FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Cindy Jones, Association of Brewers cindy(a)aob.org, +1.303.447.0816, ext. 144 Fax: +1.303.447.2825 www.beertown.org For a hard copy of the news release: http://www.beertown.org/pr/pdf/bigbrew.pdf __________________________________________________ American Homebrewers Association celebrates National Homebrew Day with 6th Annual Big Brew Boulder, Colo. * April 14, 2003- The American Homebrewers Association® (AHA) celebrates National Homebrew Day with its 6th Annual Big Brew event May 3, 2003. AHA Big Brew is celebrated each year on the first Saturday in May. During the event, thousands of homebrewers and non-brewers from around the world unite in brewing the same recipes and sharing a simultaneous toast May 3 at noon Central Time. In 1979, the American Homebrewers Association originally claimed National Homebrew Day to be the first Saturday in May. On May 7, 1988, Congress officially recognized National Homebrew Day. The AHA is a division of the Association of Brewers, established 1978 in Boulder, Colo., U.S.A. This year, Big Brew participants register their brewing sites, receive this year's recipes, participate in the special AHA Membership Drive Contest and print out Big Brew posters and press releases on www.beertown.org. The registered sites help the AHA track how many participants celebrate the event. "It's a great way to connect with others who share a love of homemade beer," said Sonja Burris, owner and operator of Bet-Mar Liquid Hobby Shop, Columbia, S.C. "We can spend a day with show-and-tell, or teach-and-taste to help others become aware of this fun and cost-effective hobby." To celebrate AHA Big Brew, Burris and members of the local homebrew club, Palmetto State Brewers, will brew a batch of beer on Bet-Mar Liquid Hobby Shop's front porch. They'll share each other's homebrew and participate in the Big Brew simultaneous toast. Last year, more than 2,000 homebrewers at 196 registered sites spanning five continents brewed 5,235 gallons of homebrew - equivalent to 2,327 cases of beer. In honor of the AHA's 25th anniversary, the AHA dusted off the Vagabond Gingered Ale recipe that appeared in the first issue of the AHA's homebrew magazine, Zymurgy, published December 1978. The second recipe is a clone of the legendary Anchor Steam beer, which was instrumental in kicking off the U.S. craft brewing revolution in the 1980s. The Big Brew site that recruits the most AHA membership years for the AHA Membership Drive Contest wins a complete set of Zymurgy - valued at $413. Each Big Brew site receives an entry into the AHA Membership Drive Contest drawing for each new or renewing member they sign up for AHA membership. Membership forms are provided to the sites' membership coordinators or can be downloaded on www.beertown.org. Big Brew participants are encouraged to promote the event around their community with posters and press releases found on www.beertown.org. For Big Brew event information, visit www.beertown.org. 2003 sponsors are: Briess Malting Company, www.briess.com; Party Pig® by Quoin, www.partypig.com; Wyeast Laboratories, Inc., www.wyeastlab.com. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Based in Boulder, Colo., U.S.A., the Association of Brewers (AOB) is a not-for-profit educational and trade association for small and craft brewers. Its mission is to make quality brewing and beer 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 association's 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. # # #