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2003 AHA Conference
by Ron Smith
Enjoying some over the top homebrews with Larry Bell (i.e. Bells beers)
that included:
Club Night, Club Night, Club Night.
More great beer and food than can be described - this was a blast! The costumes, characters and general craziness will not easily be forgotten either.
The Hospitality Room.
WOW! There was more homebrew flowing in this room than I have ever seen, and it was 24/7 (literally). At any one time, there were probably 20+ homebrews on tap. This room was a non-stop party.
A toast to Bill Friday, delivered by Ed Bronson at the Grand Banquet.
There were 400-600 people in attendance and it seemed like everyone knew Bill (although perhaps as "The Button Guy"). Ed showed a short slide show of photos of Bill at various events. This was very memorable.
A seminar with Ray Daniels on how they made beer prior to 1720.
Mostly oats, lots of spices, no hops, 2 day fermentations and it's ready to drink. And drink it we did - he had made some as authentically as possible, and we drank it straight from the primary. It wasn't really that good, but I could see how people pre-1720 would have drank it - what the hell, it's still beer.
A seminar with Roger Deschner on Kolsch.
Photos from Cologne, a complete history, and of course, samples of this wonderful, subtle beer.
The Grand Banquet / Awards Dinner.
Lots of beer from Rogue, the sponsor, as well as some cask-conditioned homebrews, a nice steak dinner and almost a table full of Hoosier homebrewers. Joining Randy, Tom and myself, was Tom Wallbank and Kevin Cox. Tom Wallbank is a great local homebrewer with several State Fair medals to his honor. He went up to the conference by himself and we just happened to bump into him, so he joined us for the dinner. Kevin Cox, also a great local homebrewer with several State Fair medals to his honor, had 2 beers that advanced to the final round of the AHA competition, so he came up just for the dinner / awards announcement. Unfortunately he didn't win, but we did, because he brought samples of both beers. They were very, very good beers, so the competition must have been fierce.
Those are my personal highlights, which seems like plenty, yet I missed the pub crawl and the entire last day of the conference (which focused on beer and food, and sounds like it was an awesome day). This conference was huge compared to the last one I went to in Cleveland 4 or 5 years ago. Granted, this one may have been special because of the great beer clubs around Chicago that hosted it, but I think the AHA is as strong as ever, and there are good clubs all across the country. Thus, I already can't wait for next year's conference in Las Vegas. This one should be a lot of fun as well.
Below is my edited version of the AHA's press release on the conference:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Association of Brewers' annual Homebrewers Conference Shatters Attendance Record
Beer and Food a Major Theme
Boulder, Colo. . June 26, 2003 - A record number of America's homebrewers, professional craft brewers and beer and food enthusiasts gathered in Chicago this past weekend to sharpen their palates, expand their horizons and crown the best amateur brewers in America. The 25th annual American Homebrewers Association national conference, succeeded on all fronts. A crowd of more than 750 enjoyed 238 five gallon kegs (more than 1,200 gallons) of home-brewed beer. Conference attendance was more than triple the number from the previous year. The American Homebrewers Association (AHA) is a division of the Association of Brewers. Photos from the conference can be found on www.beertown.org.
"The attendance, enthusiasm and speaker lineup far exceeded our expectations. The Chicago area clubs are a big reason this conference was such a success," comments Paul Gatza, director of the AHA.
International beer authority Michael Jackson, a long time friend of American homebrewers, kicked off the conference by stressing the importance of homebrewing in the development of the American craft brewing movement, which is now the envy of the beer-drinking world.
Other conference speakers included renowned brewers and authors such as Charlie Papazian, president and founder of the Association of Brewers and the American Homebrewers Association; Ray Daniels, author of Designing Great Beers and editor of The New Brewer and Zymurgy; Peter Bouckaert, Brewmaster, New Belgium Brewing Co. former brewer at Rodenbach.; Todd Ashman, Brewer, Flossmoor Station Restaurant & Brewery; Tom Nickel, Head Brewer for the Oggi's Pizza and Brewing Co. ; and Larry Bell, Founder and Brewer, Kalamazoo Brewing Company.
Highlights from the conference included:
Thursday's annual club night, with attendance close to 450, had groups from different communities vie for attention with homemade beers, foods and costumes. Groups dressed as bowlers, monks, prisoners and gangsters, manning their booths while dishing out everything from Ohio sauerkraut balls to Texas barbeque and filling cups with everything from roasted pepper ale to oily black Imperial Stout.
Judging and sensory training are a common part of homebrew activities and this year was no exception. Both amateur and professional beer judges presented seminars aimed at helping brewers learn more about beer flavor and the causes of both good and bad flavors in beer. Particularly notable this year was Dr. Ed's House of Bad Beer Horrors, which presented beer off-flavors in a Halloween dungeon environment complete with Dr. Ed in a Dracula costume and a display of spooky "beers" containing live leeches and other made-up horrors.
Presentations at this year's conference covered a wide range of topics including brewing, beer culture and food. In addition to the usual talks on specific beer styles and brewing techniques (German Lagers, Wood-Aged Beers), this year's program sought to include other food arts such as cheese making and sourdough bread baking and also included several talks on matching beer with food.
"As a shop owner, I can't imagine any better way to have hands on contact with our customers and potential new customers, plus gaining tons of new ideas," expresses Chris Graham of Beer Beer & More Beer. "As a homebrewer, it was the mecca for brewing knowledge and talent. And as a Beer Lover, the Chicago clubs did a fantastic job supplying great quality beer."
Lucy Saunders, author of Cooking with Beer and beercook.com , led off this section talking about techniques and approaches for cooking with beer. She was followed by Garrett Oliver, brewmaster of the Brooklyn Brewery and author of the recently published The Brewmaster's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer and Real Food. His talk spanned the range of beers and food available for pairing. The third talk in the series paired thirteen beers with different cheeses with some surprising results. The overwhelming favorite of those present was Alba Scots Pine Ale paired with and eight-year aged cheddar from Wisconsin's Carr Valley. Finally, the afternoon's parade of beer and food ended with dessert as Fred Eckhardt paired beer with a range of chocolate concoctions, which included: Corsendonk Belgian Abbey Tripel with chile pepper fudge; Three Floyds' Robert The Bruce Scottish Ale with Belgian hazelnut milk chocolate truffles; Two Brothers' Brown Fox Ale with Eli's Chocolate Cheesecake.
Saturday night's event called Real Beer Real Food was a walk-around tasting of food and beer open to the general public. "It's an attempt to cross-pollinate the craft food and beer worlds," says event organizer Randy Mosher. "We wanted to show people how many great combinations of food and beer there are, to show it off in it's proper context. And as it has for the last few thousand years, it makes for a pretty enjoyable party." More than 750 guests enjoyed American and imported craft beer of every description, along with foods including artisanal cheese, smoked meats and sausage, pickles, bread, and more, including beer-infused cheesecake and ice cream.
"You guys made a mistake. You forgot Elvis's lesson 'Always leave 'em wanting more.' You gave them everything," comments Ken Schramm, author and conference speaker. Schramm signed and sold 200 copies of his new book from the Association of Brewers, The Compleat Meadmaker.
The conference banquet, sponsored by Rogue Ales, was held Friday evening with more than 500 guests. As customary, the AHA Board of Advisors Recognition award was presented. This year's winner was Russ Wigglesworth, a volunteer judge with the BJCP for eight years and pillar in the homebrewing community.
Second-round judging of the AHA National Homebrew Competition was held onsite June 18 - 19 during the conference. The best of 3,340 beer and mead entries from U.S. and Canadian homebrewers that advanced to the second round of the competition were judged.
Winners of the competition were announced at the banquet and were awarded gold, silver or bronze medals in 29 style categories. The National Homebrew Competition winners list follows in a separate press release.
The organizing committee included Brewers of South Suburbia (BOSS), Chicago Beer Society (CBS) and Urban Knaves of Grain (UKG).
The 2003 National Homebrewers Conference sponsors are Goose Island, Rogue Ales, Tote-a-Keg, Wyeast Laboratories, Inc., Beer Beer & More Beer and White Labs.
