March 2022 Meeting

Reminder, the SOB’s are planning a Green Bay area brewery tour!  $40/person paid at the time of arrival on the bus.  All stops are booked for below times. We have 3 more spots to fill on the bus!  Sign up HERE
 
SOB Green Bay Brewery Tour April 9th, 2022

Bus picks up Park and Ride, Hwy 76 and 41- Oshkosh – 11

Zambaldi Beer (Tour, Pizzas and Beers) 50 min travel time – 12-2

Noble Roots Brewing Company (Tour, Samples) 10 min travel time – 2:30-4

Ahnapee Brewing Company (Samples) 20 min travel time – 4:30-6:00 

Drop off Park and Ride – Oshkosh 50 min 7:00
Scott kicked off the meeting as each SOB held up a pint of Guinness as an early toast to St. Patty’s Day.  We discussed the possibility of bringing back Casks & Caskets.  Some potential options are maybe doing a smaller version or hosting a beer dinner type event.  The board is also poking around at the idea of the SOB’s bringing back Brews ‘n Blues.  To make any of those fun events possible, it requires interest and hard work from the club.  If you have any interest in supporting an event, please reach out to a board member.

Big Brew Day is coming up on May 7th!  As of now, the club is expecting to be able to brew at The Cellar, but we need to confirm.  Maybe we could even organize a food truck to be present during the brew.  If you’re looking to have a beer ready to serve at Brews on the Bay this summer, this would be a great opportunity!

Are you interested in attending a Timber Rattler game with a bunch of SOB’s?  The board will look into some possible dates and share with the club to get interest.  Likely would be a game towards late summer.

While we were sampling some homebrewed libations including an Irish Red Ale, barrel aged maple Kviek, and Chuck’s “Itchy-nut Brown Ale, Kurt shared some of his cleaning techniques with the club.  Part of Kurt’s cleaning best practice is to bake his glassware.  He uses his kitchen oven at the lowest setting and steps up the temperature in 100°F increments until he reaches 350°F.  After an hour of getting baked, he turns off the oven and lets the glassware slowly cool with the door closed.  He warns if you let the glass cool too quickly, it can become brittle and break.  So be careful!  Thanks for sharing Kurt and if anyone has any suggestions for additional educational topics, reach out to a board member.

See you in April!

January 2022 Virtual Meeting

The SOB January meeting was held virtually on January 19th.  We hope to be able to resume our in-person gatherings for our February SOB Christmas Party!

Speaking of Christmas Party, it has been rescheduled for Sunday February 20th at Fifth Ward Brewing at 6pm!  Sign up is HERE for the pot luck.  Reminder that there will be an optional gift exchange.  If you want to participate, please bring a wrapped gift of $25 value.  Reminder that our regularly scheduled February club meeting would be held during the party.

Elections were held during our virtual meeting.  Please congratulate the below people on being elected to the SOB Board!  We would like to thank Bill for his years of service as Web Coordinator!

Web Coordinator – Matt Saunders
Treasurer – Kurt Weina
Event Coordinators – Jeff and Becky

The club also voted on the by-laws changes that were previously sent out for review.  The club voted to approve the changes.

The club is getting low on SOB merchandise to sell at events.  The board proposed buying more merchandise including t-shirts and other swag.  The proposal is about $500.  The club voted to proceed with getting the order quoted and moving forward with the purchase.  If the purchase amount exceeds the $500, then the board will come back to the club with an updated estimate.

The Fond du Lac Brew Fest is coming up on Saturday February 5th.  If you are interested in attending and serving beer to represent the SOB club, please sign up HERE.

Ideas for upcoming educational meetings.  The club is thinking about showcasing some of the brewing software that is available.  If you are interested in leading an educational session or have other ideas for a topic, please contact Scott or another board member.

The club is planning a Green Bay area brewery tour!  More details to come, however there are a lot of good breweries in the Green Bay area for us to explore.  We are debating whether a bus rental is appropriate for the tour or if we organize a few cars for a carpool.  If you have interest in the tour or suggestions for travel arrangements, stay tuned for a sign-up or reach out to a board member with your ideas.

Looking forward to seeing you all on February 20th for our Christmas Party!

Upcoming club events:
February 20th – SOB Christmas Party at Fifth Ward at 6pm
March 16th – SOB Meeting at O’Marro’s

December 2021 Meeting

On a cold, snowy, Dec….wait a minute.  On a WARM, 60°, December night, a bunch of jolly SOB’s got together at Oblio’s Lounge to spread cheer and imbibe in holiday libations.  Our December 15th meeting was uniquely special as we presented a donation to the Oshkosh Area Food Pantry of $2,269!  This donation was made possible through a portion of the proceeds generated from the sale of the SOB 30th Anniversary beers graciously brewed by our local breweries.  Thanks again to the breweries who helped support this effort as well as the SOB’s for continuing to make this club possible. Todd hosted the SOB’s and told us all about the history of Oblio’s being in Oshkosh for over 42 years and his experience in the craft beer movement.  One of my favorite stories being how New Glarus and Lee Beverage introduced Spotted Cow to Oblio’s as an “experiment”, not knowing if it would take off!  I think we all know how that story has unfolded since then.  Thanks for hosting us, Todd! The annual SOB Christmas party is coming up.  The club is tentatively planning a Sunday in January to hold the party at Fifth Ward Brewing.  However, an exact date has not been set yet.  Should the party conflict with a Packers playoff game, it’s very likely we look for a time in February to have the party and hold our standard Wednesday meeting in January.  There will be an optional gift exchange though!  If you want to participate, please bring a gift around the $25 value range.  You will be assigned a random number and a drawing will be held to pick a gift.  More details to come on the date of the party. The Central Wisconsin Vintners and Brewers will be organizing the Fond du Lac Brew Fest once again.  The date is Feb. 5th and there will be a sign-up being sent out to the clubs soon.  If you have interest in serving beer at the brew fest, please let Scott know so we can get signed up. Election season is approaching for the SOB’s.  Nominations were held during the December meeting for the following positions and nominees: Web Coordinator – Matt Saunders Treasurer – Kurt Weina Event Coordinators – Jeff and Becky Elections for the above positions will be held at the January meeting or party. Lastly, the SOB board is proposing some changes to the SOB by-laws.  There are a few things that warranted being updated.  Please see previous “meeting” for the proposed by-laws changes highlighted in bold.   Voting for the changes will take place during our next meeting. With that, I wish you happy holidays.  May they be filled with joy and homebrew!  See you in January

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