[denny]

OUr club has been meeting at our Rogue local, the Eugene City Brewery.  We recently found out that it's illegal to do that (since we bring homebrew), so I'm not sure what we're gonna do.

[tygo]

Continue to break the law and wait for the guys with the billyclubs and paddywagon to show up?

[bonjour]

While that's always an option, I don't like the thought of being he cause of a license loss.

[denny]

While that's always an option, I don't like the thought of being he cause of a license loss.

Exactly.  Rogue in general and the people at ECB specifically have been really nice to us.  I'm not interested in jeopardizing their well being.

[tygo]

Yeah, good point.  I was thinking more from the standpoint that I doubt the law would bother to hassle individuals however the bar could be a different story.

[christo]

Yeah, good point.  I was thinking more from the standpoint that I doubt the law would bother to hassle individuals however the bar could be a different story.

We "almost" caused this ourselves with our local Brew Pub. 

Our laws in GA don't allow beer brought into brew pubs.  We had always brought it in anyway, thumbing our noses at "the Man", but the Man actually started paying attention - to the point they had planned a "raid" during our homebrew competition, which we hurriedly moved to another location.  Our meetings were, I'll have to say, getting out of hand with 50+ people coming and probably 20-25 homebrews to sample, all out in the open.

Since the brewpub was looking at expansion - and was warned by the DOR to "cease and desist allowing contraband beer into his establishment" - he asked us to stop bringing in homebrew.  We sure didn't want him to get into trouble because of us so we've gone to a business meeting at the brewpub with a separate Beer Swap meeting at indivudual's houses.

[mr_jeffers]

The Southern Maine Homebrewer's have run into the same problem.  We used to always hold our meetings in the back room of a better beer bar in the area, with full samples.  Since the beginning of this year we've realized that even though the bar was ok with it, it was against the local liquor laws, and as a club we didn't want to put anyone at risk for losing their license.  We now try to hold meetings at member's houses (typically 10-15 member turnout) as much as possible, but when no one is willing to host we end up at a restaurant with no homebrew samples. 

[theDarkSide]

but when no one is willing to host we end up at a restaurant with no homebrew samples. 

Ouch...Let's hope this doesn't happen too often.

[mr_jeffers]

We've been pretty lucky so far.  Out of the 6 months so far this year, it's only been once.  For that meeting we ended up going down to a local bar for "Brewer's Night" and meeting the brewer/co-founder of Peak Organic Brewing.  It was loud though, which made it really hard to conduct any club business.  Unfortunately no one has volunteered to host next months meeting, but we're covered for August and September.

[Beertracker]

Believe it or not, we meet at a church! Well not exactly, but on church property. It's actually a log cabin used by the youth group & the naturalists for hiking the local trails. We outgrew meeting at members houses years ago, but that may be you best option to start. Good luck finding a home! 

[IHBHS]

Our club (the Mid Columbia Zymurgy Association or MCZA) meets in the brewery at Ice Harbor Brewing Co.  It's a nice atmosphere, being able to hold your HBC meetings in a working brewery.

[bobw]

My club is in the same boat as Denny's club. We are in Grants Pass Oregon and are meeting at Wild River Brewery. They let us bring homebrew for tasting at the meetings. With all the stuff going on right now in Oregon about home brew as President I'm going to disallow all homebrew tasting at meetings. I don't want to get Wild River in trouble with OLCC.. We may need to come up with a temporary fix for now. Maybe weekend tastings at members homes.

Bob

[skyler]

See if you can use some local public school space, maybe a u of o facility or some portion of a community college. Since it is summer, a high school or grammar school might be an option.

[thomasbarnes]

Look for any venue which is willing to host wedding receptions and the like, but which doesn't serve alcohol on site. That means that they've probably got the insurance policy which allows people to bring alcohol on site, but no problems with stupid laws about bringing alcohol into a bar.

Some private clubs, like the Elks or Moose Lodge, might have rooms you can rent which aren't technically part of the members bar. Some churches might also have rooms available.

Once you've got a location you like, do what it takes to get in good with them. Pack out your trash. Clean up your messes. Don't let your members get obnoxious. Do them favors. Try to throw some trade their way.

[LeslieC]

Drib Pro Quo  (DRInkers with Brewing PROblems QUOrum) Clark County Washington.

We meet quarterly, which means seasonally. Our quarterly meetings are in fact a seasonal brew challenge or contest to which the host comes up with prizes and awards for the winner(s). Perimeters of the challenge are set by each host.  Host means that our challenges are usually held in a members home. But not always.

Quarterly meetings means less burnout than monthly. The challenge gives us a method for learning how to brew better. And it's just a whole lot of fun. The quarterly challenge also gives a better focus on all the beers of each season.

Anyway.  My 2 cents.

Les.
DPQ