News

Once all the entries have been judged and all the scores have been tabulated, it's time for us to gather for a chance to honor the best beers, enjoy each other's company, and of course: finish all that left-over beer. It's also a great opportunity for you to pick up your score sheets just 24 hours after we wrap up the competition.

Post-Competition Banquet

• Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery (map)
• Sunday, May 19 @ 4:00pm
• Tickets can be purchased for $35 here.

Additional Details

• Pick up your competition score sheets.
• Dinner includes salad and a chose of entree from a subset of Rock Bottom's menu.
• Sample all the left-over 2nd bottles.

Buy Tickets Now!

• http://anyvite.com/ptu0m6ou0u

Whether you entered the competition or not, you're more than welcome to join us for the event. Tickets include a side salad plus a choice of entree from a subset of Rock Bottom's menu. You also get a chance to try all those 2nd and 3rd place beers that didn't advance to the best of show round. If you're looking to have a full pint of something, you can also buy a beer from Rock Bottom.

We'll be in the Sing-Sing side of the restaurant, so there will be plenty of space to bring along your friends and show off what the homebrew community is all about.

Thank you to everyone who has entered our 23rd annual competition. We have met our entry limit for this year. Please make sure to drop off your bottles by the end of business tomorrow at any of our acceptable drop off locations. You can view our drop off locations below, we look forward to judging your brews on May 18th!

South Hills Brewing Supply
2212 Noblestown Road
Greentree, PA 15205
412.937.0773 / web

South Hills Brewing Supply
2526 Mosside Blvd (Rt. 48)
Monroeville, PA 15146
412.372.8119 / web

Country Wines
3333 Babcock Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
412.366.0151 / web

Ruffled Wine & Brewing Supplies
616 Allegheny River Blvd.
Oakmont PA, 15139
412.828.7412 / web

Porter House Brew Shop
1284 Perry Hwy
Portersville, PA 16051
724.368.9771 / web
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The club has been invited once again to participate in the annual Sharp Edge Beer Fest. The event is scheduled to take place the same weekend as the National Homebrew Conference in Philadelphia, so we're looking to see if there is enough interest from people who won't be able to make it out to Philly.

Some Details

• The Great European Beer Fest (details)
• Sharp Edge Beer Emporium (directions)
• June 29 & 30, 2013 (Saturday and Sunday)
• Contact Bill Caraway to participate.

Available Sessions

• Saturday, June 29 from 3:00-6:00pm
• Saturday, June 29 from 7:00-10:00pm
• Sunday, June 30 from 2:00-5:00pm

If you serve your beer at one of the sessions, you get tickets for you and a guest to attend some other session. Also keep in mind that the Sharp Edge encourages brewers to bring European beer styles. That's not a strict requirement, but it's something to aim for.

In addition to featuring beer from some local homebrewers throughout craft beer week, Bocktown is giving the club an opportunity to promote homebrew at the Robinson on the final Saturday afternoon of craft beer week. We'll be handing out homebrew samples and passing out TRASH postcards with information on what we're all about.

Event Details

• Homebrew Showcase at Bocktown (details)
• Bocktown Robsinson (map)
• Saturday, April 27 @ 1:00pm
• Contact Mike Beattie to participate.

This is another great opportunity introduce a wider audience to homebrew. If you're interested in bringing a keg or otherwise helping out, we'd love to hear from you. Even if you can't make it, you can help us spread the word and get some beer enthusiasts to stop by!

Rivertowne's new production brewery is hosting the first ever PCBW Pro-Am Rendezvous. They're planning for an beer fest featuring both homebrew and commercial beer. TRASH members are invited to bring a keg of homebrew and serve samples to event participants. The best beer of the night, as voted by the combined votes of homebrewers and commercial brewers will be brewed commercially at the Rivertowne Pour House in Monroeville. With only a handful of homebrewers currently signed up, there's a pretty good chance that any given homebrewer could bring the winning beer.

Event Details

• PCBW Pro-Am Rendezvous (details)
• Wednesday, April 24 @ 6:00pm
• Rivertowne Brewing Company (map)
• Contact Mike Beattie if you want to participate. (no need to buy a ticket)

Beer Details

• We need to tell Rivertowne which beer we're bringing by 4/19.
• Rivertowne will supply ice, but we need to supply CO2 and serving hardware.
• Feel free to invite your friends! Participants can bring a few guests each.

The event has a max capacity of 20 homebrewers, so be sure to let me know if you plan on bringing a keg.

As part of Pittsburgh Craft Beer Week, the club is sponsoring a homebrew demo at Soergel Orchards in Wexford, PA. We're targeting anyone in the community who is interested in homebrew but doesn't know where to start. In addition to brewing a relatively simple extract batch, we'll be serving samples of the finished product, and talking through each of the steps in the brewing process.

The Details

• Soergel Orchards in Wexford (map)
• Tuesday, April 23 @ 6:30pm
• Have your friends sign up today!

If you want to come along and represent the club, contact Mike Beattie. If you have friends who might be interested in learning to brew, you can direct them at the event page we're using to track RSVPs.

Registration for the 23rd Annual TRASH Homebrew Competition ("TRASH 23") is now open!

As of sometime Sunday night, we have been accepting brewer registrations and homebrew entries. For the second year in a row, both judging and the subsequent banquet will be held over the course of a single weekend at Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery (Pittsburgh location). The date is a little later than previous years (May 18), but we think that provides some comfortable distance between our competition, NHC first round, and Pittsburgh's Craft Beer Week (PCBW).

TRASH 23 Details

• Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery (map)
• Banquet: May 19, 2013 (event starts at 4:00pm)
• Judging: May 18, 2013 (judging starts at 9:00am)
• Entry Deadline: May 4, 2013

This year's awards include two different opportunities to see your beer scaled up to a commercial scale. East End Brewing Co. is sponsoring the East End Sessionable Award for the most highly ranked beer under 4.5% ABV. Rock Bottom is sponsoring a similar prize for the best of show beer (give or take a few minor restrictions). We're also rounding up a long list of sponsors looking to contribute prizes for flight winners.

Next Steps

• Competition Overview — A quick summary to get you started.
• Competition Details — Complete details, including rules and drop-off locations.
• Brewer Registration — Each brewer must register once.
• Bottle Entry — Fill out a separate bottle registration form for each entry.
• Volunteer Registration — Volunteer as a judge or steward.

We're capping entries at 500, so be sure to register soon!

As announced at our last club meeting, it is once again time for our annual holiday party. This is a great opportunity for long-time members, newer members, and everyone in between to share an evening of good beer and German food from Penn Brewery. As with all of our events club members are welcome and encouraged to bring along reasonable number of guests.

If you plan on attending, you must either pre-register or purchase tickets prior to November 26 so that we have an accurate head count for Penn Brewery. The link above will take you to a page where you can choose either option. All members who pre-register will be expected to pay full ticket price at the door. Members and guests who do not register ahead of time will be charged an additional $5 up-charge at the door.

Christmas time is right around the corner and so are the TRASH Christmas variety cases of beer! For those of you who are unfamiliar with this very popular tradition, each year the club buys 12 different cases of Christmas beers, then makes 12 variety cases. Each case contains 2 bottles of every beer.

The first 12 members to email their requests will be on the list to purchase a variety case.Cases must be sold in multiplies of 12. Last year we sold 24 cases. The price range will be between $50.00 and $60.00.

If you would like to participate, please do so by emailing your name, phone number, number of cases requested, and any special beer you would to see in the case to Don Tomino at pamtomino@aol.com .

In the past few years, the cases have gone very fast!

Don't wait...order now!

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

TRASH members..Please come to July 21 meeting - 3:00 gathering time. Here is the address for Chris Meta our gracious host..

Chris Meta
1501 Oakwood Dr
Pittsburgh, PA 15234

As I'm sure most of you have already heard, plans for Pittsburgh's first ever Craft Beer Week have been in the works for the past several months. Beer week events are currently taking place all over the city, and a number of local bars are even carrying one or more of the three collaborative brews prepared by local brewers to celebrate the week of events. The fun lasts through Saturday, April 28, so be sure to head out and support the local beer community before the week ends.

In particular, there are a few events related to the club, so I'll spend some time pointing out opportunities to support homebrew in the area.

Tuesday, 4/24: Homebrew Tasting at Bocktown (free!)

Bocktown Beer and Grill is sponsoring a homebrew tasting an process overview at the Bocktown location in Monaca. Bocktown has contacted some of the brewers who submitted ranking entries in this year's homebrew competition and given those brewers an opportunity to brew another batch and pass out samples. In addition to being featured on Tuesday's tasting event, each location will be carrying a different keg of homebrew each day and passing out free samples to customers.

Wednesday, 4/25: East End Session Ale Tapping (free!)

East End is hosting a tapping party for their rendition of the Cream Ale that won this year's East End Session Ale award. This is a great opportunity to meet the award-winning homebrewer (Brody Nasse), sample the winning beer, and show support for the club's annual competition. You'll even have a chance to buy one of the first growler fills of a tasty session ale.

Thursday, 4/26: PGHTEE w/ Commonwealth Press (free!)

The Commonwealth Press is organizing a t-shirt-centered art show and mini beer fest at their warehouse in the South Side. They'll be using their warehouse space to show off a wide range of designs and serve samples from a number of craft brewers (through a local distributor) -- including some homebrew from a few different members of TRUB.

All week long: Events All Over

Looking for more events? There are plenty of other things going on over the course of the week. Stop by the calendar of events on the PCBW site to find a full list, and you'll be sure to find a few opportunities for good beer and a good fun on just about every night of the week.

If you haven't paid yet, now is the time!

To continue to be an active TRASH member please remember to pay your dues to Treasurer,John Rozborski. Dues this year are $15.00 for singles, $25.00 for couples. You can either pay at one of the meetings or by sending a check (payable to the 'John Rozborski Retirement Fund') to :

John Rozborski
8490 Remington Dr.
Pittsburgh, PA 15237

Don't forget, dues were needed by March 31, 2012 to continue active status in the club.
Don’t delay.
Send in your dues today!!

Announcing a new TRASH 22 award, TRASH participation In the AHA Club Only Competition series and information about the First round of Nationals.

The officers of TRASH have decided that we should participate as a club in the AHA Club Only Competition series. (COC)

From the AHA website:

"Think your homebrew club makes some pretty good beer? Have you ever wondered how it stacks up against other clubs’ beer?

The Club-Only Competition (COC) program offers AHA-registered homebrew clubs an opportunity to compete with other AHA-registered homebrew clubs. Each competition concentrates attention on a specific style of beer or mead, giving your club the opportunity to educate club members in these styles by focusing on them at club meetings or tasting events.

interested?  read on . ..

First, if you haven't signed up and dropped off your bottles, it's time to get moving. The deadline is a week away.

TRASH 22 Homebrew Competition
http://www.trashhomebrewers.org/competition

Second, I'm sure many of you remember the post-competition awards banquet from last year. For the first time ever, that event gave you a chance to pick up completed score sheets and prizes less than 24 hours after the competition — we even threw in a chance to sample from among the unopened entries and a couple of kegs from our members. As you might have guessed, the event was a tremendous success.

This year, we're pushing that model even further. In addition to early score sheet access and homebrew samples, we're adding live music and inviting the the general public. For $25, you get early access to the competition results and prizes, dinner from Rock Bottom, a commemorative sampling glass, homebrew samples, live music, and a chance to hang out with the core of Pittsburgh's homebrew community. Whether you show up in time to hear the results or roll in just in time for dinner, you're sure to have a good time. Either way, you can buy tickets here!

TRASH 22 is just around the corner!

The TRASH 22 Homebrew, Cider, and Mead competition has been scheduled, and it's already quickly approaching. This year's event will take place on March 10th with the post-competition banquet the following day. Based on the recent growth in the number of entries, we have decided to move both events to a larger venue: the Rock Bottom Brewery in the Waterfront shopping area. That relatively early date means the deadline for entries is Saturday, February 25th! If you were planning on brewing any more entries, then you better get on it.

For anyone who hasn't participated in a competition in the past, the club's competition is a great opportunity to give it a try. In exchange for a few dollars and two bottles of homebrew, you get detailed feedback from experienced judges. Entries that score particularly well even have a chance to take home prizes and medals for their achievement. The very best entries even have chance to have their beer brewed by a local brewer!

For complete details, stop by the competition web site: http://trashhomebrewers.org/competition