At our April meeting we had TEN members present and one guest, Jeff. The topic that took up must of the time was the up and coming Big Brew it will be held on May 5, 2007 at 09:00am at the Hickey Family Brewing and Meadery. The ingredients are all ordered and some have arrived. My wife is so happy to have all those sacks of grain in the living room.

We will need brewing equipment to accomplish this and Russell, Bob and Scott have volunteered to bring theirs. Anybody else that would like to bring their equipment can do so.

OK HERE IS THE BIG ONE. Bring beer to drink. Last year we had a very bad showing of beers to taste. All who attend bring beer. I was the only one with a keg last year, come on you all have beer bring it.

Everybody is asked to bring a cover dish so we can have a great lunch. In this department we do really well so remember bring food and BEER. Their will be two grills for your use

Bring chairs and any type of shade you may have, Peter is bringing a tarp. It will be a warm one so says the weather people. As always bring extra ice, beer is better when cold.

NEXT remember the spirit of the Big Brew, to gather brewers and non-brewers for a brew session, food and fun. If you know anybody interested in brewing bring them. And must important let's have fun.

We also discussed our web site and registering a new domain name. Eric is working on this and will keep us up to date. The member's choice is "Miami-Homebrew.org" if it is available.

Remember MASH has a library of brewing books and magazines that you can check out. Check the list on our website and contact Librarian Meridith Everett with your request.

April's BOTY style was Extract beer. We had seven entries that covered six different styles. There was Pepper Porter, Honey Porter, Barleywine, Buckwheat Honey Imperial Stout, Imperial Stout, Double Hefe Weizen and a Belgian Rum Raisin. Drum roll please. In third place with a Honey Porter was Jeff. In second place was "I'm sure Scott has one" Belgian Rum Raisin by Denise and Scott. First place went to Russell for his Double Hefe Weizin. A great job was done by all the brewers that entered. There was not one that I would not finish a full glass of.

This month's style is India Pale Ale Category 14. I know it is a favorite style of many of us and I am looking forward to trying the entries.

See you all soon and keep brewing.

Let's brew togeather, Darryl Hickey