This year will mark the return of the club's annual Oktoberfest party hosted by club memember Armand Houle. As part of a new tradition we'd like to do a "people's choice" style competition for any of the Festbier-style categories. This would include Oktoberfest (3B) from the 2008 BJCP style guidelines as well as Festbier (4B) and Marzen (6A) from the brand new 2014 guidelines. We're still working out prizes and exactly how things will work, but wanted to get the word out so people could start brewing. If you're interested in this, make sure you RSVP and check that you're planning on entering so we can get an idea of logistics.

For more info check out the event details on the website.

Saturday, September 20th, 2014 at 2pm - 6pm

Location: 111 Gadshill Place Pittsburgh, PA 15237

I have a few quick announcements that I wanted to send out before Saturday's meeting.

Saturday's Meeting. If you haven't already, be sure to RSVP for Saturday's joint club meeting at the Pittsburgh Tech Shop. They tech shop has an amazing range of tools that would be extremely helpful for those of you who want to enhance their homebrew setup but don't have access to a fully equipped shop. They even offer courses to help you learn to safely use a new tool or technique. In addition to a multi-club meeting, we'll be touring their shop to see what they have to offer.

http://trashhomebrewers.org/item/658947

Online Beer Scores. If you're interested in improving the quality of your homebrew and your judging skills, you should definitely check out Andy Weigel's Online Beer Scores page. If you're interested, you can register your latest homebrew and bring one or more bottles to the meeting. Exchange bottles with another brewer, and you'll have an opportunity to both judge their beer and receive some critical feedback for yours.

http://onlinebeerscores.com/

The Club Picnic. You should have all received the official announcement that our club picnic has been scheduled for August 24 at North Park. This will be a pot-luck style event with a set of friendly competitions to honor the best dish, best grilled item, and best beer. The club has an alcohol permit with the park, so you'll be able to bring along any homebrew or commercial beer that you would like to share with the group. For details, be sure to stop by the event page below.

http://trashhomebrewers.org/item/662874

This Year's Competition. It's official! We now have a date and location for this year's homebrew competition. Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 25 at James Street Gastropub and Speakeasy. We will be running our judging operations out of their 2nd floor banquet hall. As always this event requires significant effort from the club. We'll be sending out additional details in the near future for anyone who wants to help out.

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Other than that, I look forward to seeing many of you at Saturday's meeting!

–Mike