Impaling Alers - OverPresidEmporLord Mark's State of the Aler's Address

Details: Created: 11 February 2011

Let the road to my impeachment begin!

First I want to thank everyone for their support at the election, and the kind words of encouragement. I also would like to thank all the folks who stepped forward and offered to help lead the club forward for the next year.

I have several things I'm the midst of planning for this year. I want to let everyone know what we have on tap for the future:

Rogue brewery announcement - as we announced at the last meeting, Rogue has invited us to use their new half barrel nano brewery one to two times a month, and to have a permanent Aler's tap on at the Issaquah location. They are still assembling the system, and getting it ready for us to use. What I would like to do in the meantime is get a panel of volunteers who would be willing to commit to helping us oversee the partnership. What I have in mind is 6 -8 members who would help us set up the protocols for the first couple brews, and then be willing to come back a couple times during the year to walk new groups through brews on the system. If we can get a core group that knows the rogue system, we can have consistent product each time we brew. If you are interested in helping us getting this up and running, send me an email. This is a great opportunity for us to showcase some of the great beers coming form our club.

This years tentative schedule:

February - cigars and beer pairing, courtesy of the recently deposed Nic Templeton
March - yeast propagation and beer finings. Also the Saturday before St. Patty's Day 3/12 will be the annual St. Patty's pot luck
April - sour beers, courtesy of Mark Emily
May - club swap meet, decoction, and the annual "Nationwide Big Brew Day"
June - brewing resources on the web, and a guest speaker (to be announced)
July - no monthly meeting, however our annual camping trip is scheduled. We are also planning on a Saturday "Share the Wort" event on a separate weekend sometime during the summer
August - water chemistry
September - recipe formulation, mead
October - club potluck
November - cooking with beer, beer pairing
December - holiday party
January - elections
February - to be announced.

I am also considering a couple of alternate topics, including sanitation, wort chilling, and setting up a home kegerator.

I am currently seeking some experts on the topics among our members, however if you know someone or are an expert yourself, please let me know and we will have you present a topic.
Don't be shy, the members will only flog you mercilessly for your knowledge, and modern counseling techniques will have you back to normal in no time......

I am also seeking someone among our members who has some skill and inclination to help us update our club logo. I think it's time we were able to proudly show some impaling alers pride on shirts, banners and the like. Shoot me an email if you would like to help out.