Hi SODZ members,

This month's meeting was hosted virtually due to several unforeseen events, the Ohio Brewer's conference in Cincinnati caused a lot of breweries to head down south to attend leaving us without many suitable spots for us to meet at. On top of that with the rising cases of covid it was decided to go virtual. We had discussed keeping virtual alive for some of our meetings as some members prefer virtual to in-person and we will continue to try and keep sprinkling them in here and there.

During the meeting, we had Greg discuss how he decided on a brewery school, and how his time at Brewlab in Sunderland, England went this past October. Greg talked about what the classes consisted of, what he learned, brewed and the connections he made along the way. If anyone is considering going to brew school and would like to talk to him about his experience, please feel free to message me :) After the presentation, we discussed the 2021 BJCP styles and what that means for the year ahead as we begin brewing for British Beer Fest, Homebrew Con in Pittsburgh, etc.

Speaking of Hombrew Con, it's in Pittsburgh during June 23-25, and we are looking at getting our members out there, setting up a booth, and hopefully many of us will register for the competition. More information will be coming on what to expect/prepare.

Our February meeting will be hosted at Barley's, we will be doing a double club competition: January's Beermaggedon, and February's British Invasion. So please bring your January Beers if you brewed any.

April 9th we will be hosting our British Beer Fest at Olentangy River Brewing Company. Registration can be found at https://bbf.sodz.org The Lucci Cup this year will be 17A: British Strong Ale

Stay warm and safe out there.

Best, Greg

Earlier this week, SODZ members were fortunate to be able to pick back up our annual tradition of meeting in-person at Lineage Brewing for our club Christmas party.

Thanks again to Lineage’s Mike Byrne, SODZ member and former club officer, for graciously hosting us! We had around 40 in attendance, with a mix of veteran and newer members and ‘plus ones’. The club provided Chipotle catering and members brought a variety of tasty desserts and sides to share. Merriment was had by all!

Becky Curran once again did an excellent job as the ‘Dirty Elephant’ bottle exchange emcee – lots of large-format awesome beer was circled about.

Congratulations to the winners of the December club competition, who entered the following, delicious holiday-themed beers: First place, Seth Bland, Cookie Brown Ale Second place, Jim Sudduth, Spiced Milk Stout Third place, Mitch McGreal, Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Ale

Winners of the monthly SODZ club competitions are entitled to a $25 gift card to a LHBS of their choice. We’ve missed handing these out for the last few meetings, so please email President@SODZ.org if you’re owed a gift card – specify your shop of preference and we’ll get you squared away. Many thanks to Gautam Bagchi who has run the SODZ club competitions for a long time and is now passing the torch to Dave Curran, who has volunteered to step up as the new coordinator of the monthly club competitions.

Future event announcements, plus a few extra details that have developed in the meantime: British Beer Fest, SODZ BJCP competition (and long-time tradition), will return on April 9, 2022, and will be held in a new location at Olentangy River Brewing Co. in Lewis Center. This competition focuses on classic beer styles historically originating from the British Isles. More details to come, but start dusting off your recipe notebooks now!

January SODZ meeting, 1/17 at 7PM, Virtual Zoom Meeting. Details on how to join will be sent to members emails.

February SODZ meeting, 2/21 at 7PM, Barley’s Brewing Company in the Short North. SODZ will be back at our longtime favorite brewpub in town, catching up with Angelo in The Underground. Show up a bit early to snag some dinner and don’t skip their delicious wings. Metered parking should be free on account of the holiday.