Thanks for your hard work on this guys!
This thread is a good spot to look at how far we've come in terms of the club's public presence in only a few years. Each transition has represented a major leap for the club.
(I’m doing this from memory, so if the dates are off, or if I’ve missed something, please let me know, and I’ll fix them)
January 2010: club founded.
Early 2010:
- Individual accounts put up on "Picaroon's Pub" to promote the idea of getting a club together. This was a local forum put up by Picaroons for marketing and to connect local beer people. It appears to be defunct now.
- Posters for the newly formed “Fredericton Craft Brewers Association” distributed on campuses, to local businesses, and basically anywhere in town that would allow it.
- Beginning of regular postings on kijiji and other classified ad type sites
Spring 2010:
- small group of members, everyone involved in recruiting new people
- Google group (defunct) launched to promote FCBA and arrange local meetings (first at Snooty fox, then Garrison, then members’ houses, then Picaroons brewery, then members’ houses again)
Summer 2010: fcba.webs.com (defunct)
- our first proper (term used lightly) forum with a limited front end.
- Free site as club had no money at the time, limited functionality, but beginning of real online community
January 2011:
- Craftbrewing.ca (now parked)
- A huge improvement, proper forum, PM ability
- Owned / maintained by Richard Bennett, club able to use for no cost.
2012:
- craftbrewing.ca expands to offer online venue to other Canadian brew clubs as potential hub for a series of groups
- possibility of club Chapters emerges with craftbrewing.ca being the host
- front end put on the site with news and a logo.
2013:
- realization of club’s virtual presence as club-owned asset
- committee of three members (ChrisCraig, Brew, Fakr) to run it for now, but asset owned by the club.
Each step has increased the strength of the club, looking forward to the future!