What a great time we had at Black Diamond Brewing in Concord! Many thanks to Justin and crew for hosting us and giving a great tour of the facilities. Congratulations to all the brewers that entered the Black Diamond Pro-Am GABF contest. From looking at a few scoresheets, some great beers were in this comp. There were, however, some standout beers that made the top 4: Coffee Stout from Tom Weber

This month’s meeting will be on May 18th, due to Memorial day. It will be held at Black Diamond Brewery in Concord. (2470 Bates Avenue, Concord, CA 94520) The meeting will start at the same time, 6:30 pm. You can come early and enjoy some Black Diamond beers and Justin will give a couple of tours of the brewery as soon as members get there. We will not be having the BOTM table, however, we will announce the winner of the Black Diamond-DOZE GABF Pro-Am contest.

The April meeting on Monday the 27th will feature a brief talk from Matt Sager about his experiences at the recent CBC (craft brewers conference). We will also have an open Q&A session about yeast and yeast health. If you reuse, or harvest your yeast, please be prepared to let us know how and why you do it. If you have a stir plate, please bring it in for a show and tell table.

We have new options for DOZE gear! Hats are one size, and have already been ordered – hopefully here in time for pick up at the April meeting. Hoodies and Work Shirts are available for ordering. We’ll leave the store open for a while allowing you to order your desired size and color. I’ll then combine all of the club orders and send off to our vendor for a single run.

Next Monday, the 30th, we have a meeting at the usual place and time (Lindsay at 6:30pm). Several members have expressed an interest in learning about RIMS (Recirculating Infusion Mash System) for their all grain systems. In the first half of the meeting I would like to have an open Q&A session on this topic. If you have a RIMS tube that you can bring to the meeting, please do so.

This Monday meeting will feature your best Beer of the Month (BOTM). Craig and Chris Gilmer will bring their Belgian Dubbel beer for your tasting pleasure. We will set up a special table for your NHC feedback entries. For example, should I enter this as an IPA of an imperial IPA? Is this beer a 60-/ shilling or a mild? Please bring your own questionnaire for the specific feedback. We will also be recruiting members for the NHC booth and beer committees.

It is a new year and time for some new brewing information. We just finished the epic BN Winter Brews Festival where DOZE and a couple other clubs poured over 30 different beers at Tasty’s Tasting Room. The line was long all day and the beers were awesome. Thanks to all the brewers and servers that worked the booth!! Tomorrow night we will begin the 2015 meeting with a tasting of your homebrews including a table for BOTM (beer of the month).

January 26 February 23 March 30 April 27 May 18 June 29 July 27 August 31 September 28 October 26 November 16 December 7 (party)

It is almost that time – the DOZE Holiday Party. Once again we invite all members and spouses/significant others to join us and share the friendships we’ve made over the years. As usual we have a raffle. This year with proceeds, we will donate money to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum for their fine work and helping us with our meeting location. As a grand prize we will pay all costs to brew on Craig’s 80 gallon system with your best friends.

On Saturday, November 15th,? a dozen or so Club DOZE members -joined by a smattering of Mad Zymurgists and others- had the pleasure of touring the facilities of the E J Phair brewery in Pittsburg (CA), and trying their beers and the pizza that kept coming out of the newly-installed wood-fired oven.