Greetings Upstate Brewtopians:   The February USB Meeting took place on February 5 at Curtis’ place.  February is always the month for the annual Oyster Roast and Charity Raffle.  The site was perfect, with plenty of room indoors for the raffle and the beer tasting.  Many thanks go to Curtis and his crew for hosting the biggest USB event of the year.  Also a special word of thanks goes out to Mrs. BrewGeek who organized the whole event.  In addition to the oysters, there was plenty of food provided by club members; we all offer up a corporate “thank you” to everyone who contributed something.    The proceeds of the USB Oyster Roast go to Harvest Hope Food Bank.  Mrs. BrewGeek reports that we raised $1001 and collected 190 pounds of food.  We were pleased to have a representative from Harvest Hope Food Bank to join us and explain their work.  In addition, we recognized Brewboy’s faithful service as club President by presenting him with a USB sign, signed by the club members.  The sign is the same design that is used for the base camp sign at beer festivals.  We all owe Brewboy a debt of thanks for his tireless efforts, which have resulted in significant growth for the club.    February was the “Brewing with Root Vegetable” Challenge.  As the beer list below reveals, we had three entries with sweet potatoes, two with ginger, and one with beets.  It took two rounds of the “applause-o-meter” to determine a winner.  But in the end, Terry won the Mark Douglas Award with his tasty Ginger Stout.    The March meeting will happen on March 19 at Cpoy’s home.  It is an open month, so bring whatever you’ve been brewing.   We currently need volunteers to host the September and December meetings.  If you are interested, please send a note to admin@upstatenbrewtopians.com.      Keep Brewing!   Challenge Beers Yam Brown Ale, Galangal (Thai Ginger) Ale, Sweet Potato Pie Ale, Smoked Sweet Potato Ale, Ginger Stout, Valentine IPA.   Non-Challenge Beers Hoplicious IPA, Sweet Southern Blonde, Blonde Ale, Belgian Dubbel, Pale Ale, Black IPA, Saison, Tart Cider, Hoppy Brown Ale, 800 Pound Brown Ale, Sierra Nevada Stout Clone.    Again I say thank you to all the hospitality shown to me and my family by the UpstateBrewtopians.