The City of Home-Brewerly Love

My wife and I rolled into the Marriott in downtown Philadelphia early on Thursday and fun was in the air. The lobby was packed with clusters of homebrew clubs decked out in club shirts, luggage carts buckling under the weight of dozens of beer bottles and homebrew equipment, and Sierra Nevada pouring pints in the corner. Yep, we were in the right place, and I was ready for the crowing event so far in my beer-loving life – the 2013 National Homebrewers Conference.

When we checked into the conference, I picked up the heaviest swag bag I have ever seen. It was overflowing with incredible stuff, including a coozie, hop-flavored lip balm, an air-lock, a yeast sample, and two commemorative beers, Cluster’s First Stand by Round Guys Brewing Co. and the Sly FoxBruclear Rye Saison, brewed just for the conference. It also included a small commemorative sampling glass and plastic mug that easily hung around our necks. These glasses were indispensable for the next three days as beer flowed.

The drinking didn’t stop during the many fun and informative seminars. The attitude was light-hearted and the presentations were a fun mix of homebrew expertise, fascinating background stories, and beer-guy humor. Did I mention beer was served throughout the seminars? While the speakers covered their various subjects, generous helpings of the beers being discussed were served throughout the audience.

The Colonial Brewing Practices seminar featured six historic beers, including George Washington’s and Thomas Jefferson’s beers, as well as massive bundles of the various herbs and spices used as ingredients in the beers. The seminar on brewing with wood featured a variety of wood beers (and wood jokes, which made the audience laugh and my wife roll her eyes). Not to be outdone, ‘Hops vs. Malts: A Smackdown with Cheese’ provided the crowd of more than 500 with trays upon trays of cheeses to enjoy side by side with various beers, where the audience voted on the best matches. With more than two dozen seminars over three days, the only downside was that you could not see all of them. All of the seminars are now available online for attendees.

Thursday night culminated with a welcome toast from the American Homebrewers Association (AHA). Charlie Papazian, author of the 1984 book Joy of Homebrewing – the sole resource for homebrewing for years – and the Founder and President of the AHA from 1979 to 2005, gave a welcome speech and toasted the audience with his famous catch-phrase “Relax, have a homebrew.” The highlight of the trip for me was getting to thank Charlie in person for the years of fun.

Immediately after the toast, the Pro-Brewers Night kicked off, where 48 craft breweries filled the convention hall and more than 3,000 beer lovers flowed around the room sampling over 200 beers, complete with baskets of Philly Soft Pretzels, chips, and snacks. As the event wound down around 11:00 PM, the Liberty Well Social Club, which was really a party, was kicking off and it ran until early in the morning.

As amazing as Thursday night was, Friday was a blowout and the greatest beer experience of my life. After a full day of seminars, “Club Night” kicked off at 8:00 PM. Over 80 homebrew clubs from across the country filled a convention hall with hundreds of homebrew kegs and the attendees, many in costumes, celebrated the joy of flowing homebrew.

It was, quite literally and objectively, the very best beer on the planet. Cutting-edge, insanely talented brewers poured up the very best they had to offer. From wonderful IPAs, to Belgian Tripels and Saisons, to some of the strangest beers imaginable, it was a carnival of deliciousness.

Long Island brewers served up a Scorpion Pepper beer, Maniacal Association of Shoreline Homebrewers poured a pineapple IPA and Northern Illinois Homebrew provided a smoked bacon porter. The Scioto Olentangy Darby Zymurgists served up nine single-hopped IPAs using new and cutting-edge hops. For the beer drinker, the entire experience was like having a golden ticket to a beer version of the Wonka Factory.

As a hophead, my favorite beers featured brand new hops I had never heard of but now love, like Nelson Sauvin and Mosaic. The crowd itself was joyous and everyone a quick friend.

Saturday night featured the grand banquet of food using beer as a key ingredient and beers from Rouge Ales. Dishes included roasted pork Stromboli and Belgian stout cheesecake. After the banquet, the winners of the National Homebrew Competition were announced. The first round of the competition had previously been judged at eleven sites and the final round was completed at the conference. The 2013 competition judged more than 2,000 brewers and 8,000 entries.

After three days of nonstop beer, three Philly cheesesteaks, and parties that lasted late into the morning, I will be counting the weeks until next year’s conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Want to see more photos? Check them out here.

Photos © Ed Bronson and Brewers Association.