Welcome to 2016, brewers! Our first meeting of the year will be on January 25, Monday at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. The social hour begins at 6:30 pm, and you are encouraged to bring your homebrew and share it with the other members. If you want feedback on your beer, do not hesitate to ask. We will also be bringing back the BOTM (beer of the month) table. Brewers can anonymously submit one beer on the table and other members will “vote” on their favorite one.

Happy new year DOZERs. Hoping you had a wonderful year of brewing. Now is a great time to give your brewhouse a once over for chores and maintenance often overlooked (at least they can be for me). Here’s a short list that clearly is not comprehensive, feel free to add your suggestions in comments. Replace your carbon filter cartidge Calibrate thermometers Calibrate scales Clean and check grain mill gap settings

Congratulations to our 2015 award winners!! Brewer of The Year: Pavel Anisimov Base Malt Award For Excellence: Adam Wyss

The National Homebrew Competition is the biggest homebrew competition in the country. Winning a first round ribbon is the only way to qualify for finals and a chance at taking home a NHC medal and all of the glory that goes along with it! We all know that making high quality beer is the best way to increase your chances of winning. But you can also increase your odds by submitting entries for categories that are less entered than others.

Spring is the time of the year with the most competitions. The cool winter weather make it easier for home brewers to make their best beer with minimal temperature control equipment, or none at all! One of these competitions is the first round of the National Homebrew Competition, which judges first round entries mid-March thru early April. Scheduling your brew days with styles that will peak in the spring will give your beer the best chance and scoring a ribbon or medal.

Our annual Holiday Party will be held on December 11th, 6:30 pm at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Our party is always a blast. Food will be catered by El Molino again, Vegan/vegetarian options will be available. Desserts & appetizers are pot-luck, so please bring something to share. Bring a couple bottles (or kegs) to share; spouses & significant others are encouraged. There will be a prize for the best dessert!

Our November meeting is early, Monday the 16th so you can travel guilt free for Thanksgiving. Talking about 2015 BJCP guide, our holiday party, comps, BOTM, NZ hops. Hopefully we will have 5 different NZ hops featured separately in beer. Bring a gadget to share if you can. Purchase your 2016 membership on the DOZE site and also buy your Holiday Party ticket now. Holiday Party will be on December 7th.

Matt Sager won First Place for bourbon bbl aged barley wine, and Second Place for German Pilsner. Vito Delucchi won a First Place ribbon and a Third Place ribbon. (Photo credit Matt Sager)

Come join Dan Sherman and Craig Danielson at The Bistro in Hayward next Saturday November 7th. Festival hours are 11-6. Dan and I plan on showing up around 2:00. Bistro is a short walk from the Hayward BART station. Live music and 65 barrel aged sour and spirit beers on tap. Initial buy-in a little on the pricy side, approx $60 for 8-10 taste, but usually they offer a nice glass to take home and additional taste tickets are reasonably priced.

Our next meeting will be at the usual time and place on Monday, October 26th. We will have special quest Jon Plise, presenting Brew Cribs, his new app and software. Jon is one of the original members of DOZE and was a longtime employee of More Beer, so it will be a treat to have him back. We will also have a lager presentation from Jeremy Pendrey about his process and how it scales up to brew on a professional system.