Goodbye 2018. Hello 2019.

Another year has come to an end and a new crop of BOCK Officers are stepping in to continue to push this club forward. On behalf of the entire BOCK organization I would like to thank all of the outgoing officers for their tireless work at making BOCK as good as it can be. These outgoing officers have held their respective roles for two years as the club moved through some major changes. Ben Hoh, Ben Shelton, Chuck Anderson, and John Spicer have given BOCK their all these last two years, and BOCK cannot thank them enough.

Mash Madness

The most exciting BOCK brewing competition continues. Below are the matchups for the 2nd round, which will be due at the January 14th meeting. Keep track of the bracket here.

  • Chris Barnes vs. Blake Nickell (Tropical Stout)
  • Miller/Miracle vs. The Stitzers (Foreign Extra Stout)
  • Ryan Harding vs. O’Gorman/Spicer (English Golden Ale)
  • Jeff Kirkner vs. Ben Hoh (Irish Stout)

NHC

Signups are approaching for the 2019 National Homebrewing Competition. Open enrollment is from January 22 to January 29. Registration and payment is between February 1 and February 14. Get those beers ready and make a good BOCK showing. And if you need another reason, BOCK plans on helping members with shipment costs of entries. Learn more about the competition on the AHA website.

Blount County brew-off (TN)

The Blount County Brew-off is a homebrew competition organized by the Blount County Homebrewers in Maryville, TN. The coordinator of this competition has come up and judged the Bluegrass Cup with us, so let’s show some reciprocity and participate and judge in their upcoming competition. Registration for entries and judges is now open and ends Feb 16. Judging takes place on Feb 23 in Maryville. Check it out here.

Blue Stallion Lager Competition

It’s almost that time again. Blue Stallion is getting ready to kick off their annual BOCK-only lager style competition soon. Yeast will not be ready at the January meeting, but should be ready soon. So plan  your brewing schedule accordingly.

Iron Mash

The Bock-exclusive Iron Mash competition happened in October and was judged a couple weeks ago. The competition once again pitted a competitor’s brewing wits against adversity and adaptability. Only one winner could prevail, and that winner was Dirk Franzen, our newly elected Secondary Fermenter, with a Scottish Export with heather. Second place goes to the team of Brenes and Hughes, and third place goes to the team of Rodenhauser and Wheeler. Congrats to all the winners!

Elections

Our December meeting meant election time! Under the club’s new officer term lengths the positions up for grabs were a Director, the second such position to be filled, Scribe, Event Coordinator, and Secondary Fermenter (Vice-President). With those results in, may I now present to you BOCKs new cabinet of officers:

  • Ryan Smalley – Primary Fermenter
  • Dirk Franzen – Secondary Fermenter
  • Kelly Stitzer – Treasurer
  • Clay Bunn – Event Coordinator
  • Tim Meehan – Scribe
  • Chris Barnes – Director
  • Brandon Peterson – Director

Lifetime Membership for Tony Aiken

BOCK has had the privilege of having a steady hand involved throughout the years. Tony Aiken has been here since the beginning and in honor of his service the club voted nearly unanimously (Tony was the only nay) to enshrine his membership into permanent status. Thank you Tony for the years of service and sacrifice. Here are only a few of Tony’s highlights.

  • BOCK member since 1994
  • Held multiple officerships
  • Created original Bluegrass Cup software, and judging assignment software that we still use
  • Huge role in founding Bluegrass Cup and its success over the years
  • Makes sensory/BJCP classes at BDAS possible
  • Too many parcels of sage advice offered to mention

Christmas Dirty Santa Gift Exchange

As usual the highlight of the December meeting was the gift exchange. Fun was had, gifts were swapped, some were delighted and others were merely amused. No matter how you panned out, we hope you had fun. Because that is the point of everything. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.