Promise. Hope. Celebration. Freedom. Resilience. Reignite. Reunion. Thirsty.
These are the words that came to mind as the MASH Board shared hopes for the year ahead at our kickoff meeting last week.
2020 was a year for which we couldn’t have planned yet it turned out to be one of our busiest yet. As COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out, we have reason to believe this year will be better than the last.
As we look forward to coming together to clink glasses and return to in-person meetings, or at least an event, there’s already plenty on our agenda for the new year.
Membership Drive and Board Elections
Our 2021 Membership Drive is open. I invite MASH members to re-up their commitment to the community by renewing their membership. AHA members can send friends and family payments of $25 to MASH’s Paypal at mashnewjersey@gmail.com or Venmo Board Treasurer Micha Stark @mstark1. The membership fee is $30 for those who are not AHA members. Stay tuned for our 2021 membership glass and other membership perks.
The 2021 Board Elections will be held at our monthly meeting in February. Anyone interested in joining the MASH Board must send a statement of interest paragraph to mashnewjersey@gmail.com by end of day Feb. 9. The statement of interest may include a short bio, your homebrewing history, and why you are interested in joining the board. All MASH’s seven seats are open, and at least one board member will not be seeking re-election. Board members attend a monthly meeting to coordinate our meetings and events and brainstorm ideas to make MASH the community that it is! Help be part of the team to plan and celebrate!
Reach any board member via email or Slack or ask a question in the #general channel on Slack.
Upcoming Meetings
Our next monthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 19 will feature BSG CraftBrewing’s Mike Brennan, homebrewer of 25 years, BJCP National judge, and AHA Committee member, who will share his insights on the state of homebrewing and touch on his knowledge of hop terpenes and biotransformation. Join via Google Meet on our calendar or click here.
The following week, at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 28, our sensory analysis tasting meeting will feature non-alcoholic beers, including Hoppy Refresher, IPNA, and Lagunitas IPA (for calibration!). Join via Google Meet on our calendar or click here. Check our #meetings Slack channel to join the conversation!
Sign up here so we can help coordinate distribution of the beers!
Coming up: We’re also working to bring to life a beer trivia meeting, to hear from Bull N’ Bear’s Will Dodge, to revive MASH Club Only Competitions — our April meeting the style will be Saisons — as well as MASH Labs (let us know in Slack if you have an idea you’d like to make happen!) and continuing our barrel project.
There is so much more in store that we can’t wait to share with you.
I hope to see you in January to kick off the year.
A friendly PSA from Ned: Don’t forget to register for your COVID-19 vaccine on the state’s online portal.