Muskrat Mashers

Learn to make beer: Thursday, February 9th

If you’ve ever kicked around trying to make your own beer, we invite you to stop out to our February gathering.   Our plan is to have some equipment set up, some fliers to hand out, and members of the club will be on hand to answer any questions you might have about getting started brewing.    Also if you haven’t checked out Harbor Inn and Ale, they have a fantastic lineup of Michigan made beers!

The Muskrat Mashers is an informal homebrew club that meets once a month to discuss one thing:  How to make beer.    The group isn’t made up of a bunch of chemists or master brewers, we’re just regular people, that get together to enjoy quality beer and talk about how we made it.  The club has a mix of people from newbies to seasoned brewers.  We love helping new people get started with brewing, because somewhere along the way, someone experienced helped us get started.

Learn to make Beer!
Thursday, February 9th
6-9pm @ Harbor Inn & Ale – Monroe, MI (click for map)

Public Welcome! 
Ever wonder how beer was made?  Ever consider making it yourself?
Stop out for an evening dedicated to how to brew your own beer.  Members of the local homebrew club Muskrat Mashers will be on hand to discuss the basics of making your own beer from buying equipment and choosing a recipe to bottling or kegging the final product.
• Equipment and ingredient displays/discussions/handouts
• Discussions on how easy it is to make your own beer
• Already brewing?  Meet other local homebrewers!

Mashers win 2nd best overall beer at Rat Fest 2012!

If you missed Rat Fest this year, you’ll want to mark your calendar for next year.  The event was packed with people and amazing homebrew beers from various Michigan clubs.  Thanks to some awesome handy Masher members, an amazing bar was constructed that served as our beer sampling station.  We had on tap a Double IPA, Belgian Wit, Citra Amber and a Chocolate Stout.  The Citra Amber (Phil’s recipe) won the 2nd best overall beer at the fest.  All of the beers turned out amazing and we had nothing but great compliments on each of them.  Congrats to the club for all of the hard work that was put into the event. Look for the Mashers @ Rat Fest 2013!

Rat Pad Fest 2012 with The Muskrat Mashers

That’s right folks!  The Muskrat Mashers are participating in the 2012 Rat Pad Fest.  We brewed 4 beers we’ll be serving on January 28th @ Corner Brewery in Ypsi.  Come on out and sample the goods, it should be a fantastic event.  ***(Email blast said 25th – apologize, I was looking at February calendar, and had not drank enough coffee – it’s January 28th!!   -Rob)

AHA Learn to Homebrew Day – Saturday, November 5, 2011

The Muskrat Mashers will be brewing at Adventures in Homebrewing Ann Arbor, MI this coming Saturday.   If you’ve never attended one of these, I’d strongly suggest taking some time out of your day to visit the event.  You’ll learn something new, meet great people and enjoy some amazing homebrew.

American Homebrew Association - Learn to Homebrew Day
Saturday, November 5, 2011
10am – 5pm

Adventures in Homebrewing Ann Arbor
6071 Jackson Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI

Food and homebrew will be available.  Bring something to share if you’d like.

Lots of fun and information will be provided.

Any questions, send us an email!
muskratmashers@gmail.com 

Mashers to visit Price’s Orchard – Newport

Mark your calendars!

How to make Hard Cider!

Thursday, September 8th – 6-8PM
@ Price’s Orchard in Newport, MI (click here for a map)
Price’s Orchard – 8696 US Turnpike Newport, MI 48166  734-586-2459

Come on out and listen to a chat about how to make your own homemade hard cider.  If you made some cider and have some to share, bring it! Feel free to also bring any home brew you have on tap to share.

Non-members, please RSVP to Rob (click here for email).  See you there!

Muskrat Mashers to visit The Rockery, Wyandotte, MI

This Thursday, several of the Monroe Muskrat Mashers will be heading up to Wyandotte, MI to visit The Rockery.   If you haven’t heard, The Rockery is under new ownership.  Under that new ownership, meant new beers on tap ….  Michigan Beers!

Thursday, May 19th 6-8pm
The Rockery (click for map)
1175 Eureka Road
Wyandotte, MI 48192

If you plan on attending, please RSVP (click here to email), as we’ll need an accurate headcount the day of.  Hope to see everyone there!

Muskrat Mashers T-Shirts!

We are now taking orders for Muskrat Masher’s T-Shirts.

Description: 100% Cotton.  Brown (no other colors available). Logo (white) on front left , back of shirt has website address “muskratmashers.com.”

Price: S-XL:  $12.00  / 2XL-up:  $13.00

Order deadline:  May 31, 2011 - Order minimum is 20 shirts.  It’ll be a long time before we order again, so get your order in now!

How to pay: Craig (Treasurer) will be collecting money.  Cash or you can submit a payment to his Pay-Pal ( craigo19@yahoo.com ).   Please email him a note when you pay with the size that you want after submitting your payment.

Order will be placed June 1st and T-shirts should be available a couple weeks after.  We’ll try to hold an event to distribute the shirts.   Any questions, email us:  muskratmashers@gmail.com

Muskrat Mashers to celebrate National Homebrew Day!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

AHA Big Brew is a celebration of National Homebrew Day (May 7th). Each year homebrewers around the world invite family and friends to their brewing site on the first Saturday in May to celebrate the holiday. Everyone is encouraged to help out with the brew and enjoy the fun.

The Muskrat Mashers will be set up at a club members house in Monroe (near Dunbar/Monroe St. – email me for directions) starting Saturday morning.  Members of the club will be brewing all day, while of course, enjoying some fantastic homebrew crafted by club members.

Everyone is welcome! If you want to stop by and check out what we’re doing, or if you brew yourself and are interested in setting up and brewing along side of us, feel free to join us.   We need a headcount on brewers so let us know if you do want to brew.   We have a thread started on the forum, if you have any questions or would like to participate, post to the forum or email Rob for more details.

Muskrat Mashers visit Great Black Swamp Brewing

Members of the Muskrat Mashers got a special tour of the new Great Black Swamp Brewing Co. last week.  A special thanks to Paul and Bob for taking time out of their busy schedule to accommodate the club.   It was awesome to see a smaller operation brewery and the equipment they’re using.   Check out the photo gallery here.  Great Black Swamp has their beer at several locations around Toledo, OH – click here to see the list.

Upcoming meeting: Thursday, March 10th @ Harbor Inn & Ale

Just a quick announcement that the next meeting will be held at Harbor Inn & Ale, Thursday March 10th from 6-8pm.  More information about the meeting to come.   Any questions, please email Rob at:  muskratmashers@gmail.com