Following is the first part of a history of our Club compiled by Jack Jackson.
Forward
After many enjoyable years (beers) had passed (p****d) in the company of fellow brewers in the James River homebrewers it occurred that a good number of original founding club members had gone on to other pursuits. I looked around and realized I was one of the most tenured members of this fine organization but had joined well after it's founding. I had little knowledge of the club's origin. I was concerned that the knowledge of our Club's origin and early history would be lost if it was not soon documented. Our founding secretary, Mark Stansbury, was very astute in compiling an archive that was filled with old Brewsleaders and relevant papers. It is with a fond memory that I look back over many years with the Club and recollect the friendships among all walks of life that are drawn to our homebrew club. Thanks to Jack Jackson for making this club's history not just a thought but a reality.
Rob Pettus
Preface and Acknowledgements
A definition of the word history might be: that branch of knowledge that deals with the aggregate of past events. Wow! That sounds too big to me. To take this literally would mean telling the story of every homebrewer and every brew, every meeting and event etc... since the beginning of our club. Instead I've tried to produce only a running account of the main activities of the James River Homebrewers, in simplified form and in two parts, so that members can trace the sequence of events and personalities that have resulted in what we have today. This is not a history of club brewing or brewing techniques. That would be a fun story too. No, this is mostly about people in the club. I'll bet some of you will spot errors and omissions. Please fill me in so we can amend the story over time and make it more accurate. Thanks to those who helped me out: my wife Dian who doesn't enjoy typing, but will do it anyway. Thanks to the following people who talked to me about Club history: Dan Mouer, Mark Stansbury, Jim Dickerson, Lindsay Weiford, Padge Severin, John Wise, Rob Pettus and Jeff Hewit who sending this to you. Now it's time for a homebrew!
Jack Jackson
The History of the History
In 1998 Jeff Hewit drew up and published a proposed set of by-laws to govern our club. These were accepted in October 1998 by a vote of the membership at the regular meeting. Rob Pettus had suggested in 1997 that the club's history should be maintained by the Member at Large and this duty was written into the by-laws on page 2, section 4, "The Duties of Officers". Unfortunately for Member at Large P. J. McCarthy and his successors, the club's history consisted of a shabby box full of jumbled documents. These included old newsletters, rosters and forms, many of which were undated, as well as lots of correspondence of unknown importance. Later that year enjoying a homebrew at P.J.'s house, we started collating the materials in order that a chronological account of the doings of the James River Homebrewers might be written. When P. J. moved, I got hold of all the stuff, and I've been working on the "Club History" ever since. (Off and on, mostly off.) The following, then, is the long overdue History of The James River Homebrewers.
Club History, Part I, The First 10 Years
It's fun to think of our founders gazing into glasses of great homebrew and thinking, "This brewing thing is cool, let's start a club." But that's jumping ahead a little. An important part of the story is the context of the decision to start a club, the mood of the times, the late 70's-early 80's. This was post-Hippie time and stacks of Mother Earth News were everywhere. People were into making and growing stuff and self-sufficiency was a sought after virtue. To be sure, there had always been home brewing in America, from the ale-loving colonials up to the thirsty victims of prohibition. But the homebrewing surge begun in the late 70's was for a different reason.
In 1979 President Carter signed a bill legalizing the home manufacture of beer for personal use. In England, homebrewing had been legal since 1965, so English books, equipment and ingredients became available to Americans. Beer lovers who had sampled English and Continental Ales and Lagers were becoming bored with the more bland American Light Lager; home brewing was seen as a source for more flavorful beers. So the homebrewers of the early 80's were more about "good beer" than cheap beer. The appeal of home brewing was such that the hobby spread quickly throughout the Country. The American Homebrewers Association was founded in the late 70's and Zymurgy appeared in 1979. People who were brewing at that time have said that they mischievously enjoyed the slightly sinful aspects of making their own libation, the more so since brewing had so recently been against the law. A sense of experimentation and empowerment pervaded the hobby.
In 1999 (wake-up were almost back to the future) the JRH invited Club co-founders Dan Mouser and Mark Stansbury to be our featured speakers at our October meeting and tell us about the beginning of our Club. Dan and Mark were both brewing on their own in the early 80's and the only places in town in late 82 where homebrew ingredients and equipment could be gotten were the Complete Gourmet and the two Bacchas and Beef stores. Dan went into Bacchas and Beef with a notice he'd prepared inviting brewers to get together and found a club. Mark's notice was already posted on the homebrew shelf. The two got together and in February 1983 a meeting was held at Mark's house on Park Ave. in Richmond with 13 persons in attendance.
A newsletter was mailed out and a second meeting was scheduled 7:00 PM, Sunday, March 13, 1983 to be held again at Mark's place. After this, a newsletter calling itself the BrewsLeader was mailed to members of "The James River Homebrewers Club" and I quote the following excerpt: "With the added enthusiasm of five new members, we chose club and newsletter names and discussed membership qualifications, discounts, dues, and future activities." Clearly a beginning had been made.
At the April 1983 meeting, it was decided that, although the Club was to be an open fellowship using consensus decision making, some leadership was needed for maintaining focus and interacting with the rest of the world. A slate of officers were chosen as follows: President; Dan Mouer, Vice President; Martin Van Der Nieuwenhuizen and Secretary/ Treasurer; Mark Stansbury. Dues were set ($15.00 per year at first, then later 12.00 per year). It was agreed that any one drinking irresponsibly or behaving unsafely would be asked not to return. "Bacchas and Beef " offered supply discounts to members and distributed discount cards. Also in that fist year, a social gathering took place and "Club News" was sent to Zymurgy. Zymurgy used to include a club news section in each issue but this has been discontinued.
The Richmond Times Dispatch did a couple of pieces about the Club and home brewing. One article by Jann Malone appeared in the Thursday June 23, 1983 edition and was called: "Good, cheap, beer can be brewed at home". Ms. Malone cited Club members Dan Mouer and Chuck Turner as her only sources; also she gave the Club a plug. The article brought in new members. By the end of the summer plans for a competition were shaping up and a trip to a brewery was being discussed.
In April 1983, by-laws were adopted. The IRS required these for recognition as a tax-exempt "social and recreational club." By-law number one reads: "The James River Homebrewers Club, or the Club, is established for the purpose of fellowship between homebrewers of beer, ale and wine in the Richmond, Virginia area." Fifteen years later, the Club adopted new by-laws that include a new statement of purpose: "The purpose and objective of the Club is to promote the public awareness of homebrewing, improve the brewing skills of members through education and instruction, cooperative brewing, competitions and beer tastings, to have good fellowship and to encourage the responsible enjoyment and consumption of brewed beverages." I include these two statements of our Clubs purpose simply for the historical record. Clearly the gas pressure propelling our rhetoric is now greater than that which fills our glasses.
For the first several years the Club meetings were held in members homes on the second Sunday evening each month. The April 1985 meeting was held in a pub. R. Dunderbak's at Regency Mall and later in the early 90's the Club met often at the Quarter Deck in Westover Hills. These events foreshadowed our now familiar practice of meeting at Legend Brewing Co.
By the time the second annual competition was held it had become quite sophisticated. Like our present Dominion Cup it was open to one and all, and beers were judged in categories "A" through "F". In time the events were timed to correspond with AHA style contests. Expert judges were asked to help out. These folk were mostly from the wine and beer retailing community. For a bunch of guys who claimed to want a "laid back" club, The James River Homebrewers set a pretty full agenda for themselves with meetings, parties, contests and a bus tour in the works.
Dan Mouer is my primary reference for this stuff except for the newsletters we have. Dan said Rhett Rebold and Gary Tolley were the first to do all grain brewing. They modeled their procedure from books by Byron Burch, Dave Line and Dave Miller. Dave Miller published Home Brewing for Americans in 1981. This book gives step by step all grain instructions. By contrast, the now more famous Charlie Papazian book, The Complete Joy of Home Brewing didn't appear until 1984. Getting back to Rhett Rebold, some of you may remember that he has won the Dominion Cup twice and also has won the 1995 National Homebrewer of The Year and Ninkasi awards.
On August 19, 1984, the Club took a car tour to the now defunct Chesbay Brewing Co, in Virginia Beach. We continue to enjoy similar tours. The Club has had eight Brews Cruises in the last decade. These trips are listed in the appendix.
A feature of our recent history since 1997 has been Club brewing to produce beer for the Club's regular parties. This isn't a new idea. The April 1987 meeting wasn't a meeting; it was the "Big Brew" or "Monster Mash." Members met at the home of Algis Radizisaukas. Algis, it seems, had some sort of huge stainless boiler, so the Club met at his house. They produced thirty gallons of wort that day from fifty pounds of grain. The cool thing was that members then took portions of the wort home with them and pitched their own favorite yeast. Different end products then came from a single wort. As far as I know the only guy brewing on this scale today is Chuck Wine who is famous for brewing eye-popping volumes of the frothy stuff. The "Big Brew" was an event that was repeated several times in the 80's.
In 1987 Meeting night was changed to Wednesday. Succeeding Dan as president was Gary Tolley. He also did the secretary's job and published the newsletter from 1985 to 1990 (July). In August 1990, the BrewsLeader got a "slick" new look. Club Secretary "Barley Bob" Barker had great desktop publishing skills, and began to include articles about beer and brewing to augment the Club news. Bob was respected by all in the Club and was a beer nut. In an interview for this report, Padge Severin told me that Barley Bob was a beerologist. I think I know what that is. After serving as president for years, Gary Tolley stepped down and the Club picked long time member Jim Dickerson to succeed him. Jim was an all grain brewer who had won his share of contests with his tasty creations. Note: Jim is now a co-proprietor of the "Commercial Tap House and Grill" on Robinson Street. The August 1990 BrewsLeader was loaded with enthusiastic ideas. Reading this first newsletter from Barker shows that the "beer mania" that affected the Country during the 90's already had a serious hold on his brain.
Gary Tolley had conceived of a promo flyer for the Club, Barker updated this idea and posted flyers all over town. He expanded the BrewsLeader mailing list to include other clubs and homebrew shops. He hoped that this would generate greater public awareness of the Club, attract new members and position JRH as "the beer authority in Central Virginia." Included in that issue was a stamped, addressed comment card. Each was asked to fill it out and suggest ideas for the BrewsLeader and the Club. Barker listed four sample suggestions, two of which became history; a State Fair homebrew judging category and field trips (i.e. Brews Cruises). Barker was looking for a tavern to meet in and doing the ABC homework to see what, if anything, they had to say about it. He called for samples of brewer's label art to put in the BL and established the "Brews Line", a twenty four-hour a day voicemail service through First Page of Virginia for member messages and public inquiries. Imagine "Barley Bob and the Beer Beeper." We, of course, keep in touch now via the website. As you can see, a lot was happening in 1990. Barker referred to his secretarial job as the "Minister of Propaganda," or "MP" and meeting dates were called "Thirst Days."
The JRH has had an Oktoberfest party every fall since 1987. In 1990 the event was called "Oktoberfest" and was hosted by former president Gary Tolley. The advertised keg of Spaten Festbier didn't appear because of the distributor's foul-up (sound familiar) but long time member Rhett Rebold saved the day by spiriting down a keg of Dominion Lager from Ashburn. President Jim Dickerson treated the Club to home made pretzels and Gary Tolley pulled out a "Memories of Munich" brew which all enjoyed. The end of the year found members toasting the holidays at Jim Dickerson's house. Somebody brought in a home brewed "Fruitcake Beer" and an Imperial Stout. Danny Morris was a member at that time and showed up with self-published copies of the first edition of his Richmond Beers, which members scarfed up.
With the appearance of the January 1991 BrewsLeader, the new format had matured with regular features. "Brewers Exchange": an informational source guide and trading post and "Still Fermenting": side bar news about beer events and legislative news of interest. Meeting sites bounced around in 1991. The "St. Paddy's Hooley" was held again at "The Cat and the Moon" (John and Cris Wise's downstairs pretend tavern). Like Oktoberfest, this party was an important addition to the calendar, with live Irish music and some of our finest beers. A highlight of the preparation for St. Paddy's was "Virgin Sacrifice Day", a brew session for novices run by Jim Dickerson to brew an Irish Red Ale for the party. Other members brought porter and stout to the party. The following month brought the sixth annual Club Competition on April 24th and this was won by President Jim with his wheat alt.
Younger members of our Club reading this report may not know that for many years an afternoon paper appeared every day named The Richmond News Leader and our own news letter's name is a parody of this. The News Leader was shut down in 1991, but not before we got some good press in an article on home brewing by Andrew Petkofsky and a piece on the old "Richbrau Brewery" by Steve Clark. The demise of the News Leader prompted Club members to consider renaming the newsletter but obviously this didn't happen.
Following another Oktoberfest at President Emeritus, Gary Tolley's house the Club took time for business and elected a new slate of officers in November to begin service in 1992. Mark Stansbury begin his ninth year as treasurer, Jim Dickerson moved to the Board and John Wise became President. John wise wasted no time issuing a Presidential Proclamation, which I include here as a model for future Club Presidents
Fellow Brewmeisters:
First of all, I want to thank everyone for elevating me to this time-honored position. Together; we will guide this club to new heights of national recognition; in other words, out of the gutter and on to the curb. On election night I promised "free Beer" and with the helpful insight of our senior members, I know our newer members will keep us supplied with fresh new ales and lagers, eagerly awaiting an honest appraisal of their efforts. This is the essence, or bouquet, of this organization. Through the coming year, we will surreptitiously plunder the stock of all with dedicated tastings, competitions and field trips. Armed with church keys, the future is ours to open!
Learning to serve (good beer) Serving to learn (good recipes) Earning to serve (good beer first) Serving to earn (first place for good beer) From the amber waves of grain to the waters of the mighty James.
"Free Beer"
The year 1991 ended with the Christmas Party at the Hand Workshop, 1812 West Main Street. The January 1992 BL included a twelve-month events calendar with most events scheduled to be either at that venue or at John's house. The calendar includes the proposal for the usual style competitions, in coordination with AHA, as well as plans for St. Paddy's, Oktoberfest and Christmas parties. Two items of interest on this events calendar were a proposed bus trip to Baltimore (Pub Crawl) and a proposed home brew competition for the September State Fair. The Club Only Competition was announced and registration forms were included in the March BL. It is noteworthy that President John Wise had beers on the "best of show" tables in 91 and 92. Other brewers, whose names we know in the 1992 top six are: Bob Barker, Alan Williamson, Padge Severin and "mead master" Mark Vick.
Now it's time out for a mystery that needs to be solved. The 1992 Club Only Competition "Best of Show" laurels went to Mike Dannenburg for his Weizen bier. His BOS certificate and forms are still in the box of Club stuff. He never got his award. I called John Wise and he couldn't remember what happened. Seems like Mike Dannenburg just left and didn't come back. If anyone can help me get the certificate to its owner, please let me know.
The May 1992 Brews Leader contained a pitch for members to fork over their dues. That had a familiar ring to it! Address labels identified culprits with a "C" for "complimentary copy." A couple of these were all you got before excommunication. Another piece from May that year was entitled "The Mother of All Road Trips." A Baltimore Pub Crawl was planned for August 15th. Members would arrive in Baltimore that day for a group tour and visit to the Inner Harbor and an afternoon free-for-all in Fell's point. This was to be Brews Cruise I, but this name had not been applied yet.
Planning for the October 3 State Fair home brew competition occupied the JRHB inner circle for the rest the summer. The Oktoberfest event was planned to be on the same day (Oct. 3) only at another location. (Granite Recreation Assoc.) The appointed day came and the JRH set up shop in the Home Arts exhibition building at the State Fair. While the competition was being set up and run, other members put up a display of homebrewing materials, equipment and literature. The whole thing lasted from 10 AM to 4 PM when the winners had been chosen. The list is in the November '92 Brews Leader and contains a lot of familiar names. Rhett Rebold won Best of Show with a pilsner. Alan Williamson was the Club's first BJCP certified judge and together with Victor Gottlieb coordinated the registration and judging. Other qualified judges came from neighboring clubs. This was an AHA sanctioned competition and we now mark this event as the beginning of the annual Dominion Cup Competition.
John Wise, who had handled the business with the Fair, had also lined up the Granite Recreation Center for the evening Oktoberfest party. The Club regrouped and celebrated the event with a keg of Sam Adams Oktoberfest, a bonfire and an awards ceremony. The November meeting was held at Davis & Main Restaurant where the Club returned in December for a sampling of holiday brews, a book discussion and "beer dinner." The year ended with rumors of openings: Richbrau Brew Pub was being planned but the location hadn't been revealed. The city's first beer bar, the Avalon was being viewed as a meeting site, but ABC was holding them up. Rumor had it that a brewpub or brewery might open in south side near the Spaghetti Warehouse; Imagine that!
The Club was entering a new era in 1993. Barker was on line with CompuServe, the source for the AHA Brewers Forum. A glance at a roster in the November 1992 BrewsLeader shows names of Club founders as well as future leadership. The James River Homebrewers had grown up after it's first ten years and, except for a few bumps in the road, has run smoothly for it's last ten years.
Look for the Club history from 1992 to present in the March BrewsLeader as well as an appendix listing key events, personalities and anecdotes for you to enjoy.