Welcome to
Home Brewing
The MontreAlers (or Alers for short) is an organization composed of Montreal-area homebrewers who share both a passion for the hobby of homebrewing and a desire to see it grow and flourish. Our main activities consist of: monthly tasting meetings, competitions, and discussing various brewing and brewing related topics online.
If you are interested in joining us, please join the mailing list and introduce yourself.
The Organization
1. How are the MontreAlers organized?
Since the beginning, the Alers have been a loose affiliation of people who shared a passion for the hobby. As the group grew too large to handle on an informal basis it was decided to organize as a non-profit organization. In early May 2011, the club held its first Annual General Meeting where officers were elected. [Top]
2. How large is the organization?
There are currently over 50 card-carrying members. [Top]
3. What are the long-range goals of the club?
The club aims to build the hobby in various ways. This includes making it easier for new brewers to get into the hobby. Sharing ideas and knowledge about techniques, recipes, brewery rig design. Holding competitions, both a large annual open competition and more frequent club-only competitions. Ideally we would love to make a more diverse range of beer more accessible to the public by helping to lobby the government to change certain laws regarding the importation and sale of beer in the province. [Top]
4. Who are the current officers of the club?
Please see the contact section. [Top]
Membership
1. What is the cost of membership?
The fee to join the MontreAlers is currently set at $20 per year. [Top]
2. What does membership get me?
Membership puts you in support of an organization whose goal it is to pursue and advance the hobby of homebrewing in the Montreal area. We do this through promoting the hobby to the general public, meeting to taste beers and discuss techniques, sharing information, holding competitions and much more. With your membership card and a photo ID you can also get discounts at certain local homebrew supply shops. [Top]
3. How do I join?
You can contact the secretary if you're ready to join the club. You can also join the club at the Annual General Meeting or at other club sponsored events. [Top]
4. Do I need to be a member to join the mailing list?
No, the list is a totally public forum. Official club business is discussed on a separate closed channel. The list is just where we hang out online. [Top]
5. How about meetings?
Not necessarily. Read the meetings section for more information. [Top]
Meetings
1. When do you hold meetings?
The second Thursday of every month is the regular meeting day. There are also other meetings scattered about the year such as large social-type events, big brews and also our Annual General Meeting to discuss club business and elect our executive for the next year. [Top]
2. What happens at meetings?
The monthly tasting meetings usually involve getting together at the home of one of our members. We sample, critique and discuss each other’s beers and talk about anything and everything related to homebrewing. [Top]
3. Who is invited to monthly meetings?
Monthly meetings are planned and held by individual members. Usually announced on the mailing list, they will decide the format of the meeting(tasting/social) and where it will be held. The individual member will also decide the size of the meeting and whether it is open to only club members or if non-members are allowed. [Top]
4. What about more casual meetings?
Members often meet informally at Montreal-area brewpubs and welcome anyone who wants to talk beer and get involved with the club. Usually these intances are organized through the mailing list. [Top]
Mailing List
1. How do I join the mailing list?
Follow this link to sign up
https://secure.neap.net/mailman/listinfo/montrealers
Once you are signed up, please introduce yourself to the list by telling everyone a bit about yourself and your background in brewing. [Top]
2. What's the deal with the mailing list?
The MontreAlers is a group of real people who share a passion. The mailing list is a public forum where the members of the group generally hang-out to discuss beer and brewing and also to plan things like meeting up at brew-pubs. If you want to get involved and meet the members, the mailing list is a great place to start. [Top]
3. I'm getting too many messages but digest mode is too hard to follow. How do I make the mailing list more manageable?
Set the list to send you individual messages (not digest mode). In your e-mail client, create a filter for messages sent to "montrealers@wort.ca". Instruct the filter to remove these messages from your inbox and put them in a separate folder. Your client should thread the messages by subject line plus you won't receive a notice every time someone sends a message to the list. [Top]
4. If I ask a question and someone says, "Search the archives." how do I do that?
The archives are found at https://secure.neap.net/pipermail/montrealers/
To search them, perform a Google search as follows:
site:secure.neap.net <your search terms>
For instance, searching
site:secure.neap.net maple syrup
will get you a list of past threads that mention maple syrup. [Top]
Contact
The current officers of the MontreAlers are:
President – Anthony (Jaf) Wilson
Vice President – Teklad (Tico) Pavisian
Secretary – Mathieu Parent
Treasurer – Troy Needoba
Member-at-large – Christian Savard
General concerns from the membership should be directed towards the Member-at-large. To join the club please contact the Secretary.