The Brew Brothers of Pikes Peak homebrew club started from humble beginnings. With it’s roots in 2002, the group started with the name B2C when James Clark, Ray Charlebois, and Mike Bordick realized they they all homebrewed beer. The B2C name came from the members’ last names (Bordick, Clark and Charlebois). James and Ray were soon transferred on military assignments out of the area, but Mike was able to stick around and in 2005 he found some other curious folks who wanted to brew. These included Bobby Thompson (BobbyBrew) and Rich Mock (DinoBrew). BobbyBrew came up with the catch phrase ‘Independent Together’ and his son designed the logo. The phrase references our desire to all get together to brew, sometimes it just doesn’t work out and we brew on our own, but in the end we’re all a part of the club. (Anecdote – not to mention that BobbyBrew somehow remembered the phrase from Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer.) DinoBrew came up with the name Brew Brothers, which changed to Brew Brothers of Pikes Peak when merging with the homebrew club Deep Wort/Homebrewers of Pikes Peak (HoPP).*
You may be curious at this point about the call signs given to members…the history of giving call signs stems from the club’s initial military influences and fighter pilot culture where aspects of the pilot’s character or appearance are capture in the name. Now, the tradition has grown so that call signs are often given to other homebrew members as they join the club. Mike’s penchant for guitars and brewing led to AxeBrew, Rich being the old guy and protecting the reputation of dinosaurs (ask him!) led to DinoBrew and Bob’s love of English ales and being an enforcer led to BobbyBrew (English policeman).
In 2006 the group brought on John Garbett (JohnnyBrew) as its first president and quickly expanded membership and began leading a beer judge certification class. The club’s main event is sponsoring the homebrew competition at Peterson Air Force Base. The BBoPP worked with the competition’s manager to register the event with the American Homebrewer’s Association and conduct the judging according to BJCP guidelines. The event has expanded to be one of the largest homebrew competitions in Colorado.
*The Brew Bros merged with the homebrew club Deep Wort/Homebrewers of Pikes Peak. The origin of the Deep Wort Brew Club is unclear. None of the original
members are still active in the current club. The longest active club member joined the club in 1987. In this age it’s hard to imagine what little information was available to the homebrewer in the 1980’s, homebrewers meeting together and sharing resources and skills was an invaluable thing. One popular activity was an annual campout in the mountains where the club would brew a batch of beer together. In 1995 the club held classes for the Beer Judge Certification Program and a number of club members became judges. At this time the club got involved with organizing the homebrew competition at the Colorado State Fair. In 2008 the club decided that it needed a new name and they became the Homebrewers of Pikes Peak (HoPP). In 2010, under the leadership of Nick Brunetti, they started talks with the members of the Brew Brothers homebrew club to combine clubs. Unfortunately, Nick would not be around to see the clubs combine. On March 9th, 2010 he died suddenly at the young age of 32. The annual beer bus the club take to tour breweries around Colorado’s front range is named the Nick Brunetti Memorial Beer Bus.
Now we’ve been through many team changes and the group has really grown. Because of the military affiliation many members have and other member moves, we actually have a Chapter in Virginia (which includes original member James Clark, along with Bobby Thompson and psycho-geek brewer Corey Ramsby) and there is a blossoming chapter in Austin, TX (DerrickBrew).