Day 3

The National Homebrewing Champioships are the biggest (in terms of numbers) brewing competition in the world. This year over 5000 entries were received and by the time the 2nd round was held on the first day of the National Homebrewing Conference that number had been reduced to 628. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to judge on the same table as BJCP Grandmaster Level III Judge Dave Houseman. So deep are the stocks of qualified judges that only 9 beers were judged per panel. It was a great experience and went off like clockwork brilliantly organized by Brian Mertz, Janis Gross, Gordon Strong amongst others..
   
Judges hard at work.                      My co-judges Rick Garvin, & Tammy Plym from Albuquerque.

While it was a great experience, it was the Conference that I came for. The opening presentation was given by Denver Mayor John Hinkenlooper. John is a homebrewer who opened the first of the pub breweries in the Lodo area on the edge of central Denver, Wynkoop in the late 1980’s.

I discovered that another Australian had made the trip over to Denver. Peter Symons is a keen all grain brewer with the ESB Club in Sydney. He had been known to travel to Melbourne to judge in our Nationals and so I guess that I should not have been surprised that he took a diversion on the way back from a Railway Signalling conference in Britain to drop in on this one. Peter is a sometime customer of Grain and Grape who I had met at our stand at Beertopia a few years back.

I bumped Peter at the Beer, Beer and More Beer stand as I was catching up with Jason Petros (JP to listeners of “The Brewing Network”) and Chris Graham in the hospitality suite at the Conference. The hospitality suite is a great innovation. Basically a trade show for the Conference that doubles as a bar for attendees. Clubs are rostered on to provide hospitality (Beer, Mead and Cider and snacks) for a two hour period on a rotating basis. This gives attendees a great opportunity to try some of the best homebrews around while the Conference Seminars are being held. Dashing to the hospitality suite between each seminar is mandatory.
           

Chris Graham and Jason Petros of              Eric Warner at the Conference
More Beer in the Hospitalty Suite.                            Reception at Flying Dog.

John and I headed of to the first of two great presentations by two of the great innovative brewers of the craft brewing scene in the US. Vinnie Cilurzo is the owner/brewer at Russian River Brewing Co (www.russianriverbrewing.com). Famous for their Pliny the Elder Double IPA, Russian River is equally well know for his sour beers and this presentation - Brewing Sours Beers at Home Using Traditional & Alternative Methods was of particular interest to me as an enthusiast of Flanders Reds in particular. Vinnie is an engaging and humorous presenter, well connected in brewing industry in the US and in Belgium.

Matt Brynildson, the brewer at Firestone Walker is a different kettle of fish. Much more subdued with a very serious approach to a more serious type of beermaking, he took us through the exhaustive production process of Firestone Walker’s Double Barrel Ale in “Creating Flavors Through Blending”.
After the Matt’s presentation, Peter and I headed with Dave Logsdon and John Graber back into LODO to the Flying Dog Brewery for a Conference reception. There we joined Eric Warner and 70 or so conference attendees for a lighthearted get together. There were brief presentations from Dave, Jon and Eric, a fresh tex- mex banquet and a chance to work our way through the through the Flying Dog range. The Snake Dog IPA, a high powered North West ale was tasting best.

We took the trip back to the Conference hotel in time for the first official function of the Conference – Pro brewers night. 25 Craft breweries local and national. Included were some of the best known in the US – Dogfish Head, Boston Beer Company, Left Hand, Odell, Avery, New Belgium and the Redstone Meadery. From a brewing perspective, highlights of the night were the Russian River Pliny the Elder and Damnation a Strong Golden Ale, and Firestone Walker’s Reserve a wood aged dark ale.  But the real highlight of the night was getting together with a few hundred keen homebrewers and having a chat. A personal highlight was meeting Jamil Zainasheff AKA Mr Malty, well known to most Australian brewers for his podcast radio program on The Brewing Network and writing for BYO magazine.
                                              

Matt Brynildson (left) and Vinnie Cilurzo on pro brewers night.

Justin (centre) from The Brewing Network   David Myers of Redsone Meadery.

After the official function, the evening continued in the hospitality suite as I caught up with Mike Bardallas and Anne. Anne grew up in Melbourne and I met them at the Conference in Baltimore in 2005 and we caught up again when they dropped in at our old shop in Maidstone in 2005. They are two of the characters of the scene, always bringing great costumes for the Probrewer and Club nights and having a serious love of great beer. Mike is also a National level BJCP judge and a very good brewer.

I spent a bit of time with Jason and the guys from More Beer and met Justin from “The Brewing Network”, who I’d been swapping emails with for quite a while. Then later we moved back to suite of Conference Organizing Committee Co-Chair Bob Kauffman for a private tasting of some of his best beers. Bob, who has missed only one Conference since 1994 (the other co-Chair Jim Horner has been to every conference since they began in 1979) opened his suite each evening to a lucky few. It was very civilized. At about 2.30 I headed back to my room and checked emails then realized that Richmond was playing Melbourne. I tuned to the ABC and listened until the end of the game to hear Richmond win their first game of the season.

                
Tom Schmidlin & Greg Doss going over Tom’s yeast seminar in 2 days time while Matt Brynildson & Jon Graber enjoy a 2am game of pool in Bob Kauffman’s suite.

Day 4

After a brief few hours sleep I got up just in time to make the John Palmer water presentation at 9 am. Not quite sure it all sank in. I missed the following lecture as the combined effects of jet lag, lack of sleep, altitude, heat and beer finally took effect.

After a brief nap I headed to the salubrious suburb of Aurora to “The Brew Hut” and also home of Dry Dock Brewing Company. A very neat shop with a great range of top quality brewing products. Probably the best brew shop I have seen in the US outside of Beer, Beer and More Beer. I had tried a couple of their beers the night before (very good) and was amazed to see how they ran the operation with a large shop at the front and a brewery and bar at the back.

I headed back to the Conference to catch the Keynote presentation of Pieter Bouckaert of New Belgium. Peter gave a very amusing talk summarizing his brewing history in Belgium and the USA and a dissertation on the importance of beer style to Belgians – not very in his opinion. His presentation can be heard at www.basicbrewingradio.com.

Following this was a fantastic presentation from the lively Lauren Salazar – head of the Sensory Lab at New Belgium Brewing Company with doctored beers – a logistical nightmare with 300 people in the room.

That evening was the Club night. The most casual and social event of a very social and relaxed Conference. Twenty five clubs set up themed booths.
The beers were great and interesting and the stands and costumes were unbelievable. I have never tried as many versions of Berliner Weiss in my life.
Lots of barrel aged and barrel fermented beers and loads of great meads. Once again a great opportunity to chat and meet brewers, many of whom wander around with beers they brought along. A highlight was having a chat with Randy Mosher – mainly talking about my favourite wine style – Pinot Noir – while tasting a fantastic Saison of his.

The Foam on the Range Groove Room with our pre ConferenceTour leader Lance (right).

            
Carboy Club of North Carolina                       Annette May and Mike Bardallis in their
                                                                              usual conservative style.

                          
More Beer sponsored Club Night. It was brilliantly organized & hosted by Dottie Klemp.

After the big night before and knowing there was another to follow, I decided to make an early exit.

Day 5

I awoke feeling great and finally feeling that I had adjusted to the jet lag, heat and altitude. A pity there was only one more day. The day was filled with Seminars – Dave Houseman, famed beer judge, writer and AHA Governing Committee member on Practical Brewing for better beer. Charlie Talley from Five Star Chemical Company, the man who single-handedly turned homebrewers away from Bleach, Sodium Metabisulphite and Caustic Soda, gave a thorough history and practical rundown on the Proper use of Sanitizers.

After a quick dash to the Disney Store and an Arts and Crafts Museum in downtown Denver for gifts, I made it back in time to see the now familiar Eric Warner giving a sparkling presentation on Innovation in Wheat Beer Brewing. Finally, the most technical presentation by that beer obsessive, Tom Schmidlin – 2006 Beer drinker of the year entitled Freeze your Yeast! Long term storage options for your most precious strains.

The end of the last presentation had me feeling a bit misty, so I popped over to the Hospitality Suite for a top-up before heading onto the BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) AGM for a brief presentation on the Australian scene, and then up to prepare for the Grand Banquet and National Homebrew Competition Awards Ceremony.

800 beer enthusiasts filled the hall an hour or so later. I was lucky enough to be at one of the front tables with the More Beer boys, Justin from The Brewing Network and John Palmer among others. The Rogue Brutal Bitter was flowing and people were flitting from table to table.

John Palmer with his award and our table at the Grand Banquet.

The atmosphere was casual and warm - few suits and ties and lots of laughter. Garry Glass – the Director of the Brewers Association – hosted maintaining the theme of the Conference theme of “Brewing with Altitude” by ascending the stage in hiking gear. A lifetime achievement award for John Palmer brought a standing ovation from the crowd and tears from John. When it was time for the prize giving – Jamil Zainasheff was the star winning 3 gold medals and a silver for a second Ninkasi award (Brewer of the year) in 4 years.

There were long sad farewells in the Hospitality Suite before a final couple of drinks in Bob…. Suite with the Wyeast boys, Tom Schmidlin and assorted insomniacs. My final memory is of John Palmer and the crowd devouring my jar of vegemite on Matzos in Bob’s room. My contribution to cultural exchange.

Postscript

My flight was not due to leave until 8pm so I took a bus up into the Rockies to the skiing town of Breckenridge. The views were stunning as were the restaurants and cafes - maybe there is a possibility for a return visit for a family holiday – and there’s a brewery in the centre of town.

To get more AHA info, PDFs of almost all of the seminars can be seen at http:///www.beertown.org/events/hbc/speakerpresentation.html. Many of the presentations can also be seen and/or heard at www.basicbrewing.com and www.thebrewingnetwork.com.