MBAA District Michigan Minutes

General Meeting Minutes
October 20, 2005
Grand Rapids Brewing Company

Meeting called to order at 12:45PM by Alec Mull, District President

Board members present were: Alec Mull, President, Chad McDaniels, Vice President, Marty Rapnicki, Treasurer, Rex Halfpenny, Secretary, Jan Muuse, BOG, and John Haggerty, Technical Committee Chair. Members present were Larry Bell, Wayne Burns, Beu Fris, Scott Isham, Bret Kuhnhenn, Eric Kuhnhenn, Andy Rathus, Dan Rogers, David Shaw, Sam Sherwood, John Svoboda, and Bill Wamby. Guests Tom Buchanan, Josh Davies, Pete Didricksons, Erik Harms, Kim Kowalski, Bill Swan and technical presenter Kris Berglund.

Alec introduced our Technical presenter, Kris Berglund, University Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University. Berglund’s presentation title was “Fundamentals of Distillation for Artisan Distillers.

Berglund began his Power Point presentation with a short history of the modern distillation industry in Michigan, which began in 1996 when legislation made provisions for a distillation license. Today we have distilleries operating in wineries, breweries, and cider producers. There are 10 operating distilleries in Michigan.

He told the membership that there is a 102-page book available titled “Artisan Distilling” and it is available FREE on the Internet. You can download the 2.5 MB file in PDF at www.aec.msu.edu/product/documents/
ARTISANDISTILLING1.0.01.pdf

The distilling program at MSU is designed to help the little guys. For this audience, they can provide analytical, experimental, and even proprietary work under contract. Berglund stressed that their program cannot be of much help to the big players.

Berglund simplified the distillation process saying it “concentrates alcohol plus aromas and flavors.” This is achieved by finding the equilibrium between liquid and vapor. Then he described the different types of stills and how they work.

You may view a slightly older version of this slide show.

At the conclusion of the presentation lunch was called. GRBC provided a special menu to the members. Regardless of choice (veggie, beef, or chicken), the meal was followed by Chocolate Stout Cake.

At 1:00pm the business part of the general meeting was called to order.

Alec opened the session by saying thanks to all for a wonderful and successful summer social. He especially thanked all the supporting sponsors: Brewers Supply Group, Briess Malting, Capital Draft, Cargill Malt, Enerco, GW Kent, Hopunion, Michigan Beer Guide, Micro Matic, White Labs, Wyeast, and Yakima Chief.

Next came committee reports.

Marty Rapnicki presented the Treasurers Report.
There is $1,137.44 in the checking account
There is $9,264.45 in a CD maturing on June, 29, 2006.

The Summer Social raised $2,690.00
The Summer social cost $3,650.00

We have $1000.00 in pledged sponsor support yet to be collected. F it is all collected, and that is expected, the social effort will net plus $40.00.

A note was made that the district still has a few dozen t-shirts and they are available to the members for $6.00 picked up, or $10.00 USPS delivery.

Rex Halfpenny presented the Secretary and PR report. Minutes and district events are being posted on the districts page of the National MBAA website. The folks at the MBAA are very cooperative and helpful. The districts activities are being reported in all MBAA communications. Rex will be updating the all the district’s page information the next few weeks.

Jan Muuse gave a brief Board of Governors report saying the MBAA suffered a loss of some $68 thousand dollars as a result of the cancellation of the MBAA National Conference scheduled for Mexico City in the wake of 9-11. He also informed the membership that annual dues would be increasing three dollars in 2006. And finally that it was agreed at the National BOG meeting that strict adherence to formal meeting, Robert’s Rules of Order, are not required. (Which is great because we as a district are very lax about such procedures. RH)

All reports were accepted as presented.

Alec then lead a discussion about our next District Summer Social, scheduled for Fitzgerald Park on August 5, 2006. Fitzgerald Park and The Ledges located at 133 Fitzgerald Park Drive in Grand Ledge. The centrally located park is home of The Ledges, 300-million-year-old, 60-foot, majestic sandstone sedimentary rock outcroppings lining the shores of Grand River. The park offers 76-acres with picnicking, fishing, canoeing, recreation game areas, hiking, playground, a fish ladder and a disc golf course.

There is no camping at this park but Karl Glarner is going to try to find private camping nearby.

The event will continue to be held as a closed, members and friends event and not advertised to the general public. Tickets sale for he 2006 picnic will be advanced sales with tickets at the door at a substantially higher cost in an effort to nail down the head count and control costs. Jan Muuse will handle ticket sales.

A call will be made to secure more participation from members to join in the events planning and execution.

It is hopped that everyone will renew membership and that we secure new members and of course sell more tickets to next years social so the district can continue with the tradition of awarding its scholarship for one member to attend the MBAA National Convention.

This year’s recipient, Bill Wamby made a short presentation to the membership about his experience to the Miami conference. Bill said he was honored to win the award and to represent the district. He added that the educational event is very much worth attending. His one suggestion for the National board is to make the conference offer a track more suited to the small brewer. The next National Conference will be in San Francisco. The 2007 conference will be in Memphis. This seems appropriate in light of the fact that 35% of the membership is large brewery related, 25 percent of the membership is craft brewery related. The balance of the membership is vendor related.

The next general meeting will be held in conjunction with the Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Conference at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, January 4-6, 2006.

Alec spent some time supporting the joint sponsorship of the conference. Alec announced that Charlie Papazian will be the keynote speaker and by design should draw homebrewers to the banquet. Ray Daniels is has also been secured by the Guild as a speaker.

The MBAA has secured an impressive list of speakers for the conference:

Jaime Jurado, current president of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas and Director of Brewing Operations at Gambrinus.

Damian McConn who worked at Guinness Brewing GB as research brewer concentrating on yeast, fermentation and post-ferm. areas, then moved to Sherlock’s Home brewpub in Minnetonka MN in 2001. Moved to Summit brewing in St. Paul in 2003 and currently employed as a production and project brewer with emphasis on yeast management and fermentation consistency.

Gary Spedding Ph.D in Biochemistry from England. Joined the Seibel Institute in 1999. Joined Alltech in 2000 and started an Analytical Services Program (Brewers and Distillers) and Microbiological Media Development Program. In 2002, formed Brewing and Distilling Analytical Services, LLC which started full operations in May 2003. Offering full analytical (including Sensory panel) services to brewer’s distillers and enologists.

Dave Radzanowski currently provides consultation for the alcohol production industries through his company called Radzan Associates where he consults on all manners of alcohol production. Also an educator and Administrator at the Seibel Institute of Technology, where he performed at multiple functions including President.

Todd Ashman is the Sales Coordinator/Staff Brewmaster of Brewers Supply Group in their Shakopee, Minnesota office. Formerly the brewer at Titletown Brewing Company of Green Bay, WI, and before that at the Flossmoor Station Brewing Company of Flossmoor, IL. Todd is also one of the original co-organizers of the Festival of Barrel Aged Beer that is held annually in Chicago.

The conference will be a must attend for brewers in and around Michigan. For full details on cost and events, visit www.michiganbrewersguild.org or contact Shan-au-Perkins at 517-327-5004.

Alec concluded by asking for a show of support from attending members and it was unanimous.

Alec then mentioned the American Chemical Society regional meeting is coming to Frankenmuth May 16-20, 2006. They are including tracks on brewing science. The conference will take place ahead of the World Expo of Beer. The keynote presenter will be Charlie Bamforth. Further information can be found at http://www.crm2006.org/.

Under new business the idea of a District lending Library was discussed. The membership seems to approve of the idea but raised several concerns that need to be investigated and reported back to the membership. Scott Isham has volunteered to chair the Library Committee and make a presentation at the next meeting at the Winter Conference.

Bret Kuhnhenn inquired about analytical equipment being made available tot he membership.

The final order of business was to select meeting dates and locations for the remaining 2006 calendar. In addition to the winter meeting January 5, 2006 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids and the summer social August 5, 2006 at Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge, the spring meeting will be at the new Etouffee in Southfield on March 23, 2006. The fall meeting will be October 19, 2006 at the Bell’s plant in Galesburg.

The meeting was adjourned at 5pm and everyone was invited on a field trip to member Bio-Chem Laboratories (www.bio-chem.com), located a couple miles down the road from GRBC. There, members got a full tour of the analytical facility and the equipment used to help various industries including pharmacy, pesticide, evidence, and brewing. Members who brought beer for analysis got to observe their product being tested and see the results.

Respectfully Submitted November 11, 2006 by

Rex Halfpenny
MBAA District Michigan Secretary