Every year, the American Homebrewers Association confers the Radegast Club of the Year Award to acknowledge one club’s efforts to better their local community through the power of homebrewing and beer.
In 2020, the Radegast Club of the Year was awarded to the Society of Northeast Ohio Brewers (SNOBs) of Novelty, Ohio.
Read an excerpt below of the proposal that earned them the Radegast award, and enter your homebrew club for a chance to win!
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The following excerpt was submitted by Jay O’Neill, president of SNOB.
The Society of Northeast Ohio Brewers, SNOBs, should be the Radegast Club of the Year for 2020 because it’s our 30th birthday and because we are a vibrant community which actively promotes brewing and beer appreciation within our greater community. Many talented and giving people have together created and sustained an organization which offers a wide range of activities and opportunities for our members to brew, enjoy and appreciate quality fermented beverages. After thirty continuous years and the efforts of many, we are an established and very well-respected fixture in our community.
We’re awesome because of the many active and involved members who contribute many hours of their time, selfless effort and their money to enable this club to offer something for everyone. We have over 125 members who participate in meetings, social events and competitions. SNOBs hosts activities geared toward helping active brewers improve their craft and compete. We also have activities aimed former brewers and those others who simply appreciate enjoying good beer and the comradery that our club promotes.
We hold a large regional competition each year which garners 400- 450 entries. We play well with other clubs in the region and have a travelling trophy that we compete for each year against SAAZ, the Akron club. We recently became a first round HNC judging site and were scheduled to hold our second one of these this year until it was cancelled. We hold at least three other special social events each year. We have an annual bus trip that travels to other cities to visit craft breweries. We have an annual SNOB-toberfest camping and brew sharing festival each fall. Capping each year, we have an annual Christmas party each winter that is free to members. We get over 150 members, spouses and significant others who attend each year. The event features an impressive buffet dinner and dozens of kegs of homebrew and a bottleshare gift exchange.
Like the homebrewing community nationwide, we are predominantly Caucasian and male. That is more of a reflection of the hobby than our character. Anyone with an interest in beer and brewing is welcome to become a SNOB. We have male and female members, members of many religions, ethnicities and sexual orientations. Half of our four officers are women. Our members also have Hispanic and Eastern European heritage. Of our women members, several are not only well-respected brewers, but also hold BJCP ranked judging credentials. One of our women members who is a frequent medal winner and BJCP judge has also recently taken the Seibel Brewing Technology Course and is helping open a new brewery where she will become the Brew Master.
We undertake several forms of charity for our greater community and have fun doing it. Our annual competition, Son of Brewzilla, was founded 10 years ago as vehicle to raise money for charity and continues to do so. This past year, that included the Pink Boots Society and the young family of former member who died prematurely. Our members serve as volunteers to the local Brewfests which in turn makes donations to an inner-city clothing mission run by one of our members. At the most recent one, we supplied 50 volunteer days which raised $1,250 for the mission. These take place several times per year and the organizers come back to us each year because of our reliability and responsibility. We also supply volunteers to Cleveland Beer Week events. The profits from CBW are donated to the Jimmy Malone Scholarship Fund.
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