We Brew Beer

The PDX Home Brewers Club of Beaverton, Oregon got its start in an interesting place: a garage sale. PDX club member Mark Mott tells us, “Jim [Davis] was having a sale at his house and thought he would brew up a few batches to pass the day. Jason Simpson who lived a few blocks away walked up to the sale and smelled the air—’I know that smell.’ [They] started talking and the rest is history.”

Jim and Jason founded the club in November of 2003 and have seen its membership grow to 40 members this year. People find about PDX from various methods, including fliers at homebrew stores, cards posted on store tack boards, the PDX website, and good old word of mouth. Although the club is located in Beaverton, members come from all over northern Oregon and southern Washington.

Mark tells us that one thing that distinguishes PDX is that “each of our members is a brewer, not all beer clubs have that. That way we can focus on brewing and education, not just drinking beer.” Indeed about 70% of activities at PDX are education and 30% social. “We lean heavily on learning and helping each other make better beer. When we get a new brewer members will volunteer to show that person the ropes, lend out equipment, etc. But at the same time the club is about fun too. We want everyone to have a good time because that is important to us all. It is a good mix of learning and fun.”

This commitment to education can be seen in how the club spends time at a typical monthly meeting. After getting club business out of the way, “there is usually an hour block of time dedicated to learning. We have done classes on cleaning and sanitation, building a stirplate, mead and how to make it, guest speakers from Rob Widmer, Lisa Morrision and Fred Eckart. We are planning some classes on how to harvest yeast from a bottle of commercial beer and how to use ProMash.” After a break to let the members mingle, the club has “a tasting period where we taste commercial and homebrewed examples of the style of the month. The style of the month is determined at the beginning of the year so members can try and coincide their brews with the month and bring in their examples. The tastings are to educate the club on different styles of beer, what they should taste like, where they are from, how they are made, etc.”

Anyone interested in learning more about the PDX Home Brewers Club or becoming a member can visit their website at www.pdxbrewers.com. The website includes a forum and calendar. Members of the club keep in touch using E-Chat, an email-based chat room.

Mark adds, “We are always looking for ways to improve the club. Changes happen quite frequently. It really is a member driven club…Please join up and see what you have been missing!”