Fat Boy Deluxe

The local Boston homebrew club, the Wort Processors, had their September meeting this past Sunday.  I made the trek down the Minuteman Bikeway, getting off in Arlington and heading over into Medford to lend support for smoking some ribs.  I’m guessing I was the only person on the path that day with a growler of IIPA and a hatchet, but hey, somebody had to provide the tools to cut up the apple wood for the smoker.

Ron adding charcoal and apple wood

So what exactly goes on at a homebrew club meeting?  Well believe it or not, it’s not just a bunch of fat guys hanging out and drinking beer.  We managed to cover a lot of club doings, like the 25th Anniversary brew, a big barrel brew, and Ciderfest (spontaneously fermented cider, hell yea!).  Of course it’s not all business, we also manage to taste a few homebrewed beverages throughout the meeting.  Schwarzbier, 4 year old Cider, Blonde, IIPA…a lot of quality brews out there.  People critique the brews and offer suggestions or in some cases offer nothing but praise.  If it leads to a better brew, then it was worth it.  Kristin made it out for the meeting portion, as did bunch of other brewsters and significant others.

Some of the Wort members

As far as the club goes, I’m fairly new to the group, but I haven’t had any problems getting in there and mixing things up.  The club will only be as good as it’s members and it’s up to the members to speak out on what they want the club to “be”.  In that regard, the club is very open to differing opinions, which is great in my book.  There’s also a good variety of brewers in the club, from novice to profesional, which makes it educational for everybody.  Anyway, I’m looking forward to more club action and watching the club develop over it’s next 25 years.