Rowany Festival AGM, Competition and Tastings
My Dear and Fellow Brewers, Greetings!
Firstly, I apologise for the delay in this missive, as I have been distracted by the press of business at my estate.
Item, at Rowany Festival recent was held the Guild’s Annual General Meeting, where the sole order of business was the election of the Guild Clerk. I am pleased to say that the Guild now has a new Clerk in James Douglass, Baron of the Court of Lochac and Master of the Pelican.
Item, after the election was held the tastings for the Guild competition for Rowany Festival, being for a gruit. As the sole entrant, I appear to have “won” this competition. As victor, I would like to announce that the competition for next Festival shall be for a dark ale or beer, to whatever recipe or redaction the entrant favours so long as it come from grain.
Item, after the Competition came the open Tastings. The meeting attendance varied over the course of the meeting, due to the press of other business at Festival for many, thus some of the most-approved beverages in each section had 11 plusses, others 8. Recorded attendees were: Padraig, Rosalind, Mont Joye, Constantine, Yast, Bjorn B, Henecoc, Ianto, Al’Attar, Tim, Bjorn P, James, Maximillian and Sigvaldr. The beverages presented were as follows:
Ales and beers: Padraig’s rosemary gruit, James’s Stout, Henecoc’s kit honey wheat beer, Bjorn P’s buckwheat scotch heavy, Henecoc’s kit ginger beer. The most approved was Henecoc’s kit honey wheat beer, followed by James’s stout.
Wines and ciders: Rosalind’s cider, Bjorn B’s perry, Ianto’s elderflower, Bjorn B’s plum wine, Al’Attar’s Bloody Mary Brew, Bjorn B’s beetroot wine, Padraig’s Cider water, Ianto’s 16 yr old kit Cab Sav. The most approved was a tie, between Ianto’s elderflower and his kit Cab Sav; mention should be made of Bjorn B’s beetroot wine, as the consensus was that it would make an excellent ingredient or base for borscht or other similar stew.
Meads and melomels: Bjorn P’s Casual Profanity, Padraig’s pomegranate and citron melomel, Ianto’s 2015 blackcurrant melomel and Ianto’s 2016 blackcurrant melomel. The most approved was Bjorn P’s Casual Profanity, underscoring why he is having success with his brews outside of the SCA, followed closely by Padraig’s pomegranate and citron melomel.
Spirits and liqueurs: Kotek’s blackcurrant brandy, Bjorn B’s cherry liqueur and Bjorn B’s butterscotch liqueur. There was a tie between Kotek’s brandy and Bjorn B’s cherry liqueur for the most approvals.
I would like to thank all the Brewers, Vintners and Imbibers who made my tenure as Clerk such a joy, and look forward to the tenure of James.
Yours in Service,
Padraig, Journeyman of the Guild
At Innilgard on the Feast of St Petronax the Benedictine, Tailtiu and Rowland being Crown.
Rowany Festival AS LI: Guild AGM, Tasting, Competition and New Rankings
My Dear and Fellow Brewers, Greetings!
This past Festival was a busy and eventful one, especially for the Guild. This missive is to serve as a recitation of the business conducted at Festival, so that all in the Guild may know of these Happenings.
Primus, there was held after the Laurel Prize Tournament the Guild AGM, wherein the only formal piece of business was the election of the Clerk of the Guild for the coming year. As the only candidate, your humble Author was returned to the Clerkship, for which I can only offer my humble thanks to the Guild for their confidence.
Item, following the Guild AGM was held the Guild tasting, which was run by Rosalind, Apprentice within the Guild, due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict on my part. The results of this are as follows; the single entry in Fermented Soft Drinks was Rosalind Beaufort, thus she is victorious in this category. For Beers and Ales, in order of descending approval, there was Stuart the Brewer’s German beer, then Eclen’s ginger beer, then a tie between James Douglas’ red ale and Eclen’s ginger ale, with Bjorn Bassason’s summer beer making up the numbers. For Wines and Ciders, in order of descending approval, there was a tie for first place between James Douglas’ Yppocras and Rosalind Beaufort’s mead, then Eclen’s sparkling cherry wine, then a tie between Eclen’s blueberry wine and James Douglas’ cider, then Bjorn Bassason’s cider, then Beatrix’s mead, with Bjorn Bassason’s orange wine making up the numbers. For Meads and Melomels, in order of descending approval, there was Bjorn Purssaspringr’s sack mead, then William Montrose’s Raisin Mead, with my own mustard mead making up the numbers. For Spirits and their infusions, in order of descending approval, there was Bjorn Bassason’s peach liquor, then Hostilia’s butterscotch liquor, then a tie between Beatrix’s cherry liquor and Bjorn Bassason’s raspberry liquor, with two more liquors, watermelon and lychee, from Bjorn Bassason completing this section. This Tasting counts for Advancement, and so I commend those who entered to consider their rank within the Guild and their standing in this Tasting. I would note that, similar to the Tastings undertaken at Canterbury Faire, that the press of Time’s Bootheel be on us all, and so Fellows of the Guild should be wary about the number of beverages they submit to the Tasting, especially if they submit several within the same category.
Item, this Festival the Competition was for a Cider containing one ingredient other than Apples, Yeast, Water and Yeast Nutrient if desired. Victorious in this competition was Wolfgang Germanicus, with William Monrose placing second and my own water-cider bringing up the numbers. I have asked Wolfgang to nominate the Category for next Festival’s competition, and he wishes it to be Unhopped Ales. Thus, a brew primarily from malted barley, wheat, spelt or other grain commonly used for the purpose of making beer, that contains no hops but may be flavoured with other ingredients. I look forward to this next competition, and anticipate a fine variety of gruits.
Item, a member of our Guild has, through diverse efforts, improved their Rank in the Guild. This is Asbjorn Pederson, who through his efforts is now reckoned a Craftsman by the Guild. Craftsman Asbjorn is the first of our number to be reckoned as such by the Masters of the Guild, and I commend his knowledge and experience to all who wish to learn of the Mysteries of our Art.
This complete my report, and so I leave you firm in the knowledge that I remain
Padraig Lowther, Clerk of the Guild
At Innilgard, on the Feast of St Winewald,
Ariston and Lilavati being Their Lochacic Majesties
New Guild Apprentices and Guild AGM
My Dear and Fellow Brewers, Greetings!
It pleases me to write that we have two new Apprentice Brewers in the Guild, being Rosalind Beaufort and Bjorn Sæmundarson. They are well and gladly known to the Mordenvale Company of Brewers, and welcome members of the Lochac Guild as well.
Additionally, the Rowany Festival beckons, and with it our Guild’s Annual General Meeting. Business for this meeting may be submitted to me at patrick.neumann@sydney.edu.au , though you should know that the business will also include the Election of the Guild Clerk. I have enjoyed my tenure as Clerk and intend to stand again, and request that if any wish to contest the election with me, that they inform me by the means mentioned above and wish them good fortune in the election. The duties of the Clerk are not onerous; they are to foster the actions of the Guild, promote the Arts thereof and their Mysteries to the populace, to furnish the Kingdom A&S officer with a report after Rowany Festival of the Guild’s activities and to organise the Guild AGM at Rowany Festival. The AGM is currently scheduled for 3pm on Saturday in the Tavern, though this may well be subject to change due to the controlled chaos of Festival.
I hope that this finds you all in good health, and know that I remain
Padraig Lowther, Clerk of the Guild
In Drachenwald on the Feast of Saint Patrick of Malaga,
During the reign of Ariston and Lilavati
Guild AGM 2015
To the Lochac Guild of Brewers
Greeting from Rurik farserkr, Clerk of the Guild, Master in the Guild of Lochac Brewers, Master in the Mordenvale Company of Brewers and Companion of the Order of the Laurel.
Sorry for the lateness of this report but I have been a little busy with a baby who will not sleep.
It seems not so long ago that we were a fledgling group on the edge of Lochac practicing our craft not knowing how to take part in the larger discourse of the kingdom. However the last twelve months has seen some major changes for us as a cross-community within the Kingdom. We have been acknowledged as a contributing group with recognition of our Charter by the Crown. This charter has been used to establish a ranking system with in our guild and conferred upon two member ranks and we have held our first guild level prize. All this is quite a major achievement for what has been a craft that has traditionally been on the edges of the Kingdom. You all should be proud of the part you have played in its success.
At Rowany Festival past we held our AGM in accordance with our charter, at which we voted in a clerk for the following year (Yours Truly) and the new guild ranking system for craftsmen & craftswomen. While I am enjoying the role of Clerk this is the last time I can do it and as such I will not be seeking the position next year. I have had one person show interest in the position that I will catch up with in the near future. However this is a fun job that works well in a team so I would encourage everybody to think about how they could contribute to the guild in an administrative capacity. It is great thing to do, you meet lots of people who you might not in normal SCA and they tend to give you a drink or two 😉
Also at Festival I received completed paperwork from Mistress Rohesia Le Sarjent & Lady Iseabail inghean Domhnall mhic Donchaidh for ranking. As such Rohesia will be issued a writ for Journeyman’s ranking and Iseabail will be issued a rank for Craftsmen. I have also received some other paperwork from people that I need to follow up which I will do in the near future. If you think you have given me something and have not heard from me please email me in private and I will follow it up.
The other piece of business that arose out of the AGM was the role of imbibers/tasters within the guild. There was a strong feeling that we should find a way to include them within the guild ranking. This is a good thing and we need to discuss this in the coming year. As it stands I have no idea on how to handle this so I am throwing it out to the guild for ideas. So please people let’s hear them!
I remain yours in service,
Master Rurik.
Gules, on a fess cotised Or a cross of Jerusalem sable.
Guild Rankings
Guild Rankings.
It is with a certain amount of trepidation that I start this conversation because it is an emotive issue with good arguments for having and not having a system of personal ranking with in the guild. However we agreed as a body to have this conversation at some point & there is no time like the present.
The first thing that needs to be said is according to our charter membership to the guild is by subscription to the email list & by the function of the Guild Clerk. This conveys the rights, privileges and franchise of being a member of the guild not ones personal rank and I will personally oppose any changes that will cause this not to be so. As the strength of the guild is in the diversity of its members: not the rank of its members. Also I would like to add hear that taking on a role with in the guild should never be dependent on Rank. All guild officers should be open to all members and all members should get a say in whom the officers should be.
Over my two years as Clerk (one as clerk and one in the proto guild time) I have had a few conversations around what guild ranks means to different people and the opinions I have heard from different members has been varied to say the least. They have been from “there should be no guild ranking and if there is I will not be involved” though to “we must have a system & have it NOW.” One thing I have noticed in these conversations* is that the people who have wanted a system of ranking for what ever reason have not been recognized in the Kingdom award system. Where people who have been recognized tended to not like the idea of guild ranking. I am saying this so that people are informed and are mindful of other people’s point of view as we discuss this. I think given the robustness of our Charter we can accommodate most people’s point of view and the level of involvement they would like to have.
The one thing we should keep in mind though out this whole process is the aim of the guild is to network brewers, brew, educate in our art, expand our collective knowledge and make all this available to the Kingdom at large. Any thing that is going to impede these aims should be abandoned if a workable solution cannot be found.
In the coming months I would like to have a conversation about do we need a rank system (Why & Why not), if we do what should it look like (do we do what everybody else has done or do we make out own model), what level would the top rank be at, what skills are expected at each level, how do we measure it. And how do we administer it. To make this work people need to be involved other wise it is not worth much.
I remain yours in service,
Rurik farserkr
Clerk of the guild
*If you think I am talking about you I am not; each opinion has been given multiple times and I am conveying a general idea of the conversations
Agenda Items for Rowany Festival
If anyone has anything they would like added to the agenda for the Festival meeting, please email them to the Guild Clerk, Rurik before 12th night.