Webmaster's Column

by M. Wood

Bi Annual Review

It’s June! I beat you didn’t think the year could go so fast but half of it is over already. I felt this would be a good time to reflect back a little and see how the Draught Notice is doing and how well it is meeting people expectations.

The number of original articles has stayed very strong through the year so far. Many thanks go out to all the members who have been contributing to the newsletter on a regular basis to make this happen. Bryan’s monthly Competition Corner column, Lisa Gros for her variety of articles, Charlie Webster for his Meeting Notes, and Ken Koupal history column are great examples and should be applauded. If I missed anybody, I apologize.

We also have some new articles from some new faces to the new Draught Notice such as the recipes from longtime member Kim Graham and the brew pub review from our newest member Bob Wilcox. Thanks for getting involved and helping expand the Draught Notice.

For those of you who haven’t had the time this year to contribute, I urge you to dust that keyboard/pen off and write me an article. It doesn’t have to be an ambitious effort if you don’t have the inclination. If you don’t have an idea for an article, take a look at some of the past issues of the Draught Notice and you’ll find lots of ideas.

As the webmaster of the Draught Board, I would also like to hear from members what their ideas are about improving our web site and our presence to the brewing community through the Internet. Give it some thought and send me a line via email or via the comment form on the website. If you’re shy, send it anonymously.

Looking forward

Time for new projects and the continuation of some old ones. In particular, I would like to continue to place some of our old copies of the Draught Notice on the website, catch up organizing the Draught Notice articles by subject and add some more animation to the website. If you think you can help in any of these projects, give me an email.

Another project I would like to propose is the brewing pamphlet idea. Originally I heard the idea from on of the members a couple of year ago and thought it would be a good time to bring it up again. What I want to do is make a small pamphlet of the basics of brewing with tips on sanitation, methods and practical how-to that we could print up at a small cost. I can also format the information into a FAQ of beginning brewing for the website and provide it to the general brewing community.

The goal of the pamphlet would be threefold. We would be able to give our new members who haven’t brewed many times a small how-to book to help them. Secondly, we could sell the pamphlets to local brew shops for a low cost to get our name out there and make a ‘tiny’ profit to cover our costs. Third, the pamphlet would help get our name out there to the general public and brewing community at large, thereby increasing our exposure.

What I need from the members is some feedback on the proposal to see how feasible it is and if its a good idea or not. If so, form a small group of volunteers to get a rough outline and get it put together.

See you all at the next meeting,

M. Wood