It’s May everyone!!! Summer is almost here, grab a cold beer and read on….
First it is with great sadness that we must share the unexpected passing of George Folmar this week. George was one of the brewers at Bugnutty, a big funny guy with a kind soul and he will be greatly missed by all! George died peacefully in his sleep at home. He is survived by his wife, Debbie and furbaby, Renfield. Bugnutty will be organizing an event to celebrate Georges life soon, we will update everyone when more information is known. Rest in peace George. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this very sad time.
Things that just happened:
April happy hour at Broken Barrel was fun!!!
Spring party was a wondrous and festive occasion!!! The Wormes were amazing hosts as always and everyone really brought it when it came to wings, sides, desserts and really high abv beers!!! Pretty sure everyone had at least 3 meals during this party!! No one leaves hungry!! Congratulations to Sean Gregg on his wing win!!! Irish Spring winners were also announced and are as follows: 1st place to Ryan Robinson for his amazing Stout!! 2nd place to Paul Brabson for his Irish Red and 3rd place to me (Claire Caruana) for my Irish Red – yay me!! Thanks to everyone who came out and participated in this fabulous event!!!
Happy hour at Hidden Level was a good time!!!! Cousins Maine Lobster roll food truck was serving awesome food and trivia was not lost by either of our teams!! We didn’t win but we didn’t lose!!!
Tapping party at Bugnutty had a great turnout and Peachin Ain’t Easy was very well received!! Thanks to everyone for showing up and a special thanks to Anne for the accompanying peach cobbler, it made for an awesome pairing with Sean’s beer!!
Everyone please PAY YOUR DUES FOR 2025!!! Dues allow us to continue to organize these fun events and support the local craft brew and home brew community. Along with this, paid members also receive discounts on entry to home brew competitions and other events!!! Pay your dues here: https://www.saaz.org/cms/join-saaz/pay-dues/
Things that are about to happen
5/31 BOTTOMS UP BEER RUN!!!! It is a German beer theme so it’s a great excuse to bust out your lederhosen or other German/Octoberfest themed garb. This is for St. Baldricks and we really want to be able to continue to offer them support so we need everyone’s help in any way you can!!
This is crunch time everyone, we are a little behind in our registrations as compared with last year so every one dig deep and promote this run!!! Share the event on socials, put up flyers, chat with people. Talk up the race, it’s a very simple easy 4k, with a half pour of beer at the end of each km and a full pour at the end of the race. The beer styles have been brewed and are as follows: Witbier, Fest bier, American Pale and Kolsch!!!! There will also be a cider for the end of race drink if desired. Raffles, games and prizes will be had by all!! Post race party at Dirty Oar!! Let’s build up those registration numbers and show some love for BUBR and St. Baldricks. We are hoping to get at least one SAAZ member at each run club night at the local breweries over the next 2 weeks to make sure all the local runners are signed up. We still have some posters and postcards if you need them please let Anne know.
SAAZ members, we need many volunteers to help pour beers and direct runners along the course. Please join us on race day if you can, this is a really fun event and there will be lots of beer!!
If you cannot help race day there are other ways you can chip in, Anne needs volunteers to help out ahead of time with picking up swag the week before and getting race packets to the runners at Running zone on the Friday before, May 30. Contact Anne if you can help.
Race day is Saturday 5/31 Volunteers please join us at 3pm at Wickham Park (2500 Parkway Dr, Melbourne, FL 32935) , Pavilion #1 – By front entrance off of Parkway Dr.
We will have lunch catered by Broken Barrel and then we will set up to ensure all the race stations are ready to pour , the pavilion is set up for the prizes, games, raffles and post race drinking. Race starts at 6pm so we should have enough time to get everything prepped but we really need everyone’s help to make the day as smooth as possible. This is our May club event so we truly hope to see you all there!!
6/12 Happy hour at Brix 6pm
6/22 June SAAZ meeting at Bugnutty!!! 2pm, education topic will be on bottling beers for competition success!!
7/19 2pm Summer party at Don and Donna Deis neighborhood clubhouse, Capron Ridge Clubhouse 1187 Ballinton Dr Melbourne. Bring you bathing suits, beers and a dish to share. This is a great party at which there will be raffles and prizes. Come join us!!!
8/2025 Commander SAAZ
We are coming up on that time again – CSAAZ. August is creeping up slowly, it is time now to start thinking about brewing an award winning adult beverage. Let’s bring home our bling!
We have plenty of 6-pack holders. We could always use more case boxes. Save them over the coming months. You can always store them with the Commander, Greg Bessette.
Here are some of the key points and dates:
Competition max of 350 entries. Max of three entries per contestant, 3 bottles per entry. One of these can count towards Rocket Fuel. We will follow the 2021 Beer, 2015 Mead,and 2025 Cider Guidelines.
Registration window: June 16 – July 23
Delivery window: July 9 – July 23
Judge and volunteer registration: June 16 – August 16
Sorting and flighting: July 25 or July 26 (Friday or Saturday, date T.B.D.)
Initial judging session (and pickup for remote judging): July 27 (Sunday following sorting) – location TBD
First formal judging weekend: August 2 and 3 at Hell ‘n Blazes Brewing Company
Second formal judging weekend: August 9 and 10 at Beachfly Brewing Company
Best Of Show likely early afternoon August 16th, time and place T.B.D. (We reserve the right to move the BOS to August 10th in the unlikely event that we are running well ahead of schedule. Again, I stress the unlikely part. The SAAZ website will contain the latest updates (https://www.saaz.org/cms/).)
Awards ceremony, AKA Beer Prom: August 16 at Bugnutty Brewing Company!!!! Dinner tickets will include 4 beers and a fabulous BBQ themed meal!! Tickets will be sold during judging weekends and at BUBR and other upcoming events. Bugnutty is closing their entire business on a Saturday night for us so please buy dinner tickets, beers and tip your servers. We are getting an amazing venue, dinner and a huge discount on beers!!!! Buy tickets for dinner and enjoy the awards ceremony with a full belly and many beers!!
9/21 September meeting at Intracoastal!!
Upcoming competitions:
Hurricane Blowoff SAAZ winners: Greg Bessette took 3rd for his Weissbier (category 10A) and Jon Nowlin medaled 1st (15c) and 3rd (15D) with his Stout
Hogtown Brew-Off 2025 – 05/24/2025 Entries have been delivered!!! Good luck to all who entered!!!
Hot’N Humid 2025 – 06/28/2025 Competition is full!!! Club will be delivering entries soon
First Coast Cup 2025 – 07/26/2025 Entry Window: 06/09 – 07/03, Delivery Window: 06/19 – 07/03
Commander SAAZ 2025 – 08/16/2025 Entry Window: 06/16 – 07/23, Delivery Window: 07/09 – 07/23
Sunshine Challenge 2025 – 10/05/2025 Entry Window: 08/16 – 09/06, Delivery Window: 08/16 – 09/06
Best Florida Beer 2025 – 10/25/2025 Entry Window: 9/26-10/03
Upcoming Brewfests:
October 25th 2025 Space Coast Brewfest in Titusville, SAAZ will be brewing and pouring for this event, plan your brews now!!! There will also be a special competition held the night before at the brewers party!!Each brewclub will be pouring an exclusive beer that we will be serving the the VIP tent. The brewers attending the preparty the night before will vote a favorite beer and the VIP attendees will also vote a favorite with an exciting prize in store that any brewer will absolutely love!!! More info soon.
November Rocky Water Brewfest (Melbourne)
February 7th 2025 Cocoa Village Brewers Bash
See you all soon!!!!