March 2025: The club continued to work on the details of the upcoming Rendezvous. The club will provide the meat for Saturday night dinner, all participants will be asked to bring a side dish to share. Club members need to start gather items for the raffle bags, they do not need to be beer, wine or mead related. If any member is going to have a beverage to share at Rendezvous, you should be preparing to finalize it as it is 7 weeks out. There was general discussion about liquid yeast vs. dry yeast and the use of starters.
February 2025: The club finalized the plans for the Home and Garden Show that is at the end of the month and passed around a sign-up sheet for member coverage at our table. Two minor changes to the club bylaws were approved by the members. Rendezvous meals were discussed, and several ideas were talked about, nothing finalized at this time. A member has a lead on a potential cook for the weekend, he will get back to the club next month with an update.
January 2025: Elections were held, and all positions are now in place. We are planning to participate in the 2025 Home & Garden show (February 28-March 2). The theme for this year’s Rendezvous (May 16-18, Roseburg Rod & Gun club), will be May The Yeast Be With You! Tasted several new (to most of us) commercial beers and Ronnie’s Strawberry-Kiwi wine. Welcomed a new member, Jan, into our club. Noted several of our members have had hip or knee replacements late last year. So far, everyone reports that healing is slow but taking place on schedule!
Club Officers for 2025:
President: Mike Stansbury
Vice President: Hiroshi Oki
Secretary: Kali Ingerson
Treasurer: Deanna McHaffie
Member at Large: Scott Nelson
New Member Mentor: Jess McHaffie
December 2024: Reminder that yearly dues are coming up ($24 individual, $36 for a couple). Initial discussion of a theme for the 2025 Rendezvous–one suggestion so far was “Born to Brew”. Also club members reminded that officer elections will be held at the January meeting. Technical difficulties kept us from hearing the audio of a Brülosophy video on the basics of judging/tasting beer. Kali brought two of her Pumpkin Porters (one from 2023 and her latest one from this year) for tasting tonight. We had drawings for three six-packs of beer as we ended the meeting.
November: Report to club on COHO ProAm event in Bend. Four club members attended and the event at Boneyard Brewing was well attended and fun event, showcasing 11 homebrewer beers brewed by commercial breweries. A Pilsner took first place, an Irish Red was second, and an Amber was voted third. At our meeting, Mike presented his experience with one of the new flash beer kits and brought some to sample. Most thought the Irish Red beer was just average. The advantage is to be able to mix ingredients (no boil) and pitch yeast in 15 minutes. That’s a pretty nice option to produce a full 5 gallon keg of beer when you don’t have time for a full brewing session. Education point tonight was on passivating stainless steel options for homebrewers.
October: Brewfest was a lot of fun again this year. This yearly event is put on by Umpqua Watersheds behind the Old Soul Pizza building and now somewhat in conjunction with the Roseburg Blocktober Fest. Robert brought in his famous Rochambeau (Rochambrew 😎) BeerBQ wagon and we loaded up four beers for its taps from our members for tasting/sales. Kali brought a Pale Ale, Hiroshi brought an “Almost Märzen”, Mike had a Scotch Ale on tap, and the 3-amigos (Al, Dennis, & Kasey) supplied an Amber Ale. Mike had prepacked and fully cooked (Sous Vide) the delicious brats from Meatworx, so all we had to do was brown & reheat them in the BeerBQ prior to serving with sauerkraut & various type of mustard. Met lots of people interested in the club and what we do…hopefully we’ll see some of them in the near future.
At our monthly meeting, we welcomed a new potential member. Mike used to brew, but it’s been a while… Hopefully, he’ll decide to join us and get back into this wonderful diversion that is homebrewing. We reported a profit from our Kraut & Brat sales of about $40 at the Brewfest. Sold a total of 150 “units” and everyone was very enthusiastic about the quality & flavor of the brats from Meatworx. Hiroshi was interviewed earlier this week by the News-Review for his brewing and COHO ProAm award. A short movie was presented during the meeting of the Sunriver Brewing session in which Hiroshi & Mike participated. Samples tonight were from the selection of beers given to us by Sunriver Brewing (two tasted this evening were Holy Schmidt – Festbier & The Suspense is Terrible – Double IPA). Three 16 oz, 4 packs of Sunriver Brewing beers were given away to those attending.
September: Discussion of the upcoming Brewfest (October 5th) and what/how are going to participate. Kali will be publishing a signup sheet for volunteers for the event’s 10am – 6pm setup-through cleanup. Several members have beers ready to be set up in the BeerBQ and we’ll be selling Brats with our beers. Educational topic tonight highlighted some options to produce low alcohol beers as a home brewer. Hiroshi’s Märzen and a no alcohol beer (Black Butte’s Porter offering) were tasted. Hiroshi & Mike will be going to Sunriver Brewing in early October to participate in the upscale of Hiroshi’s Nickel Back Porter to commercial level. This porter will be tasted by the public at Bend’s Boneyard Brewing on November 9th and be entered in a People’s Choice competition at the tasting.
August: UVBG members won 12 awards at the Douglas County Fair this year, including 5 blue ribbons for beers and cider as well as a best of show in the wine category. The big award of the month was won by Hiroshi’s for his Nickel Back Porter. It was was selected to be brewed by Sunriver Brewing for a November “People’s Choice” competition at the Boneyard Brewing pub. His beer will be one of 10-12 brews selected from Oregon homebrewers to be made at different participating local commercial brewing operations. Hiroshi will be going to Sunriver to supervise and help in scaling up his beer to a commercial quantity for the Boneyard Brewing event. Pressure fermentation was the educational topic and we used our new digital projector and screen to view a video about it from Morebeer.com. We also viewed some pictures from the Rendezvous this year and the action packed video of Kali (our secretary) taking on the challenge of the beer marionette. Robert brought in his 3 week old Oatmeal Stout for tasting. Quite a tasty whole grain kit from Morebeer.com. Kali has a friend who created a very nice poster that we can use as a member recruitment tool.
July: Sutherlin Throwdown volunteers requested, Robert is entering as a contestant in the BBQ contest (with the BeerBQ). Reminder to everyone that the Pro-Am competition entries are due by 7/26 as well as a note that entries at this year’s Douglas County fair will be only accepted at the Fairgrounds on 4 August from 9-4. Stickers were made available to those who wanted them. There was some disagreement on the sticker’s label text that was used (Home Crafted Beers and Wines). Use of the word Wines in the text was deemed by some members as inappropriate. Members were reminded that our bylaws include support for fermented beverages in general. Kali had some old stickers (no text) that were sold as donations to the club. Membership voted unanimously to purchase a projector and screen for educational and PR purposes. Scott gave a presentation on the use of house water filtering equipment in clearing beer. Three beers were brought in by members for tasting/evaluations: and ESB by Mike, a Habanero-Mango IPA by Scott, and a Myrtle Creek Mystery Ale by Kali (and all were pretty good!)
June: Reminder to all members that entries for the Douglas County Fair will be due for submission on August 4th. Discussion on having stickers made to promote the club, members voted to have some made. Educational topic was on the importance of cleaning and sanitation of all brewing equipment. Several common chemical options for each step available to homebrewers were presented with pro’s and con’s of each. Dave brought a well balanced IPA for tasting and Kasey brought a Vive Latinó Indio Beer from Mexico (odd smell, but taste was OK for a lighter beer style).
May: Just after our Mother’s Day weekend Rendezvous, we got together to review the event and taste some new beers. Deanna reported we did very well making money for the club over the weekend and was still tallying some expenses…she’ll have a final cost accounting by next meeting. Great feedback & appreciation by the Hellgate Brewers for this years Rendezvous.
At the tasting section for tonight’s meeting, we compared our “normal” 5 month old TAF2B amber ale with a companion bottle that had been lagered for nearly 2 months at 34°F. Most people could taste a difference, but it was a split decision on which version was preferred. Hiroshi brought some of his Weather Goat Stout (first place winner of the 2024 Midwinter Madness stout division). Scott brought in a Coffee Stout with lots of freshly ground coffee in both the mash and a portion of fermentation. Diane just got back from a trip to Wisconsin and brought us a New Glaris (commercial) – No Coast Pale Ale. All five beers were thoroughly enjoyed (one at a time) and we tried to use some basic evaluation sheets to help us focus on Appearance, Aroma, Taste, Mouthfeel, & Finish for each.
April: On the 17th, we focused on the upcoming Rendezvous preparations. We have confirmation that approximately 20 members of the Hellgate club will be attending and the Eugene club was interested and would get back to us soon. Reminder to all to think about donating fun or beer related items for the raffle. Breakfast at the Rendezvous will offer eggs, sausage, hashbrown patties, as well as biscuits & sausage gravy. The tastings tonight included a Kolsch from Hiroshi, a Jalapeno IPA and a black IPA from Scott, as well as a tasty dessert plum wine by Robin. Thirteen members plus 1 guest attending tonight’s meeting.
March: Agenda of the 3/20 meeting included recap of our participation at the Roseburg Home & Garden Show, March 1-3, award of the 1-gallon starter beer kit Raffle Prize, a discussion on the advantages/disadvantages of lagering, as well as tasting what members have been brewing. Logo wear has been received and was passed out. Diane Griffin was granted an honorary lifetime membership for her many years of dedicated service to the UVBG. Jess suggested Brew Like A Mother as this year’s Rendezvous theme…and it was unanimously accepted. Four beers and a mead were tasted tonight. An Imperial IPA and Imperial Stout by Scott, an Irish Stout by Jess, a Mountain Top Pale Ale by Calvert and Robin delighted our palettes with her Orange Clove Mead. Thirteen members attending with 1 guest (Scott’s wife Tina) and 3 walk-ins (Coleen and her friend Mark were wonderful to see & talk to).
February: First meeting (2/21/24) at the Old Soul Pizza Annex was fabulous. Great food & beer offerings as well as a fabulous location for our club meeting (quiet & roomy). Logo apparel has been ordered and volunteer signup sheet for the upcoming Home & Garden show was filled out. Hiroshi won first prize for his stout in the combined style section of American Stouts & Porters while Mike was awarded second for his entry–MidWinter Madness 2024 competition put on by Cascade Brewers. Robin also brought home the gold with her wine in the Newport Seafood & Wine Festival. Discussion on advantages & disadvantages of decoction in brewing followed the award announcements. Mike asked that members start thinking about a theme for the upcoming May Rendezvous. Hiroshi wanted members to know about the next beer competition–COHO (Central Oregon Homebrewers Organization) Spring Fling. Competition details available at https://springfling.brewingcompetitions.com/ Scott’s Coconut Porter and his highly hopped, extremely well balanced IPA were both wonderful and we are encouraging him to start entering these upcoming competitions.
January 2024: Our meeting at the Splitz Family Grill was well attended (1/17/24) and lively. Sixteen current members and four who signed up for a 2024 membership. New officers were elected (all single volunteers for each position with unanimous support from those attending. UVBG officers for 2024 are:
President: Mike Stansbury
Vice President: Hiroshi Oki
Secretary: Kali Ingerson
Treasurer: Deanna McHaffie
Member at Large: Bob Calvert
New Member Mentor: Jess McHaffie (continuing)
The club discussed participation in the Home & Garden Show. We will have a signup sheet next meeting for the setup and 3 days of the event. Members voted to have a raffle that included a 1 gallon beer kit prize and an optional, limited time club membership. This raffle prize would offer brewing help and guidance from club members if requested. Logo wear and pricing was again discussed and it was decided that the various items would be black in color as it showed off the logo very well. Mike will send out sizing info to the club on the zipper hoodies, T-shirts (cotton & blend), and a polo shirt. Now well aged TAF2B Amber – all grain & DME – were tasted…all grain still preferred, but the DME is very drinkable. Hiroshi brought a stout and Deanna brought a blood orange cider. Both were awesome! Hiroshi announced there was a beer competition sponsored by the Cascade Brewers. He has entered his stout and offered to take anyone’s entry up to registration. Kali reported that she’d not been able to attend the Brine, Brew, & Barrel event in Ashland due to the ice storms.
d fun gathering on their property in Rogue River!