Here's the latest update on the National Homebrew Conference in Chicago (AKA "The MhBA Road Trip!")... TRANSPORTATION: I have confirmed our transportation - Minnesota Coaches Inc came in with the lowest bid. It is a 47-passenger coach, so we still have plenty of room! Deposits are due this Saturday in the amount of $150, made out to the "MHBA". If we get at least $24 people, this should pretty close to cover it. If we get more, we will refund the difference at the end of the trip. If any of our friends from other homebrew clubs are reading this (Leo, Susan, Cotton??) , could you please forward this invitation on to your members? You can send your deposits , made out as above, to me: Al Boyce 3208 Edgewood Ave So St.Louis Park, MN 55426 HOTEL - OUR BLOCK OF ROOMS: We have reserved 10 rooms in a block (close to each other) at the Holiday Inn-Chicago O'Hare in the name of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association. To reserve one of these rooms, call 1-800-HOLIDAY; ask for hotel code "CHIOK" and refer to the group code "MIN". It is $99 double occupancy - so that means if you split the room with another person, it will only be $49.50 per person. CONFERENCE REGISTRATION Still no news on the cost of registration for the conference. Keep your eye on the website listed below for details on that. Recollection was that the previous year was $185. AGENDA: MINNESOTA HOME BREWERS ROAD TRIP 2003 and 2003 AHA NATIONAL CONFERENCE (25th Annual) http://www.chibeer.org/aha03/ ACTIVITIES: WEDNESDAY: Wed, June 18: ROAD TRIP!!! - Bus leaves from Minneapolis! (6am) - **First Corny Keg is tapped (6:01am)** - ** Brewery Creek Brewpub,Mineral Point, WI (10:30am)** LUNCH/BEER BREAK!! - Leave Mineral Point (11:30am) - **Arrive New Glarus (12:30pm)** - Leave New Glarus (1:30pm) NAPTIME!!!! - Arrive in Chicago (4pm) Wed, June 18 - Preconference Pub Crawl (5:30pm) * Led by Roger Descher, Rock Bottom Chicago, Goose Island, Piece Brewpubs, The Map Room, etc. THURDSAY: Thu, June 19 - Kickoff Luncheon (12-1:30pm) Thu, June 19 - Registration, (1:30-5pm) Thu, June 19 - AHA Nationals Second-Round Judging (1:30-5pm) (Contact: Steve McKenna, 630-305-0554, mckennst(a)earthlink.net) Thu, June 19 - Seminars: Evaluating Beer (7-11pm, specific sessions TBD) Thu, June 19 - Club Night (7-11pm, Beer, Food, Booths) (Contact: aha2003(a)chibeer.org if we want a booth) FRIDAY: Fri, June 20 - Judges' Breakfast (8-9am) Fri, June 20 - Alewives on Wheels (for spouses: Culture, Eating, Shopping, Beer!) (10am-4pm) Fri, June 20 - AHA Nationals Second-Round Judging (9a-Noon) (Contact: Steve McKenna, 630-305-0554, mckennst(a)earthlink.net) Fri, June 20 - Seminars: Homebrew / Probrew (12-1:30pm) Fri, June 20 - AHA Members Lunch and Feedback Session (1:30-5pm) Fri, June 20 - Seminars: Biere Belge/Bier Belghe (1:30-5pm) * A Wild Tasting * The Art of Belgian Beer * The Rarest of the Rare: Exploring Belgium's most Exotic Styles Fri, June 20 - Seminars: British Ales and German Lagers (1:30-5pm) * Masters Class in Cellarmanship * The Purity of German Lager Fri, June 20 - Grand Banquet (Time: TBD) SATURDAY: Sat, June 21 - Hyper/Techno/Geek Sessions - Advanced Brew Talks Sat, June 21 - Boot Camp for Brewers w/ Charlie Papazian (1-6pm) TOPICS: * Barley, Malting and the Importance of Kilning * The Varieties and Uses of Hops * Basic Extract and Adjunct Brewing Procedures * Sanitation * Recipe Formulation * Yeast Types and Their Uses * Fermentation Technique * Bottling, Kegging and "Real" Homebrew * Common Faults, Their Causes, and Prevention * Beer Evaluation and Appreciation Sat, June 21 - Real Beer, Real Food (Walk- Around sampling, tasting event) (Time: TBD) PLUS: Hospitality Suites 50-gallons of Bourbon-barrel Imperial Stout Commemorative Mead SUNDAY: Sun, June 22 - ROAD TRIP, PART DEUX - Leave Chicago (9am) - **Arrive at Great Dane, Madison, WI (11:30am) LUNCH/BEER BREAK!** - Leave Great Dane (1:30pm) - Arrive Minneapolis (6:30pm) ROSTER THUS FAR - let me know if this has changed.... Al Boyce Beth Williams Steve Piatz Janis Sines Chris Hadden Jonathan Crist (and?) Steve Fletty Joni Fletty Betsy Kremser Jim Ellingson Ron Wolgram Jim Laroque Marc Donnelly John Longballa Dawn Longballa Leo Vitt Karl Gunderson Mike Moranz Sue Moranz Paul Johnsen ?? Johnsen Mark Glewwe ?? Glewwe ----- Forwarded by Allan V Boyce/MN/USB on 01/29/2003 10:03 AM ----- "Steve Hamburg" <shamburg@shambu To: rg.com> cc: Subject: National Homebrew Conference 2003 Update 01/29/2003 09:13 AM American Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Conference Holiday Inn Chicago-O'Hare International, Thanks for your patience, everybody. We've now kicked this thing into high gear. Here's the latest news: Block Programming Focuses Interest This year, we're arranging the speakers' presentations into blocks dealing with specific topics of interest. There are half-day units on Belgian brewing, beer evaluation, German & English beers, and several others including the Boot Camp (see below) and a Hyper-Techno-Ultra-Geek session. Most times there are two different blocks going so you'll have a choice, and you can go back and forth as you please. Go to http://www.chibeer.org/aha03/schedule.html and check out the whole schedule. Charlie Papazian to Host Boot Camp for Brewers This intensive training for the new or not-so-new brewer will take place on the morning of Saturday, June 21. Sessions will be conducted by a number of well-known brewing authors and authorities, hosted by America's favorite homebrewer, Charlie Papazian. Stir that pot, maggots! BC4B will be a four-hour intensive training session that will take you from grain to glass with a series of short, but intensive sessions covering all aspects of brewing, including demonstrations of extract and all-grain brewing. Here's a preliminary list of topics: * Barley, malting, and the importance of kilning * The varieties and uses of hops * Basic extract + adjunct brewing procedure * Sanitation * Recipe formulation * Yeast types and their use * Fermentation technique * Bottling, kegging and "real" homebrew * Common faults, their causes, and prevention * Beer evaluation and appreciation Sessions will be conducted by a number of well-known brewing authors and authorities. Charlie sez "Hop, two, three, four. Hop, two, three, four! About the host: Charlie Papazian is the founder of the AHA as well as the Institute for Brewing Studies and The Association of Brewers. Charlie is also the author of a number of homebrewing books, including the very popular The New Complete Joy of Homebrewing. His wit and wisdom have contributed immensely to the creation and appreciation of quality beer in this country and around the world. His enthusiasm, humor, and knowledge should help make this introductory course one of the best ever offered. Prizes Offered for Club Night Get all your pals together and show some team spirit at Thursday night's Club Fest, a celebratory potluck of beer and food. Prizes will be offered for the best booth, for the club with the best beer & food pairing, and for the club that brings the most beer with them to the conference (competition beers count triple), sponsored by the Chicago Beer Society. There is no cost for a table for your club, except for an item or two to be donated for the raffle. Contact Joe Formanek at jformanek(a)griffithlabs.com. Hospitality Room already filled up! Nearly 6 months prior to the conference, all slots for clubs to host the Hospitality Room have already been taken. The best we can do is put your club on a waiting list. Again, contact jformanek(a)griffithlabs.com. AleWives on Wheels Offers Fun for the Non-Brewing Significant Other Nothing to do but mope around by the pool? Not at our conference. This escapade will whisk non-brewers away for a little lunch, a little shopping, maybe a little culture during the middle of the day on Friday. Itinerary will be based on interest and number of attendees. Send inquiries to aha2003(a)chibeer.org. Online Registration is Coming The Association of Brewers' web site has been undergoing a recent revamping, plus the organization has switched their Internet services company. The latter has resulted in some temporary instability that has slightly delayed our implementation of online registration for the conference. When all technical problems have been corrected and a more stable environment is restored, online registration will be available. We will notify you via this mailing list as soon as online registration is available. Thanks for your patience. Stay tuned to future developments at our usual web location: http://www.chibeer.org/aha03 Cheers!