October 2025 Meeting Minutes

Ben Farhner

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October 16, 2025

Fossil Cove Brewery, Fayetteville, AR

  • Attendance: 13
  • Homebrews: 19

Kevin Elsken started the meeting at 7:06 PM with a toast by Keith Linn.

Last Month

  • Brewer of the Month: Ben Farhner
  • Beer of the Month: Ben Farhner’s cream ale with mulberries & Ken Gill’s Belgian tripel (tie)
  • Ass of the Month: Kevin Elsken

Guests

  • Michael, just here for a vibe check

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

Old Business

Barrel Project Update

  • Doc Farmer described the barrel project and its history.
  • The next swap is on December 6. Doc wants to pull no more than 20 gal, and will send out an email with the recipe and more information to coordinate who is going to contribute and pull.

Big Blimp Barleywine Release

  • Saturday, November 1 at 11 AM–3 PM
  • The club is looking for volunteers to be present from 11 AM to 2–3 PM to sign up people for SMS notifications and give away the Pinter kit.
    • David Johnson and Ty Weston volunteered to be there.

Christmas Party

  • Sunday, December 7 at 2 PM at the Fermentary in Lowell, AR
  • Main dishes will be provided, and there will be a signup for members to bring sides. Members are also welcome to bring beer to share.
  • Members discussed sourcing items and contributing funds for the raffle.
  • There will be a dirty Santa beer exchange with a $15 minimum.
  • Black Howler is hosting a brew-in for brewing a winter warmer for the Christmas Party on either October 25 or November 8. Members who participate can take wort home to ferment. More info will be provided soon.

Subcommittees

  • Website update
    • Kevin Elsken showcased the new website that GiveCamp created for the club.
  • Club awareness
    • Kevin Elsken showed the stickers with a QR code to the website that can be put into the AHA flyers, now that the new website is live.

Iron Brewer Competition

  • Q3 2025: Doppelbock (9A), entries were collected on October 7, 2025 at OZ
  • 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

New Business

Miscellaneous

  • Officer nominations will be due at the November meeting. Kevin Elsken is not planning to continue as club president, so that position at least will be up for nominations.
  • Social event for November
    • A motion was made for Germannfest on November 1 to be the social event; the motion was seconded and approved with a vote.
  • Keith Linn nominated Kevin Elsken, Greg Newman, and Ric Bailey for special recognition for their help over the weekend with GiveCamp to create the new website. The motion was seconded and approved with a vote to award each of them 100 BOTY points.
    • Randy Germann for representing NWA at Little Rocktoberfest

Education

  • Randy Germann gave a presentation on pressure fermentation.

Meeting closed at 8:36 PM, opening up to GODS, the Greater Ozark Drinking Society.

Brewer of the Month

  1. Keith Linn
  2. Randy Germann & Ben Farhner (tie)
  3. —

Beer of the Month

  • Keith Linn’s Doppelbock

Ass of the Month

  • James Harvey & David Johnson (both cheeks)

Meeting concluded at 9:00 PM.

Ben Farhner