Re: [mnbrewers] AHA Nationals--one club name?

As Jon so thoughtfully and poignantly pointed out, the SPHBC will be enter under our club, as will the PHC as theirs for the NHC competition. There was never ment to be hurt feelings or put a rift between the two locals clubs but apparently, as seen in Jon's versing, that has happened anyway. There are a lot of people that belong to both clubs so this is aimed mostly at them. For people that dont know, QUAFF is a San Diego based club that has some EXTREMELY good brewers and has won home brew club of the year. Let alone are they good brewers they are very good people and bend over backwards when ever you ask them for help. When first I heard about them and saw them last year at the NHC I thought they were a massive club and just out entered people. So I emailed Jamil Zainasheff, the Point Winner from last years NHC, and he forwarded my questions to their club president. Here are his responses: Hi Kris, Jamil forwarded this message to me, as I am the President of Quaff. I will try to answer your questions, but I do not have hard data to give you. 1. Right now we have about 80 - 85 paid members. By year end we typically have about 100. That's because we have about a 15% turnover each year, as members drift off into different hobbies. 2. I would say that approx. 60% of our members enter competitions. Basically, that means we have 40% of our membership are social members only. Some don't even brew, they just love our parties. 3. Of the 60% who enter I would say that about 50% of these people win medals consistently. This may sound unreasonable, but the key to our success has been the open sharing of information within the club. If I'm going to brew a Pilsner, I go directly to the one or two members that consistently outperform everyone else in lagers. They will in turn share any and all information when asked. Other members are famous for other styles, etc. The reason this attitude permeates the club is primarily due to one of our former Presidents, Peter Zien. Peter single handedly developed a "Team" concept in Quaff. No one cares which Quaff member wins, as long as one of us wins. Everyone gets just as excited about someone else's medal as they do about themselves. That's especially true when a new member starts to win competitions. It really is quite a sight to see when a new guy is met by 10 or 15 people after he wins his first medal. I'll stop rambling, but if you have any other questions, just let me know. If anyone from your club is ever in San Diego, please let us know through quaff.org or directly to one us. We'd love to play host and show you the better beer bars in town. Take care. Harold Gulbransen So you see, SPHBC has around 60 members and MHBA has many more than that. The difference between our clubs and QUAFF is not members, per say, but participation. In order to win anything our clubs need to have higher participation. Individually, we all need to become better brewers. Learn as much as we can and help each other learn more and most importantly enter, enter enter. Cheers Kristen England SPHBC President BJCP Education Director