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| Monthly Meeting: Tuesday, February 20th at 7:30 pm Glenbrook Brewery 95 Morris St, Morristown, NJ 07960  Join us on Tuesday, February 20th at 7:30 pm at Glenbrook Brewery in Morristown. We have an action packed agenda for our February meeting. Shake off those post-long-weekend blues and join us for: – Strong Ales Club-Only Competition and Barleywine book discussion. Bring down your entry from BJCP categories 17 and 22 and join in a discussion of the BA Barleywine book. We will also be discussing our next book club option to gauge interest. Styles included in this month’s competition include: – British Strong Ale (17A) – Burton Ale (17A) – Old Ale (17B) – English Barleywine (17D) – Wee Heavy (17C) – Double IPA (22A) – American Strong Ale (22B) – American Barleywine (22C) – Wheatwine (22D) – Participants of this year’s cider purchase are encouraged to bring your finished creations to share and discuss. – We will hold elections for our 2024 MASH Board |
Calling all brewers and beer lovers who are looking to break into the great world of judging beer or increasing your proficiency to up your BJPC rank! The next installment of the BJCP Tasting Exam prep course kicked off in January.
Classes are held at Double Tap Brewing each Monday at 6:30 PM from January 22nd until the tasting exam on April 20th. Each week we cover new styles, hone sensory analysis skills, learn how to write about and discuss beers using a common vocabulary, and generally enjoy a great time tasting, discussing, and writing about great beer.
Costs are based on the beer and supplies used that week and generally are in the range of $5-10 per person per session. We supply beer and supplies (cups, sensory analysis kits, etc.) and divide costs by those in attendance each session. The class are open to all who can participate, up to the about 30 seats capacity of the venue.
The class builds towards sitting for a BJCP Tasting Exam, however attendance in the class neither obligates you nor guarantees you to sit for the exam. The exam has a hard limit of 12 and attendance in the class is not a condition for sitting at the exam, so reserve your spot in advance if interested. To sit for the exam you will need to already be a ranked BJCP judge or have passed the BJCP online exam within 1 year of the exam date.
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| 2024 Board Elections Below are candidate statements from all of the members running for a board seat for 2024: Eric Blaine Hi MASH, it’s me, Eric. In 2019 I joined the MASH board as the lead of the communications committee and served as judge coordinator for Motown MASH. In 2020, I served as the head of the competitions committee and again as Motown MASH Judge Coordinator. In 2021, I was the head of the communications committee and the Motown MASH Competition Organizer. In 2022 I needed a break and stepped away from the board and in 2023 I rejoined to work on our website and many membership items such as merch and bookclub. I am excited to spend 2024 continuing to help support our club and its members. MASH is an important part of my life and I feel strongly about contributing to the club and giving back to all of its members. I’ve been brewing for 12 years or so and will occasionally produce a decent beer. Being a part of MASH has enabled me to become friends with all of you, learn a ton about how I can improve my approach and process for brewing, become a beer judge, take an amazing trip to Vermont, go on fun beer bus trips, and drink a lot of great homebrew. I want to make sure that MASH continues to be a resource for others to get the same benefits that I have and so I pledge to do my part to support the club, its members, and the amazing NJ homebrew community in 2024. Richard Cohen Please consider me for one of this year’s MASH Board positions. I’ll keep this brief, as I’ve been known at times for my lengthy discussions. I’ve been brewing for 10 years, am one of the founding members of the club, have been a Board member for 6 ½ years and a BJCP Certified beer judge for 5 ½ years. And I’ve been told I have a knack for gathering prizes for competitions. I’m a New Jersey homebrewer and part of the best homebrew club in the state. As such, I would like the opportunity to continue leading MASH as we enter our 12th year of existence. Thanks for reading this. A vote for Rich is a vote for homebrew! Steve Hocken Hello! My name is Steve Hocken and I would be delighted to serve on the board of MASH in 2024. Over the last two years, I have led the Competitions committee. Last year we had another fantastic edition of Motown Mash, and a wonderfully competitive HBOTY. It’s been a joy to follow the progress and glory of our competitive brewers! In the background, I supported this by creating robust process documentation for the execution of Motown Mash, so that we can continue to run it smoothly whoever is in charge. We are in great shape for 2024! This year, I will continue to support our competitions, however I will look to gain more experience in another area of the board, should the opportunity arise. Bryan Hoppe I would like to stand for election to the board. I am grateful to have served this year on the MASH board, and would like to serve again. I’m proud of the work MASH does, and would like to continue to contribute. I’ve been brewing on-and-off for 10 years, and transitioned to all-grain in 2015. I’ve learned a lot from this community, both technical brewing skills as well as a higher appreciation of sensory analysis in general. This year I passed the BJCP tasting exam and became a recognized judge, and am planning to upgrade to certified this year. I look forward to continuing to learn, and to help the board continue sharing these experiences with others. Paul Jones Paul has been brewing for a little over a decade, starting in college with vast quantities of DME to always keep beer on tap in his off campus house. After college the focus turned from quantity to quality. Paul joined Mash in 2022, and quickly found his place in and around competitions. He is also the builder of RateMyHomebrew.com Dan Perrigan I would like to run for a Board position this year. I’ve been homebrewing for a little over 3 years now. I got into MASH just after the 2022 Motown Mash. John at Double Tap had suggested I enter the contest and then said I should join the club. I’m glad I did. I’ve made a bunch of new friends and learned a lot of new stuff. I got into tasting, which led to judging – and now I’m excited about that too. We have an excellent club, and I’d like to be involved in helping plan its future. Micha Stark My name is Micha Stark and I would like to run for the MASH Board. I brewed my first batch of home-brew about 9 years back, a Belgian Triple, and fell in love with it. I found MASH and joined about 5 months later. I was welcomed with open arms and open bottles and instantly knew I wanted to be a part of it. Much of my growth as a brewer was inspired by our meeting topics, activities, and the enthusiastic encouragement of my fellow MASHers. As I’ve matured as a home brewer, my involvement with MASH has grown. I served as the 2017 – 2023 Motown MASH Cellar Master as well as a member of the board in 2018 – 2023. I would like to serve a great group of brewers who all are so willing to share their time, knowledge, and most importantly, a good beer while growing the local brewing community. |
Save the Key Dates:
- February 20th: MASH Monthly Meeting at Glenbrook Brewery
- March 5th: March MASH Board Meeting
- March 19th: MASH Monthly Meeting at Twin Elephant
Upcoming homebrew competitions:
- February 20: Club-Only-Competition for Barleywines (and other strong beers in BJCP categories 17 and 22)
- March 9: Garden State Homebrew Competition
- March 19: Club-Only-Competition featuring Fermentis W-34/70
- April 12: Homebrew Alley
- April 27: Allagash Saison Day at Threes Brewing