Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

As was evident in our meeting last night, we may be quickly outgrowing the space available at Court Square.  As such, we wanted to gather suggestions that anyone might have on where else we could meet.  Last night, people suggested we look into the following general types of meeting arrangements

- People's homes
- Homebrew Shop
- Local community organization that may have meeting spaces like the Elks or VFW
- Meeting room at a hotel
- Local park during nicer weather

Please post any additional suggestions on this thread.  If you have something specific, like a specific organization or place for us to contact, that would be even better. 

This is an excellent problem to have, but it is still an issue.  We want people to be comfortable during the meeting and be able to hear what is being said.  We would also like to try each other's homebrew, as that is what we are all about.

I would not be surprised if the attendance ebbs and flows fairly severely for the next 6 months, so reconfigurability and a good notification system would be a good idea.  It may also be useful to ask for RSVPs in advance as a rough indicator of attendance.

== Hosting at a Member's House ==

I think an extremely important consideration with regard to hosting meetings at a member's house is parking.  Having hosted and attended several parties in suburban neighborhoods, even 10 cars can become a serious problem.  Parking in the grass requires care if the house has a septic system (not a good thing to break).

My house is rather small, otherwise I would offer.


Other bars, in no particular order...



== Bars in Charlottesville ==

Mellow Mushroom - Always has 15-20 non-standard (as in, micro-brew) beers on tap and serves pizza.  I don't know about bottles.  I'm there every Sunday with kickball, so I'll swipe a tap list in order to illustrate better.  I know they have had Green Flash Nut Brown, Bell's, Old Speckled Hen, Blue Mountain Evil 8 degree, Blue Mountain Full Nelson to name a few.
Advantages -- large, parking garages nearby, easy to find, decent selection of beer on tap.
Disadvantages -- in Student Land, relatively popular (requires planning around their scheduled events), parking is not free, large tvs.

Micheal's Bistro - This is essentially a Belgian beer bar on the UVA Corner.  I have had Dutchess de Bourgogne on tap there, to give an idea of what's on tap (about 10-12 taps), and there is a 2 page bottle list.
Advantages -- fairly classy, rare/quality beer selection, more open layout than Court Square, great food, nearby parking.
Disadvantages -- parking is not free, can be crowded (although not raucous), somewhat expensive, overall space is  not much larger than Court Square

South Street - Local boys.  'nuff said.
Advantages -- Fairly large, local brew, parking available
Disadvantages -- can be crowded, not ideal layout for a meeting

Beer Run - I hear they have some sort of bar setup.  Does anyone know about it?  I haven't been.

== Bars in Crozet ==

Uncle Charlie's - I have been here a few times.  The beer selection is above average for the US, but not outstanding.
Advantages -- plenty of good space, free parking, not too far away, less likely to be crowded than the above (?)
Disadvantages -- so-so beer selection, large tvs (distracting), very loud when crowded

== Other Locations ==

I don't know of other large meeting halls or parks which would work well.  I can say that the recreational sports organization I am in has some sort of "don't be obvious, obnoxious or troublesome and we won't bust drinking" arrangement with the police/city which allows players to drink.  I can try to find out more about that.

 Beer Run has a small dining space that could accommodate a smallish crowd, given that not too many other non-club people were there at the same time. I asked the owner about whether people could bring in homebrew, but he said he didn't know and would have to look into it. Our club in Raleigh had found a small restaurant in an office building that let us use their space in the evenings (they were only open during the workday hours). That worked great since we could freely share homebrews and commercial brews we'd found while traveling. Does anyone have a connection with someone who owns or manages a restaurant or the like?

Another possibility might be Starr Hill Brewery after production hours. They've got a large open space and maybe we could have a "private brewery tour", a technical talk from the brewmaster and then get down to the CAMRA side of things. Maybe the brewmaster would like to offer feedback on our homebrews and field some questions...I'm not sure if its even possible from a legal perspective but it might be worth looking into.

Another good spot would be the new Blue Mountain Brewery.  From 64, it's about 5 minutes away down HWY 250, then one mile down HWY 151 on the left.  If you haven't visited, the place looks like a ski lodge, and would be a perfect spot.  Of course if they would allow it.  I know they tend to be pretty busy. But they definitely have space and good beer!  Nice brew talk environment.  Taylor and Mandi Smack are great people!

These are all really great suggestions and a few of them have popped up in our Officer's meetings. Tom, Jamey and I will definitely be pursuing these leads and the best ones will shake out. We are not opposed to having the meeting at various locations, but it would be nice to have a "home base".

Keep 'em coming and thanks for posting!

-Christopher

Another possibility might be that new beer brewing and wine making store whose name I've currently forgotten. I blame the Scottish 450  Shilling that I'm currently sipping on .I agree with Mr. H Allusions regarding RSVPs when having meetings at club member's homes. I know I'd want to have a good idea of how many plan on coming over to the casa. Blue Mountain Brewing had crossed my mind although it's a bit of a hike from C'ville especially with a few brews under your belt. On the other hand, making special occasion out of it--complete with a tour, tastings, homebrew critiques, food,  and merriment--might be a good idea. Once we get all the wrinkles ironed out, I'd be more than happy to have folks over. What we need is our own meeting hall like those goofy Elks and Moose have. What actually do they do?

We need moose hats, man.  We need moose hats bad.  Maybe the dual sippy beer cup hats.  Then maybe we could get in?

?

I like moose.  Or is it mooses?  Or meese? 

Please, the vision of Ed Meese hats is not a pleasant one.

How about mousse hats?  (kind of like a beer hat, except more French, and dessertilicious).

Is there any chance a Sunday night meeting might work for people? If so, we may be able to meet (and actually be allowed to bring our own stuff as well as commercial beers to share) at McGuffey. I've been communicating with someone there who says pretty much all the weeknights are already booked, but Sunday night could be doable to accommodate us. I'm not sure if it would cost anything -- the sense I got was that it wouldn't, though the woman said she and her husband had brewed some and were interested in the club, so maybe we could 'pay' in liquid form. Anyway, I'm not typically a huge fan of planning anything to do on Sunday nights(except sitting on the couch), but if it's a place we can all get to and park easily and can bring our beers without any problems, it may just be worth it.

Thoughts? Boos? Cheers? Golf claps?

Just plain ol' "boo" to Sunday night.  I'm not driving 20 miles to C'ville on a Sunday night (each way).  Staying in town after work on a weekday is plenty for me.

Others may differ.

This is a big 'cheer' for me, but Sunday nights are going be tough.

I think this is a very good beginning, and it is certainly worthy of digging into a little deeper.

Great job, BarleyP.

I realize there are some big benefits to meeting at a local bar or microbrewery, but I think we may end up running into problems with being allowed to consume our own brews on premises. I'm a UVA Grad Student and can reserve space around the university for free. Also, with about 2 weeks notice I can fill out an alcohol approval form to allow alcohol to be consumed at this on grounds locations. One particularly easy spot to have it would be in Newcomb Hall, which is the closest thing we have to a student union building. There are some large meeting rooms with tables, chairs and a computer hookup and mounted projector for power point presentations. Also, there is nice big parking garage right next door.
-T