Category: Uncategorized

Financial Review:

Paul presented the club revenue and expenditures for the season.  We’re running lean as we’ve made some investments that will take time to recoup (e.g.: Oak Barrel), and we’ve seen a drop in membership.

Next Season:

• Club Kit Style: Gose – Steve Shaw has offered up is multi-award-winning “Soniarita” recipe.
• Creative Competition Theme: 10% or higher ABV

Lots of ideas were floated for club meeting topics, activities, and recruiting strategies.  These were all noted and will be considered by the club executive.

Club Bylaws:

After a few minor revisions, the motion to implement the Bylaws was voted unanimously in favor and was carried.  You can review the final document here winnipegbrewbombers.ca/club-bylaws.

Executive Election Results:

• President: Ryan Mason
• Vice President: Adrian Zetner
• Treasurer: Paul Mailhot
• Secretary: Luke Thissen

We will be taking some time over the next few weeks to onboard the newly elected leadership into their roles.  I’ll still be handing things that are in flight like the Big Brew and the Windup BBQ, but after that, Ryan and Adrian will be taking over.

Full details here: https://www.goldeyes.com/blue-cross-park/ballpark-brewfest
Buy tickets here: https://www.tixr.com/groups/goldeyes/events/ballpark-brewfest-184668

• VIP ticket: $90 including fees and taxes
  • VIP ticket holders receive an extra hour (1pm-2pm), a voucher for a hot dog or hamburger at Goldie’s Grill, souvenir Ballpark Brewfest 5 oz sample mug, plus vouchers good for a free pint at Little Brown Jug, a free flight at Kilter Brewing, and a free pizza at Trans Canada Brewing (1pm – 5pm) – limited to 300 tickets
• General Admission: $70 including fees and taxes
  • Includes a souvenir Ballpark Brewfest 5 oz sample mug (2pm – 5pm)
• Designated Driver: $10 including fees and taxes
  • Includes a can of dealcoholized Bluebeary Ale from Trans Canada Brewing plus a Pepsi product from Goldie’s Grill (1pm – 5pm)

Lots of great updates!

May Meeting

Our last regular meeting of the season will be 7pm, Tuesday May 5th at Oxus Brewing.  Steph Barten (Brat Cat Mead) will lead a Honey and Mead tasting seminar!

Annual General Meeting

The AGM will be held at Devil May Care on Tuesday June 2nd.  This is when we cover club business – Executive elections, voting on club kit style / competition theme, review club finances, etc.  Consider running for one of the club exec positions! Nominations can be made during the meeting as well.

Big Brew

Will take place on Sunday June 14th at Brazen Brewing.  Steve Shaw was the winner of the Clone Wars competition at the last meeting with his copy of Sookram’s MacGuffin, but has he’s already had the pleasure of doing Big Brews he’s deferred selection of the Big Brew recipe to 2nd place, which was… ME! I’m already talking to Evan at Brazen about a couple different recipe options, so stay tune for that once we decide what to go with.  In the meantime, if you plan to participate in the Big Brew, please Sign up here! https://forms.gle/WXAYXPmPJXCZ1mNk7 

Season Windup

Saturday June 20th!

We’ve made the executive decision to have this year’s windup on private property.  The location is still TBD, but being on private property gives us the option to bring and share our homebrew with each other!  I’ll reach out to some locations to gauge their interest in hosting us.  If you’re willing to have the club take over your yard, feel free to let us know. 

Ballpark Brewfest

It’s officially happening on Saturday, July 18th and we’ve been invited!

• Leadership
  -We’d like one or two members to volunteer to be the coordinator(s) for our participation, managing preparations and report to the club executives
• Brews
  -We can offer 4-6 different beverages from our booth.
  -Club budget is a bit lean currently, so we’re hoping some members would be willing to support by brewing and donating the brews for the event.
  -The “homebrews” must be brewed at a commercial facility in order for us to serve at the event, so we’ll want to plan a group brew day at a local brewery.
• Volunteers on the day
  -Setting up the table, jockey boxes, etc
  -Serving samples
  -Teardown and cleaning up

Cheers!

Dan Molinski

The last meeting at Grain to Glass went very well and we’re all looking forward to evaluating the results of the various co-fermentations! Huge thanks to Steve, Paul, and everyone who stepped up to make the meeting a success.

Our next meeting is the second Tuesday, January 13th at Sookram’s and we’re planning to do the beer off-flavours training. This meeting is open only to paid club members.

The first batch of beer has finished aging in the club’s new oak barrel! It’s already been claimed for the next batch, but because we don’t want the barrel sitting idle with nothing in it, get your name on the waitlist (email the President) and start planning an oak-aged brew!

The Manitoba Pilsner club kit is available at Grain to Glass. If you’re a full paying member please pick your kit up ASAP so they don’t sit around the shop for too long. As in previous years, you can get the kit delivered (within city limits) if you add a note to an online order.

For convenience, the new club beer mugs are available to be purchased at Grain to Glass. There will also be mugs for purchase at future meetings as well, until they’re all sold.

That’s all for 2025! I hope you all have a great holiday season and a happy New Year.

December Meeting

We’ll be meeting at Grain to Glass on Tuesday December 2nd, and we’ll be doing a brewing experiment where we brew a Saison, split the batch, and try different co-fermentations.  We’ll have a follow up meeting later in the season where we’ll be able to taste the results.

If anyone has a recipe for a basic Saison, please let me know.

Names for the snack potluck are at the bottom of this email.

NEW Oak Barrel Co-op

Last season Andre pitched the idea of a club-owned barrel that members could have access to for barrel-ageing their brews.  I’m happy to announce that the barrel has been purchased and the first group of brewers will be breaking it in with a Scottish Ale. Full details of how the barrel co-op works can be seen on the club website: Co-Operative Oak Barrel Program.  A couple details still need to be ironed out, but the page will be updated once that’s done.

NEW WBB Mugs

The club branded beer mugs have arrived!  I’ll bring them to the next meeting where they’ll be available for purchase for $15 each.​​​

Manitoba Pilsner Club Kit

The test brew was a success – many of you got to taste the beer at the last meeting.  A couple minor adjustments were made as a result of some feedback, but the recipe is (mostly) ready Club Brew 2025 – Manitoba Pilsner.

We still have to get the kits assembled, so stay tuned for an email announcing when they’re ready to be picked up.

“Clone Wars” Creative Competition

After some input from members, we’ve decided that the creative competition will take place during the April meeting at Barn Hammer.  This should provide plenty of time for everyone to plan their entries.  There hasn’t been any feedback to the proposed rules from my last update, so those will be the rules we go by.  Time to get brewing!

Hello Brew Bombers!

Our next meeting is Tuesday November 4th at Oxus Brewing. As with the past couple years, we’ll be running the meeting as a session on “How to evaluate homebrew”.  So if you want to get some feedback from members, bring samples of your beer, cider, or mead.

Show up a bit early so we can get started at 7pm sharp.  Also, since we’re wanting our senses to be sharp, there won’t be any snack potluck at this meeting.

ProAm Brew Challenge

Registration is open!  Entries can be added until October 25th.  Entries are to be dropped off at Oxus Brewing between October 27-31.Visit www.proam.beer for all info.

Any questions can be sent to Marc and Adrian at proambrewchallenge@gmail.com

Winnipeg Brew Bombers Glasses

We’re looking at ordering some new club beer mugs.  We’d like to get an idea of how many we’re likely to sell to members right away.  They’ll probably be around $10-15 per mug.  Fill out this poll if you’re interested (filling in the poll is not a commitment to purchasing mugs)

Club Kit Update

We have put together a recipe and have secured locally produced ingredients for our “Manitoba Pilsner”.  The kit will include Cashmere and Triumph hops from Prairie Gem Hops, and Pilsner malt from Scythe Malting.  I’ll be brewing a test batch this weekend and once it’s done we’ll make any final adjustments to the recipe before building and distributing the kits.  If all goes well we should have them available before Christmas again.

Creative Competition – Local Clones

The Creative Competition has been done in January for the past couple years, but we’ve not yet secured a location or permit so we still have flexibility.  Let us know if you’d like it to take place later in the season so you have more time to prepare… February? March?

The club executives have discussed and come up with three rules for this year’s creative competition.  We’re open to hearing your feedback before we set these rules in stone, so please share your thoughts!

RULES:

1. The brew you’re cloning has to have been commercially produced in Manitoba.
2. The brew  you’re cloning does not have to be currently available on store shelves, so if you want to clone a brew that’s not available any more, you can. However, you must be able to provide samples of the OG beer so we can judge your clone. If you’re sitting on a few bottles or cans in your cellar, you need to be willing to crack them open for comparison.
3. In the interest of fairness, if you are currently or have previously been employed by a brewery, then you’re not allowed to clone anything from that brewery that was being produced during your time there.  This mitigates any potential advantage afforded by having more information than the average person.

Last reminder for Member Dues

A final reminder to everyone to pay your member dues if you haven’t yet.  This can be done with cash/debit/credit at a club meeting, or any time by sending an e-transfer to the Treasurer.  Membership tiers are outlined here.

Are you interested in making your own beer at home, but not sure where to start? We’ve teamed up with Grain To Glass for a “Learn To Brew” event, showcasing several easy ways to get into the hobby.

Join us at Grain To Glass, 1333 Niakwa Rd. and we will demonstrate some of the easiest methods, along with the equipment you need to get into it.

Saturday, October 4th. Starting at Noon (11:45am sign-in)

This event is FREE, open to non-members, and lunch will be provided.

Sign up now, and we’ll see you Oct 4.

Let’s get brewing!

Hello Brew Bombers!

The end of summer break is in sight, which means we’ll soon be kicking off our new season.

Our first meeting will be on Tuesday September 9th at Half Pints Brewing, and will feature talks and demonstrations around packaging homebrew. We’ll be highlighting the many options available to us – including both DIY and off the shelf bottle fillers, and covering all the things you need to know to be successful. Side note… if anyone packages their homebrew in cans and is willing to contribute to this meeting by talking and/or demonstrating canning, please reach out to the club executives.

As a reminder, we’ve discontinued online membership management and have gone back to the old way of simply collecting member dues by cash, e-transfer, or credit/debit on the Square; and we’ll be maintaining the member list on a simple spreadsheet. This means that if you wish to remain a member of the club you’ll need to pay your dues at the start of the season.

Cheers,

Dan Molinski

We have a new process for getting feedback on your homebrews.  In short, you bring your bottled beer samples and prepared feedback sheets to a club meeting, other members take them home to evaluate, and they give their feedback directly back to you.  Visit Homebrew Feedback for all the details.