Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP) was founded in the fall of 1981 by avid homebrewers. It has grown to be one of the largest homebrew clubs in the world with almost 300 members. BURP's home encompasses the Metropolitan Washington DC area (Northern Virginia and the Capitol Region of Maryland). BURP's mission is to have fun promoting the production and knowledge of good beer. Although BURP's home is in the metropolitan Washington, DC area, anyone is welcome to join. Meetings are held once a month, usually on Saturday, at rotating locations throughout the area.
Activities
- Great friends, great beer and great food!
- Educational session.
- Homebrew competition.
- Raffle.
- Annual MASHOUT camping trip.
- Annual Chili Cook-Off.
- Annual Spirit of Free Beer Homebrew Competition.
- Spirit of Belgium Conference and Homebrew Competition.
- Annual Real Ale Competition.
- Classes on various brewing topics, including preparation for the Beer Judge Certification Program exam.
- Periodic Pub Crawls in Washington and Baltimore.
- Periodic Bus Trips.
- Several bicycle tours each year.
- A libeery of brewing books and magazines for members' use.
- BURP's Internet Mailing List, BURPList, provides access to BURP members for the timely answering of brewing questions or to disseminate club information.
- And possibly the most important of all - access to the accumulated brewing knowledge and experience of the 300+ BURP members.
If you come to one of our meetings -
- Be prepared to talk beer and drink beer.
- Bring more beer than you drink and more food than you eat.
- Find a name tag and put it on.
- Sample (i.e. drink a small quantity of) other people's beer. Give constructive comments.
- Give other people samples of your beer.
- Chat freely with the first stranger you meet; that person won't be a stranger for long.
- But don't drive while intoxicated!