Happy April Brewers!!!
Things that just happened:
Wondrous new places for our homebrew/craftbrew community have recently opened, huzzah!!!
The grand opening of Rudamentary Brewing Supply in the Melbourne Mall!!! Many members have made it over there to buy grains, hops, yeast etc. They also take orders so give them a call and let them know what you are looking for. They will be open and ready to help with our brewing supply needs, so stop and by and check them out!!!
Soft Opening for Hidden Level Brewery was a success! Great Venue, great beers, their own and guest taps!! They are now open for regular hours so please go in and show them some love. Mention SAAZ/wear SAAZ shirts/chat up the brewer, let’s make friends and support local craft breweries!!!
March happy hour was amazing, having a variety of club members really helped us shine in the trivia department!!!
March Meeting at Hell n’Blazes in Melbourne was excellent!! Great beer, great food, great company!! We learned a lot about beer competitions and Irish beers!!
Irish Spring competition judging has mostly been completed, winner to be announced at the April meeting. Everyone learned a lot and there will be more to learn as our amateur and certified judges look at scoresheets to get better at judging beer and this will lead to more BJCP judges and better beer for all!! Thank you to all who came out to sharpen their skills and share the beer wisdom!!
On that note, PAY YOUR DUES FOR 2025!!! Dues allow us to continue to organize these fun events and support the local craft brew and home brew community. Along with this, paid members also receive discounts on entry to home brew competitions and other events!!! Pay your dues here: https://www.saaz.org/cms/join-saaz/pay-dues/
Things that are about to happen
4/10 6 pm Happy Hour at Broken Barrel, if you have entries ready for Hogtowne please bring to the Happy Hour as club will be transporting beers to Gainesville. We will likely have another opportunity to collect beers, Spring Party tentative date for 2nd collection.
4/26 2 pm Spring Party at the Wormes is our April meeting!!! It’s a chicken wing ding extravaganza!!!!! There will be a chicken wing competition so bring your best efforts if you wish to participate. Other things to bring: a side dish/dessert, and brews to share!! While the pool is not heated it should be warming up around then and the jacuzzi is definitely warm, so feel free to bring bathing suits/towels/arm floaties etc. The Wormes are always gracious hosts and these parties are so much fun!!! We will also be announcing the winner of the Irish Spring competition at this event as well, hope to see you all there!!
04/26 NASA IIC-18, call for brews for this competition , see website https://zymurnauts.weebly.com/icc.html Beer must arrive in Maryland by 04/17/2025, there is time to make a brew, but not a lot. If anyone is interested in brewing for this or already has a beer ready that meets the guidelines contact Seth at president@saaz.org asap as we must register by the end of the month. Either of the two styles below are called for :
SMaSH
One Hop and One Malt
Will be judged based on BJCP style
Brewing on the Ones
One Malt, One Color/Flavor Malt/Adjunct, One Sugar, One Hop, One Spice, etc…
5/7 Happy hour at Hidden Level 6 pm!!!! Let’s come out and show our newest local brewery some homebrew love!!
5/10 Tapping party at BUGNUTTY 4 pm!! Sean Gregg has created a Peach Cinnamon Sour as his BUBR raffle prize of Brew Day at Bugnutty.
5/16 BUBR planning meeting at Balibar 6pm, please join us if you would like to help with this event, especially day of the event, we need a lot of planning to make this day run smoothly!! Please join us to help plan!!!
5/31 BOTTOMS UP BEER RUN!!!! We need to get the registration numbers up so place your posters and postcards in strategic locations, share the event, talk to other humans about it, let’s get those numbers up people!!! Next Early bird price increase happens MAY 1ST so talk it up now!!! It is a German beer theme so it’s a great excuse bust out your lederhosen or other German/Octoberfest themed garb. I will try to get a pdf of the image emailed out to everyone shortly but the php (our email service) is a fickle beast so if you need it sooner email me (Claire) at ccaruana81@gmail.com.
Clear your calendars!!!! We need volunteers to brew, post flyers, plan, serve or run for this amazing event!! This is for St. Baldricks and we really want to be able to continue to offer them support so we need everyone’s help in any way you can!! The beer styles have been chosen by popular vote and are as follows: Witbier, Fest bier, American Pale and Kolsch!!!! There will also be a cider for the end of race drink if desired. Talk up the race, it’s a very simple easy 4k, with a half pour of beer at the end of each km and a full pour at the end of the race. Raffles, games and prizes will be had by all!! Let’s build up those registration numbers and show some love for BUBR and St. Baldricks.
6/12 Happy hour at Brix 6pm
6/22 June SAAZ meeting at Bugnutty!!! 2pm, education topic TBD
8/2025 Commander SAAZ
We are coming up on that time again – CSAAZ. Yes, the awards ceremony is not until August, but it is time now to start thinking about brewing an award winning adult beverage. Let’s bring home our bling!
Here are some of the key points and dates:
Competition max of 350 entries. Max of three entries per contestant, 3 bottles per entry. One of these can count towards Rocket Fuel. We will follow the 2021 Beer, 2015 Mead,and 2025 Cider Guidelines.
Awards ceremony: August 16 at Bugnutty Brewing Company.
Registration window: June 16 – July 23
Delivery window: July 9 – July 23
Judge and volunteer registration: June 16 – August 16
Sorting and flighting: July 25 or July 26 (Friday or Saturday, date T.B.D.)
Initial judging session: July 27 (Sunday following sorting. Also pickup for remote judging. The location is T.B.D.)
First formal judging weekend: August 2 and 3 at Hell ‘n Blazes Brewing Company
Second formal judging weekend: August 9 and 10 at Beachfly Brewing Company
Best Of Show and awards ceremony: August 17 at Bugnutty Brewing Company.
BOS Judging is planned for early afternoon, time T.B.D. We reserve the right to move the BOS to August 10th in the unlikely event that we are running well ahead of schedule. Again, I stress the unlikely part.
The SAAZ website will contain the latest updates (https://www.saaz.org/cms/).
We have plenty of 6-pack holders. We could always use more case boxes. Save them over the coming months. You can always store them with the Commander.
Upcoming competitions:
Hurricane Blowoff – 04/26/2025 – FULL!
NASA ICC 2025 – 04/26/2025 Entry by 03/28/2025 Delivery by 04/17/2025
Hogtown Brew-Off 2025 – 05/24/2025 Entry Window: 03/31 – 04/30, it’s almost full!! Delivery Window: 03/31 – 04/30, club will deliver
Hot’N Humid 2025 – 06/28/2025 Entry Window: 05/05 – 05/29, Delivery Window: 05/17 – 05/30
First Coast Cup 2025 – 07/26/2025 Entry Window: 06/09 – 07/03, Delivery Window: 06/19 – 07/03
Commander SAAZ 2025 – 08/16/2025 Entry Window: 06/16 – 07/23, Delivery Window: 07/09 – 07/23
Sunshine Challenge 2025 – 10/05/2025 Entry Window: 08/16 – 09/06, Delivery Window: 08/16 – 09/06
Best Florida Beer 2025 – 10/25/2025 Entry Window: 9/26-10/03
Upcoming Brewfests:
October 25th 2025 Space Coast Brewfest in Titusville, SAAZ will be brewing and pouring for this event, plan your brews now!!! There will also be a special competition held the night before at the brewers party!!Each brewclub will be pouring an exclusive beer that we will be serving the the VIP tent. The brewers attending the preparty the night before will vote a favorite beer and the VIP attendees will also vote a favorite with an exciting prize in store that any brewer will absolutely love!!! More info soon.
November Rocky Water Brewfest (Melbourne)
See you all soon!!!!