The Paradox of Success
From the President
By Rob Fullmer

Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of talking to a new member, Mark. He's been on our website for a few weeks and paid for a membership shortly thereafter. We were attending the OHSO benefit for two members that were recently hospitalized. (What a great event!) 

Christian located his membership card and handed it to him while I explained some of the membership benefits. Mark was unaware of the discounts and I watched as he turned the card over in his hands a few times. I could tell he was impressed and he was excited about getting discounts from BYOB in Gilbert. Mark hasn't been to to the clubhouse yet. I'm sure that he's going to pretty surprised when he sees the walk-in cooler and learns more about what the ASH offers. 

It's a real thrill for me to talk to new members about the club. We've had a roof over our heads of close to 2 years. I'm proud to be an ASHer and I feel fortunate to represent you. It feels great.

You feel it too, I know. It's natural to assume that the feeling of accomplishment would compel us to continue to do the same things in 2013 or maybe even more! Unfortunately, the comfort that success brings, often causes members of great organizations to do less. That is the Paradox of Success. If we remain satisfied with our success, we'll do less, not more.  

In 2011, I stood before the club at the January meeting and reviewed our weaknesses, our strengths and our resources. The future of the club depends on our ability to take advantage of our unique resources and talents. I wrote $25,000 on the whiteboard and circled it. I challenged the club and the board to develop a plan to earn this revenue so that we could lease a warehouse. The warehouse would triple the size of our current location and give us the room to host meetings and events with the entire membership. We'd be able to host brewouts, lead classes, store equipment and share fermenatation space. Over time we would build a club pilot system.

ASH has demonstrated to key individuals that we're serious about our mission to inform and educate the Valley about homebrewing. In their eyes, ASH is a credible and responsible partner in the beer world. We have something to say and we've attracted some believers that will help us take the next step towards financial independence. 

One important person in our corner is Landon Evans of HDE Agency. There are four events that Landon would like our help with. If ASH can pour beer at the following four events, Landon and I feel that ASH will exceed the $25,000 I wrote on the whiteboard in 2011:  

• March 23rd, 2013 | Great American BBQ & Beer Festival
• May 11th & 18th, 2013 | Ameri-CAN Canned Craft Beer Festival
• September 28th, 2013 | SanTan Oktoberfest
• December 6th & 7th, 2013 | Phoenix Brewers Invitational  

Every volunteer hour that we put toward these events will directly fund our Clubhouse Campaign. The best part is that Kat Morrill has agreed to lead our volunteer efforts with a volunteer incentive program. With Kat's direction as Volunteer Coordinator ([email protected]), we're going to track and reward volunteer efforts towards these events as well as our own events like Springfest, Oktoberfest and all of our judging. 

After bit of a slow start (mostly due to a bit of a steep learning curve for me), everything is beginning to take shape for ASH's 2013 competitions. But first things first...

Please Join the Competition Committee!

The more people willing to help with the committee, the better ASH's competitions will be. It's really that simple. I am going to need people to help with everything from brainstorming about the general direction we want to go, to figuring out the details to make each competition actually happen. You can do as little or as much as you want; any help you are willing to provide will be greatly appreciated. If you are interested, please email me ([email protected])

Springfest

Although I had hoped to do a full blown Springfest Competition this year, there are just too many problematic outside factors for that to be possible. Expect a 2014 Springfest Competition comparable to our Oktoberfest Competition, though, and please contact me if you have any desire to help make sure that happens. We can't get started on this too early, as it will be an enormous undertaking.

Kaptain's Kup

Luckily, even though we may not be having a large scale competition this spring, we will still be giving the Kaptain's Kup award to the brewer who produces the best K�lsch. This is not only an annual competition with a rich history (it is in honor of the passing of longtime ASH member Mark Helms, whose favorite beer style was K�lsch), but there will be an awesome prize this year. I don't have all the details now, but here's a hint: it will involve a K�lsch brewday at a commercial brewery.

AHA Club-Only Competition

It is already too late for ASH to submit an AHA Club-Only Competition entry for January/February 2013, but we will definitely be participating in their March/April 2013 competition. The category is Barleywine Ales (BJCP categories 19B and 19C), and our deadline will be near the end of February. That will also serve the first competition for 2013 Homebrewer of the Year.

Homebrewer of the Year

I will be announcing the complete 2013 HBOY schedule in next month's Hot Break. Expect for it to include some styles that haven't been included in a while, and also expect some changes to the scoring system. Talking with people about this, I've heard a lot of strong opinions about HBOY scoring and our participation in the COC. If you have any feelings about either, now is your opportunity to help decide what happens. Email me about joining the Competition Committee if you want your voice to be heard.

BJCP Class

The BJCP class will start in March, so keep an eye out for details on the website and in next month's Hot Break. If you haven't participated before, it's not just a great source of information and an opportunity to develop your palate, but also a great time with a great group of people. Even if you don't plan on taking the test, it's still worth attending.

Goals for 2013

I keep hearing that the biggest problem with our competitions is participation. ASH has far too many smart, knowledgeable members for there to ever be any trouble finding enough people willing to judge or steward. What's stopping you from helping out? What's stopping you from asking all of the other homebrewers you know to help out? It's a day of tasting beer, thinking about beer, talking about beer, and writing about beer that makes everyone a better homebrewer. Why on earth aren't people begging to be a part of it?

If you are willing to judge or steward in 2013, send me an email. It doesn't have to be long or detailed. Something saying who you are and that you're willing to help is more than enough. I am going to do my best to give you every judging date as far in advance as possible, but I would like to have a list not just of who among us is a BJCP judge, but also who is just willing to help out. I want our competitions to better reflect our numbers, and having an idea of just what those numbers really are will makes things a lot easier.

In the end, my goal for 2013 is to encourage wider participation as best I can. It could be a great year. If you want ASH to have the best possible competitions and the best possible judging opportunities, now's the time to do something. Contact me now.