanced classes.

Check out the article about this class and homebrewing in general: Brewing Beer & Giving it Away  This article was written by Burton Lane about 2013’s Advanced Homebrewing class.  He focused somewhat on interviewing people who began brewing after age 50.  It’s an excellent writeup about the passion homebrewers share.  Reprinted with permission from the Senior Reporter.  Burton took pictures of the “old folks” during class, and lined us up for the cover photo for the August 2013 edition of the Reporter.

Getting the brew ingredients ready