HOMEBREWING GREAT BEER SINCE 1987!
CLUB EVENTS, NEWS & SOCIAL MEDIA:
Bockfest Homebrew Competition
The Bockfest Homebrew Champion will have their beer brewed for the 2026 Bockfest by the Moerlein Lager House. Last year's Champion "The Staggering Goat", a Dunkles Bock brewed by Chuck Beardslee will be served at Bockfest 2025!
Bockfest Weekend
Bockfest® is Cincinnati’s annual celebration of Spring, Over-the-Rhine's brewing heritage, and Bock Beer. It stumbles into its 33rd year on March 7-9, 2025 in and around Over-the-Rhine's historic Brewery District.
Bloat Open – Club Only Homebrew Competition
Big news for the new year: The glorious return of the Bloat Open!
We will hold our club-only homebrew competition on Saturday May 17th, this year with a delightful twist.
Holiday Party!! @Humble Monk
Doors open at 5PM with a potluck dinner starting at 6 PM. Bring a dish to share. And bring beer, commercial or homebrew! This is when the club usually brings out those special beers to share.
Bring a bottle for the bottle exchange! Gift wrap a 750 mL bottle (or similar volume in a different format) of a special commercial beer for the exchange.
Last but not least, bring cash for the raffle!
Just a reminder Humble Monk is now located at 4100 Colerain Ave, Cincinnati, OH. They are not open to the general public yet nor serving beer yet.
Beermas! Urban Artifact
Wednesday, December 11th at Urban Artifact. Bret will be blending up a special batch of fresh fruit for Fresh Fruit Tart Wednesday. This is also a good way to support Josh at Fruitblood; his cider is on tap also! The fresh fruit pouring starts around 3:30 and usually is gone by 6 PM. If you're interested in that, get there early. Otherwise, we'll see you at 7 PM.
Beermas! Esoteric Brewing
Sunday, December 8th at Esoteric Brewing. Kolsch Service noon to 6 PM. Esoteric has a variety of beer including their holiday release of Restivus Belgian Christmas Ale!
Beermas! Third Eye Brewing (Sharonville)
Beermas Social Night at Third Eye Brewing - Sharonville. Also doubling as our monthly Bored Meeting. 7pm+
BBL Social Night
Tuesday, November 19th, social night at Bad Tom Smith's. A few months ago BBL member Andy G received a bunch of crushed grain from them that he distributed to the club. Let's stop by to say thank you!
Election Night!
Friday, November 15th Club meeting at Humble Monk
ELECTIONS!
If anyone has interest in a board position, show up and let us know!
September Club Meeting
Josh Elliott will talk about his brewing days at Urban Artifact, and how he started his fruited wine company “Fruitblood”
36th ANNUAL BEER & SWEAT – Presented by Cincinnati State Brewing Science
All details and entry / registration information is at
July Club Meeting
July Club Meeting (19) will be at the NEW Humble Monk location!
Owen Heckmann with talk about his small batch and crazy fun fermentations.
HM will NOT have a liquor license yet, so we can bring homebrew AND commercial beers to share.
BIG BREW DAY!
Bring our your brew kettles!
BBL and it’s members will be on site for brewing demonstrations as well as helping the brewers of Wooden Cask brew the BIG BREW recipe on their full size system. Once the BIG BREW is finished chilling, you can purchase a “share” of 5 gallons to take home and ferment with your own choice of yeast! Share a few beers with us, help in the brewhouse, watch and help on-site homebrewers, and hang out! We’ll make a day of it!
Please use this sign up sheet to claim a share of the wort: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C44AFA82DA7F8C25-49116531-2024
Wooden Cask York Street Brewery (https://www.woodencask.com/york-street-brewery) will be hosting the 2024 Big Brew Day this year on May 11th. They will be brewing a 7 BBL batch of one of this year's Big Brew Day recipe, Degobah Dunkel . Brewers are able to take a share of the wort. Here are the terms:
1. $10 for 5 gallons of wort. Pay Wooden Cask at the time of collection.
2. Only one 5 gallon share of wort per brewer.
3. No glass carboys.
4. You will need to either assist in brewing or be brewing a homebrew batch in the parking lot to take a share. Brewers only!
CLUB MEETING: The Best of Best of Show
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to sit on a Best of Show panel at a homebrewing competition?
Here’s your chance to find out, AND pick a winner!
BBL Social & BORED MEETING @ Third Eye Hamilton for the FULL SOLAR ECLIPSE!
Call in drunk and take the afternoon off — join us for this ONCE IN A LIFETIME celestial event. We have a bunch of eclipse cards for safe viewing, and Cincinnati Astronomical Society will be on location to support the event as well.
CLUB MEETING: Cincinnati State's Brewing Science Program
Caleb Ochs-Naderer will visit to share some insights into the Brewing Science Program at Cincinnati State and describe how they perform a grist analysis.
Bockfest Weekend!
Bockfest® is Cincinnati’s annual celebration of Spring, Over-the-Rhine's brewing heritage, and Bock Beer. It stumbles into its 32nd year on March 1-3, 2024 in and around Over-the-Rhine's historic Brewery District.
We return to our roots in the neighborhood with three breweries hosting events as our Bockfest Halls: Moerlein Lager House, Northern Row Brewery & Distillery, and Rhinegeist Brewery.
Admission to enjoy the Parade, bock beer, music, and entertainment at all Bockfest Halls and official venues is FREE all weekend long.
see bockfest.com for all the info relating to festival events
FOR BEER JUDGES:
Judging of professional beers will be Saturday, March 2nd, at 9:00 AM at the Moerlein Lager House. Medals will be awarded on the basis of score: any beer scoring 40 or more (out of 50) will be awarded gold, 35-39 will receive silver, and 30-34 will receive bronze. All of the gold medal winners will be evaluated head-to-head to select a Best of Bockfest overall winner.
Contact the Competition Organizer through the competition website: https://beerawardsplatform.com/bockfest-2024
SOCIAL: Fretboard Gatherall
Come out and join your fellow Bloats for drinks and fun at Fretboard’s Norwood Gatherall
Bockfest Homebrew Competition Judging
Homebrew judging will be on the Saturday before Bockfest, February 24, 2024. Judging will be held at the Liberty Home Association, 2361 Hamilton Cleves Rd (OH 128), Hamilton, OH 45013.
Judging will begin at 10:00 AM. Lunch will be provided for judges and stewards. Awards will be presented immediately after the competition for winners that are on site.
Register to judge at: https://beerawardsplatform.com/bockfest-2024 and select “I WANT TO VOLUNTEER” near the bottom of the page.
Stay for the Chili Competition after the comp and enjoy a couple samples. Free for judges!
CLUB MEETING: Missing Linck
Yeast distribution and discussion on the peculiarities of this unique strain
Bloatarian Holiday Party
1/20 (Yes we know that's a Saturday) at Humble Monk
Pot Luck Dinner--bring something tasty to share with the club!
Setup starts at 5PM, Dinner at 6 (plug-ins available for Crock-Pots)
Bring something for the Bottle Exchange!
Guidelines: Bring a quality 750mL bottle or equivalent 4-pack
Gift wrap it for the exchange
BEERMAS! Social Night @ Third Eye Hamilton
The first night of Beermas! Join your fellow Bloats as we meet at the new Third Eye location in Hamilton
