[Who is BAM] [Club Meetings] [Bulk Purchases] [Membership]
BAM is a homebrewing club with a membership based primarily in the Northern California East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley area) that was formed in June 1990. As homebrew clubs go these days, we are pretty small with about 30 active members. Our membership is open to brewers and wanna-be-brewers alike. Each member is expected to contribute to the same extent that they derive club benefits.
Our main goal is to promote the practice of all grain brewing and to have fun while doing it. The vast majority of it's members are all-grain brewers. The club is small, but there is a wealth of knowledge within its membership. Several members own brew supply shops or are otherwise professionally involved with beer and beer brewing (Oak Barrel Winecraft in Berkeley, Coast Range Brewing in Gilroy, Buffalo Bill's in Hayward.) In 1997 Ray Francisco, BAM brewer excellent, was distinguished to receive California Home Brewer of the Year Award at the Stern Grove celebration put on by the Malts.
BAM started out as a pretty anarchistic club, with no real president or officers. This worked well until the membership grew to over 20 members. In order to run the meetings and organize events more smoothly, we now have officers that hold the following positions:
The officers hold their position for a six month period, until a meeting to elect new officers is held. See the Clubs Organizing Document for a complete description of each position.
BAM hosted the first annual 'World Cup of Beer' homebrew competition in 1995 and received over 150 entries. The competition has been well received in brewing circles. The 1998 event will also serve as a qualifying event for the MCAB. We'll have more complete information on that over the next couple of weeks, so keep checking back. This year's competition takes place in March, entry deadline on March 14. Final judging will take place a short 2 weeks later at the Golden Pacific Brewery. Again, look for more information about this year's competition over the next few weeks.
Club meetings are usually held at one of our members homes, on the first Tuesday of the month. Because the club membership is small, we are able to invade a members house without inflicting too much damage. Because we do not wish to publish the address or phone numbers of members homes on the net, you must contact us here if you wish to attend a meeting. Usually, meeting turnouts don't exceed 30 members and are typically around 20. If a special event coincides with a meetings within a week or two, the meeting is conducted at the event. The meetings usually follow the format:
Way back when, our club arranged for bulk purchases of top quality Grains and Hops. This resulted in greatly reduced costs to our members. We were able to set aside most of our bulk purchase efforts when the Oak Barrel, local brewshop to our brewing community, was able to respond to our rigorous quality demands. Our members tend to enjoy a special, if informal, relationship at the Oak Barrel (which endeavors to stock the malts and grains we think are among the best.) In the past, we had about one hop purchase and two grain purchases during the year. Bulk purchases are still a possibility for the Mashers, but they are arranged less frequently than before.
If you are an all-grain brewer or are interested in becoming one and live in the East Bay area, you should contact us to find out where the next meeting is. We welcome anyone with a true desire to brew all-grain beer. You also must be willing to host meetings, or help with organizing club functions. Club dues are $20 per year. Membership entitles you to attend all club functions, purchase bulk ingredients and receive the monthly newsletter.
You can contact us by 
BAM or you can contact:
Doug Ashcraft @ (510) 339-1816