-----Original Message-----
From: Association of Brewers [mailto:cindy@aob.org]
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 5:16 PM
To: mmoranz(a)net-info.com
Subject: PR: Homebrewers Conference Shatters Attendance Record!
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 Americas
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:
Thursdays 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 years 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 years 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 Wisconsins Carr Valley. Finally, the
afternoons 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 years 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.
Some of the highlights of the awards were the crowning of
Homebrewer and
Homebrew Club of the Year. Bruce Stott of Hop River Brewers
in Rockville,
Conn. was named Homebrewer of the Year for his Cee Cee Schwarz beer.
Homebrewer of the Year, sponsored by Muntons P.L.C., is given
to the Best of
Show beer from the 24 beer categories. Homebrew Club of the
Year, sponsored
by Coopers Brew Products, went to QUAFF for the third year in
a row making
them only the second club ever to secure the award for more
than two years
running.
The Ninkasi Award, sponsored by Boston Beer Company, is given to the
winningest brewer in the 24 beer categories, with six points
for a gold
medal, four points for a silver medal, and two points for a
bronze medal.
For the second year in a row the award went to Curt Hausam of
Salem, Ore.
Meadmaker of the Year, sponsored by Redstone Meadery, was
given to Paul
Zocco of Andover, Conn. This award is given to the Best of
Show mead from
the three mead categories. Cidermaker of the Year was
awarded to Steve
Olson of Menasha, Wis. and is given to the Best of Show cider
from the cider
category.
Tony Simmons of Colorado is the lucky AHA member whose name
was drawn during
the awards banquet for the Lallemand Scholarship. The
Lallemand Scholarship
awards one AHA member with the full cost of a two-week
Concise Course to the
Siebel Institute valued at $2,750 and a $1,000 USD stipend to
assist with
travel and accommodations.
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.
The American Homebrewers Association is a division of the
Association of
Brewers, established 1978 in Boulder, Colo., U.S.A. In 1979,
200 people
attended the first AHA National Homebrewers Conference held
in Boulder,
Colo. Now the conference is recognized as the worlds
largest-attended
conference devoted to amateur brewers.
Based in Boulder, Colo., U.S.A., the Association of Brewers (AOB) is a
not-for-profit educational, trade association for small and
craft brewers.
Its mission is to make quality beer and brewing knowledge
accessible to all.
Visit the website:
www.beertown.org to learn more.
The Association of Brewers has an additional membership
division of 8,000+
homebrewers: American Homebrewers Association.
The associations activities include events and publishing:
World Beer Cup®;
Great American Beer Festival®; Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo
America®; National Homebrewers Conference; National Homebrew
Competition;
American Beer Month (July); Zymurgy magazine; The New Brewer
magazine; and
books on beer and brewing.
CONTACT:
Association of Brewers
Cindy Jones, Sales and Marketing Director
Phone: +1.303.447.0816, ext. 144
Fax: +1.303.447.2825
E-mail: cindy(a)aob.org
Web Site:
www.beertown.org