December 2025 Meeting Minutes

Ben Farhner

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December 18, 2025

Fossil Cove Brewery, Fayetteville, AR

  • Attendance: 13
  • Homebrews: 20

Kevin Elsken started the meeting at 7:13 PM with a toast.

Last Month

  • Brewer of the Month: Randy Germann
  • Beer of the Month: Ty Weston’s Doppelbock
  • Ass of the Month: Kevin Elsken

The club recognized Ben Mills of Fossil Cove Brewery for his support of the club over the years and presented him with a gift and an honorary lifetime membership to the club.

Old Business

Iron Brewer Competition

  • Q4 2025: Belgian Dark Strong (26D), due January 15, 2026 at FLOPS
  • Q1 2026: Vienna Lager (7A), due April 16, 2026 at FLOPS
  • Q2 2026: Irish Red (15A), due July 7, 2026 at OZ
  • Q3 2026: Rauchbier (6B), due October 15, 2026 at FLOPS

Christmas Party

  • Recap of the Christmas party on Sunday, December 7 at The Fermentary
    • A good time was had by all who attended.
    • Randy Germann won the winter warmer competition.
    • Patrick Bohannan can sing!

2026 Officers

  • All officers for 2026 are either incumbent or uncontested nominees, so no vote was taken. The officers for 2026 are as follows:
    • President: David Johnson
    • Vice President: Ty Weston
    • Treasurer: Chris Abel (incumbent)
    • Secretary: Ben Farhner (incumbent)
    • Social Media Chair: Alex Smith
    • Hop Scheduler: James Harvey (incumbent)
    • Mug Watcher: Keith Linn (incumbent)

Website

  • The club would like to do a training session on using the updated website for all the officers in the new year, to be led by Greg Newman.

Barrel Project

  • The latest exchange took place on December 6, 2025 at Doc Farmer’s house and was a success.

Beers were introduced and an intermission taken to sample the beers.

New Business

Frost Fest

  • The club received an official invite to participate in 2026
    • 4 passes are available for the club tent
      • Ty Weston, Alex Smith, Kevin Elsken, Randy Germann, David Johnson, Ben Farhner, and Ric Bailey all expressed interest in participating or providing beer. Randy and David both offered to participate through OZ to free up spots.
      • Kevin Elsken proposed using BOTY points to determine who gets to participate. No consensus on this approach.
    • The club wants to invite CAF to participate as well. Someone will reach out to CAF to see if they’re interested, and also follow up with Ben Mills to see if they can have a tent.

Hop Schedule

  • James Harvey shared that there is exactly one (1) competition on AHA for January, and it’s in Italy. Nothing else on the radar at this time.
  • It’s time to start preparing for Blue Bonnet
    • This is the 40th year!
    • Entries are open January 3rd–24th
    • Judging is February 6th–28th
    • Nobody is currently planning to go down during entry window
  • James Harvey shared a flyer for the Belgium beer tour he’s planning for June 2026

Money

  • Chris Abel shared that the club is still solvent.

Social

  • Wednesday, December 31st at 2pm at Crisis Brewing: “New Year’s for Old People”

No education segment this month.

Brewer of the Month

  1. Ben Farhner
  2. Tom Maddock
  3. Ric Bailey

Beer of the Month

  • Tom Maddock’s Chocolate Stout

Ass of the Month

  • Keith Linn for not showing up despite being in town

Meeting concluded at 8:47 PM.

Ben Farhner