Wasn’t that a party!! If we ever needed proof that Edmonton Homebrewers Guild members know how to throw a great party then our December meeting should have done the trick. A great turnout with the room feeling comfortably full, a great spread of food, and of course who could forget the awesome executive brewed Belgian Strong Ale. The keg was pretty light when I loaded it into my car for the trip home and considering that the beer was pushing 10% it was pretty clear that people had a good time. Such a good time in fact that there was no incentive to taste any of the other Belgian beers that members had brought, so we will do them in conjunction with the Stouts and Porters in January.

I hope that we can carry on with putting on a good show because we are going to need it. The long anticipated conference that we have talked about for years is finally going to happen. No doubts…. It’s a go. And it’s happening in your hometown on the weekend of June 5th. Boyd has booked the hall, we have a keynote speaker lined up, two of the four teaching sessions have been set and we have spread the word to brew clubs across western Canada that we are hosting the event. There’s no backing down now… at least not without a total loss of face and that’s not going to happen. We’ve had a great response from other clubs, most notably Regina and so now it’s time to start bearing down and doing the nitty gritty planning. We are going to need all members to pitch in and help pull this one off. Conference co- chairs Neil Herbst and Kevin Zaychuk will be giving you regular updates and will be press-ganging you into helping on various organizational committees. It’s a honour for Edmonton to be the first western club of the new Confederation of Western Brew Clubs to host what we hope will be an annual conference that will rotate between western clubs. You’ll find start up information on the conference inside this newsletter.

It’s nice to get mail and a sure sign of success is when unsolicited mail asking for help, starts arriving in your mailbox. In addition to a flurry of emails from new members I’ve been getting email from brewers in B.C. and other parts of the country. Most of these people have found us through our web page, with many commenting on the fact that we’ve got the best web site in Canada. So everybody should take a moment and thank our web administrator, Jim Whittome for putting up the site. It’s attracted members to the club and helped establish our presence at the national level.

Jim’s work is just another example of a dedicated EHG member serving the homebrew community. The Edmonton Homebrewers Guild is without a doubt one of the most influential clubs in western Canada, which in effect puts us at the top of the six-pack in Canada. We may not be the biggest, or score the most points in competitions, but our members have always been the leaders when it comes to quality brewing and pushing the boundaries of what defines an excellent brew club in the Canadian homebrewing scene.

As this year draws to a close we should all take a moment to reflect on what a great club we are, and give thanks to the dedicated team of people that make us more than just a brew club- for we truly are a GUILD, a group of craftsmen striving for excellence in our chosen hobby and endeavour. I wish all members well and hope you all excel in this craft in the year ahead.