The WIZARDS Home Brew club was founded in 1997 out the Stella Brewers when the Stella Brew Home Brew shop in Marlboro was sold. Our first meeting was at the Main Street Brewery in Worcester which sadly closed before our second meeting. From there we moved to the Vinotech Warehouse in Northboro for a few years then to our long-time home at Deja Brew in Shrewsbury. We met at Deja Brew from 2000 to 2023 with only a brief break for the COVID 19 pandemic when we met on Zoom. Since Deja Brew closed, we are meeting at various member’s home until a new permanent location is found.
Over the years we’ve had brewery visits, pub crawls, brewing and judging seminars, group brew days, an annual holiday party and countless other activities. Two of our longest running traditions are the annual Octoberfest Tasting and the Summer Swill-off, both held annually since 2000. We’ve also been participating in the New England Home Brew Jamboree since 2009.
For 14 years we held an annual home brew competition open to the public, complete with a brew day and awards ceremony on National Home Brew Day at Strange Brew. That’s been replaced by our inter-club only quarterly mini-comps which have been going on since 2012. As of 2023, we’ve brewed 33 different styles for the mini-comp and had 17 different winners. In 2023 we held the inaugural Central Mass Challenge club competition for us, the Strange Brewers, M4 and FOAM.
Over time approximately 150 members have passed through the club. Two from that first meeting at the Main Street Brewery are still with us. Fifteen members have gone into professional brewing: Keith A (Medusa), Dave T (Element), Greg G (Owen O’Leary’s), Dave H (3 Cross), Brian F (7th Wave), Brian M (unknown, Western Mass), Jamie S (Harpoon), John S (unknown), Damase O (Wormtown), Ben R (Murder Hill, Wormtown), Ron and Lisa G (Veterans Craft United), Jeremiah H (Cold Harbor), Brian P (Strange Brewery) and Matt G (KrafTea Kombucha).