Do you know how difficult it is to type under a heading , “ Judylicious ”? Well it has been a long time since I have written a column for this newsletter . After 12 years as Secretary / Treasurer of this club , I have resigned my duties and Bryan Madsen has taken over effective this year . It was a job that I got suckered into being married to the Prez . or I guess I should say Past Prez . I didn ’ t realize that my position was one that would be permanent until someone stepped up to the plate , so thanks Bryan for offering to take over . I have enjoyed the past 12 years but felt that someone else needed to take charge as I wasn ’ t able to do the best job possible anymore with all the things I have going on . I am currently student teaching and will graduate in May of 2008 . I have been consumed with school and other things and have not had time to commit to this chapter like I have in years past . I will still be tagging along to shows with Tom and any other beery event we may stumble upon . The best part of this hobby has been the friends we have made and the camaraderie that goes with it . As I write this , we have just returned from our first beer trek of the year . Bockfest was this weekend in New Ulm , MN . Tom and I have been going to this festival for the past 12 years . This year we went to New Ulm the night before and stayed the night so that we could be up bright and early so as not to miss the annual Donner breakfast before the festing began . Several of us met at the Donner home around 8:30am for asiago cheese bread with goat cheese , cashews , guacamole dip and chips , weiner tots in croissants , and some of Bryan ’ s dried beef . This delicious breakfast was topped off with several different home brews , ( 14 to be exact , don ’ t tell anyone I was counting ). Around 10:00am , it was time to head back to Stubie ’ s to catch the bus to the brewery . The bus dropped us off near the end of the line which was backed up all the way to the Target store . It didn ’ t take us long before we were heading through the gates . Tom left his gloves on the dash of my car so luckily for him there was a fella right inside the entrance gate selling buffalo hats and deer hide mittens . Tom bought himself a pair so we didn ’ t have to listen to him complain about how cold his hands were . We weren ’ t in the fest but 30 minutes when we got a call from B-Gogs that him and Vance had found the King Bock within 20 minutes of the beginning of the hunt . They were both pretty excited . Two and a half hours into the festival and the temps dropped and the wind picked up and we couldn ’ t take the cold anymore so we headed back to Stubie ’ s . It wasn ’ t long and the rest of the fest goers were also trickling into Stubie ’ s . He had a nice variety of snack foods and crock pots full of hot goodies to eat . After filling our bellies , Tom and I decided to head home . It was another great weekend with great friends . If you are new to this club , I urge you to come to some of the upcoming Border Batch shows . This is a great club with great people . You will be glad you can be a part of it all . Prost !
Judy