October 2021 Meeting

Our October 20th meeting was held at Lion’s Tail Brewing in Neenah.  We started the meeting the only way us SOB’s know how, by sampling beer!  Jeff poured us a sample of a few Oktoberfest beers including Lion’s Tail’s, McFleschman’s and Founder’s throughout the meeting.  It was interesting to see each brewery’s variation of the style!  Thanks Lion’s Tail for hosting!

Scott gave us an update on the 30th SOB Anniversary beers fundraiser.  We’ve received about $1,400 in donations!  We’ll plan to make a donation to the Oshkosh Area Community Pantry and hoping to have a representative from the pantry attend our December meeting for a picture with the donation check.

Speaking of donations, by attending Brews on the Bay, we’re able to donate $300 to the Menominee Park & Zoo Foundation from our collections.  Great job SOB’s by serving your delicious libations!  The club will look to serve again next year so stay tuned as we get closer to summer 2022.

The board is reviewing the possibility of getting Casks & Caskets going again and currently looking for potential venues.  However, if we want to host Casks & Caskets as a club, we need your help!  Volunteers are needed to help organize, brew beer, etc.  If you have interest in participating and helping make this amazing charity event happen, please contact an SOB board member.

Lastly, if anyone is interested in acquiring some homebrewing equipment, we were contacted by someone outside of the club who would like to get rid of some.  The list of equipment she has is as follows:

117 beer bottles
Bottle drying rack
2 kettles (one 2 gallon and one 3 gallon)
5 gallon glass carboy
2 ale pails
Bottle capper and other misc. equipment

If you are interested, please respond to the club email address (realsobs@gmail.com) and we can get you connected to discuss more details.  With that, here’s a look at what the SOB’s have planned for the upcoming months:

November Meeting – Nov. 17 – O’Marro’s
December Meeting – Dec. 15 – Oblio’s
January Meeting (SOB Christmas Party) – Date TBD – Fifth Ward Brewing

September 2021 meeting

Our September 15th meeting was held at Rushford Meadery & Winery for our annual club wine, mead, and cider competition!  Scott kicked things off by giving an update on the SOB 30th Anniversary beers that were brewed and served at Bare Bones, Fifth Ward, and Fox River.  We’ve raised a significant amount of money through this effort and expect to donate over $700 to the Hunger Task Force!  Thanks again to the breweries who hosted the brews and supported a great cause. Speaking of donations!  The SOB’s will be making a donation to the Children’s Activities in Menominee Park charity that was supported during the Brews on the Bay events this summer.  These events were great publicity for the SOB’s and our Facebook followers increased by over 25%!!!  Must’ve been because of all those tasty beers.  Huge thanks to all the club members who donated their time and/or beer to support this event!

We had some really good entries for the competition this month!  There were lots of meads and even a wine thrown into the ring as well.  During the competition, Shane also shared a sneak peek of a new release called Cyser which is a honey mead and apple wine barrel aged together for 6 months.  Thanks for sharing, it was delicious!  After all the SOB’s finished sippin’ on the entries and totaling the scores (math was pretty hard by that point), this is how it shook out: Competition Results 1st place – 50/50 Honey & Maple Syrup Mead aged in a Maple Whiskey barrel – Chuck 2nd place – YOLO White Wine – Travis 3rd place – Orange Blossom Honey Mead – Travis Great job and big thanks to everyone who participated! Lastly, here’s a look at what you SOB’s have to look forward to in the coming months.  We are looking for club input for activities and meetings in 2022!  So if you have any ideas or suggestions, please reach out to a board member. October Meeting – Oct. 20th – Lion’s Tail Brewing  November Meeting – Nov. 17 – O’Marro’s December Meeting – Dec. 15 – Oblio’s

July 2021 Meeting/Competition

Our July 21st meeting was held at Omega Brewing in Omro as Steve graciously hosted us for a club beer competition!  Over 20 of you thirsty SOB’s attended expecting to fill your gullets.  More on that later.  First, let’s power through the business portion…

For those who couldn’t attend the 30th SOB Anniversary party at Fifth Ward, you missed a hell of a good time!  Lots of camaraderie between past and present SOB’s, speeches made by outgoing and incoming presidents, and there was even some beer bottling action!  On a side note, the club sold a lot of merchandise ($195 worth to be exact) and inventory is running low.  The board will put together a few proposals in order to restock, so stay tuned.  Can’t wait for the next anniversary party!

Friendly reminder to pay your membership dues if you have not already.  Kurt was handing out official laminated membership cards to those who have ponied up the $20.  If you have paid your dues and haven’t received your card, please see Kurt at the next meeting!

Lastly, before we get into the competition recap, here’s a look at what you SOB’s have to look forward to in the coming months:

Club Picnic – August 18th, Kiwanis Shelter Menominee Park
Club Cider, Mead, and Wine Competition – September 15th, Rushford Meadery
Fall-themed Beer & Oktoberfest Meeting – October 20th – Lion’s Tail Brewing 
Green Bay Bus Tour??? – Stay tuned for details about timing (tentatively October) and sign-up!We had a great turnout for the competition with 7 beer entries!  Shane, Laurel, Steve, and Jody were kind enough to lend their official beer judging expertise in addition to the people’s choice judging (those surly SOB members).  There was a wide range of entries including a Blonde Ale, Cream Ale, Saison, Trappist Single, Witbier, Irish Red, and Specialty Fruit Beer.  After hours of excruciating indulging of fermented beverages, the scores were tallied.  Here’s how those results looked:

Club Judging
1st place – Trappist Single – Logan
2nd place – Irish Red – Kurt W.
3rd place – Spiced Brown Ale – Kurt W.

Official Judging
1st place – Blonde Ale – Logan
2nd place – Witbier – Dawn
3rd place – Spiced Brown Ale – Kurt W.Congratulations to Logan for winning first place from both judging groups!  Dick brought back the traveling SOB trophy growler and pint set so Logan and his Trappist beer will be added to the prestigious list of other winners on the growler.  Steve at Omega will also be brewing Logan’s award winning Blonde Ale!

Thanks to everyone who participated in not only judging, but also entering their beers.  Participation like this keeps our club going strong and enjoyable to be a member.  And special thanks to our official judges and Steve at Omega for hosting all of us rowdy SOB’s!

See you at the August picnic.