Hello DOZEers! We have three events upcoming which will offer opportunities to share our brews and to educate the public about our hobby. First up is the San Ramon Valley Rotary Club BeerFest BBQ on Feb. 29th in Danville. Some of us poured homebrew there last year and it was great to interact with a whole new segment of the public. This year the Mad Z’s are heading up the organizing of the beer.

We will once again hold the DOZE Homebrewer of the Year competition for 2020. The purpose of the HOY is to recognize DOZE members competing in competitions and provide an award for the club member that best represents DOZE in competitions over the year. Check here throughout the year for the HOY Standings. DOZE members score points towards HOY by competing in BJCP competitions under the DOZE homebrew club. One point is awarded for entering a competition and points are awarded based on placing in the top three with a bonus for winning best in show.

The 2020 Competition Calendar is up! For ease of reading there are two tabs: the 1st is all comps that have published 2020 dates and details; the 2nd tab are comps that DOZE members have entered in the past, but do not yet have their schedule published. If you hear, see, or know about any updates, changes, or other details of comps, please message me so I can update the sheet.

Hey, DOZErs, our Holiday Party is coming up on Dec. 9th, 6:30-9:00 PM at the Manzanita Room in the Linday Wildlife Experience (where our meetings are held). Space is limited, so be sure to go to the DOZE storefront and purchase your tickets ahead of time! You can also get a head start on buying tickets for the drawing. Bring your best beers -homemade or commercial- to share, and as usual there will be a dessert contest, so whip up your most decadent treats and enter!

DOZE’rs, it’s time for this year’s DOZE Team Competition! This is a great opportunity to get to know some of your fellow brewers, and put together some entries for both the California State Fair, and the National Homebrew Competition. Let’s get together, brew some great beers, and try and get our 4th Golden Bear in a row! If you want to participate, sign up here and we’ll announce teams at next week’s meeting, Monday 10/28.

DOZE garnered several honors at the 22nd edition of the Northern California Homebrewers Festival (NCHF). recently held at Lake Francis Resort in Dobbins, CA. The entry co-brewed by Gordon Mauger and Johnathan Snoderly was selected by popular vote as the best beer in the Tropical IPA category in the Club Keg Competition, and also won Best of Show Beer in the Lee Shepard Memorial Club Keg Competition. In addition, DOZE was selected by the other clubs to receive the coveted Best Club Beer award in recognition of the quality of the beer served at the club booth at NCHF.

The Northern California Homebrewers Festival is quickly approaching. It is one of the best events of the year. Dozens of homebrew clubs pouring their best beers and putting out their best food offerings, and -unlike so many other festivals- you get to pour your club’s beer for an audience of fellow brewers! There are still tickets available (140 as of this writing), so if you’ve been on the fence about going, this is your chance!

We had the honor of hosting Alex and Gregory Zobel, the founders and owners of Armistice Brewing Company in Richmond, as the guest speakers at the DOZE August general meeting. A big thank you to both of them for sharing their journey, and the lessons learned along the way, with our members –not to mention the awesome beer they brought along!

By Matt Bolling, American Homebrewers Association Everyone starts homebrewing for the same reason: beer is awesome! What many people don’t realize at first, though, is that a whole community is devoted to the hobby we all love so much. The easiest way to experience the community-driven side of homebrewing is to check out your local homebrew club’s next meeting. If you’re like me, then you might have mixed feelings about doing this.

At the July general club meeting, Dave Wonder of MoreBeer! delivered an interesting and informative talk on Viking Malt: the company, the products, and the process that MoreBeer! and Viking went through to develop and stock malts for the North American homebrew market. The talk was accompanied with a PPT presentation of images taken on a recent visit to Viking’s historic maltery in Poland. Dave also circulated some publications explaining the various malts produced by Viking, and which included recipe formulations using those malts.