I spent part of last week and the weekend in Cincinnati attending the National Homebrewers Conference. Over 1,300 dedicated brewers, along with over 600 kegs of hand-crafted beer, were also in attendance. This was my first NHC, and it will surely not be the last. I must admit, I am a little “Beer-ed out” as of now, but I am sure I will recover before FestivALL’s “Blues, Brews and BBQ” this weekend.

Day one of NHC was a work day… That’s right. Judging the final round of the National Homebrewers Competition is really hard work. I spent the afternoon smelling, swirling tasting and critiquing some of the finest homebrewed beer in the world. Then it was right into “Brewer’s Night,” where homebrewers are paid homage by many craft breweries treating us with their finest brews, many of which were specially made for the conference. We partied with the pros, most of who began as amateurs just like us.

NHC is not all about the party. I was wide awake each morning and sitting in a presentation hall by 9 a.m. to listen and learn from some of the world’s best brewers, both professional and amateur. Technical topics, such as “Yeast Management for High gravity Brewing,” were presented as well as important beer culture topics such as “10 signs of a perfect pint – and why you rarely find them,” which were just as engaging and informative.

Samuel Adams founder and brewer Jim Koch took the podium with “beer in hand” Friday evening, giving what was a heartfelt and entertaining keynote address. Jim noted that he was addressing the largest gathering of brewers anywhere in the 8,000 year history of beer. He also was keenly aware of his audience when he went for easy laughs at the expense of winemakers and their undying affection for their single ingredient. They are pressured to find flavors in wine that do not exist, he said.

The highlight, or you could say the spectacle, of the weekend was “Club Night”. This is when the homebrewers and their brewing clubs entertain and attempt to outdo each other, like a kegged and tapped version of the mummer’s parade. “Rocket City Brewers” of Huntsville, Ala., strutted its stuff with pseudo-NASA blue jumpsuits and Rocket shaped tap-handles. Then there was West Virginia’s very own “Greater Huntington Homebrewers”, who dressed in yellow raincoats, hung a few fishnets and called our booth “The Deadliest Batch”.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

The NHC is a great opportunity for brewers to leave their basement or garage breweries and find camaraderie, quirkiness and useful knowledge to improve their craft. I can only hope that more people who enjoy beer will find a friend who brews and offer to lend a helping hand at the next brew session. Or better yet, get online and order up a beginner’s kit to start their journey in a craft that is rewarding creatively, technically and really tastes good!

(Photos by Tim Lepley)

The rumors have been circulating for several months: global beverage giant Inbev of Belgium wants to buy Anheuser-Busch. Now, it’s official. Inbev has offered A-B shareholders an unprecedented $65 per share, making this something like a $50 billion deal. The financial pages of every major newspaper and magazine are touting the deal as a new page in the history of beer.

Interestingly, there is a contingent of U.S. citizens in a nationalistic uproar: “Some Ferrinners takin over Amerika’s Beer! How can y’all stand back and let this happen?!” Where was the outrage when Miller was purchased by South African Breweries, or when Daimler took over Chrysler? Frankly, I wish people were more concerned about energy independence and not “Beer Independence”! (more…)

Some of you may remember the commercial for a leading macro-lager showing someone wincing while drinking a competitive brand, making what was called a “bitter beer face.” This ad is ludicrous on so many levels. First of all, if you lined up all of the macro-lagers on a bar and tasted them, there is about as much difference between them as hamburgers from different McDonald’s locations. Secondly, “bitterness” is not a valid taste descriptor for any of the leading macros; there are barely enough hops in there to give the beer any character at all.

The real problem with this commercial is that it somehow tries to convince you that “bitter” flavor is a bad thing. These guys are trying appeal to your palate as if you were two years old. Yes, bitterness is a “bad thing” for most two year olds. It probably has something to do with our hard-wired “hunter-gatherer” operating systems, keeping the young’ins from eating potentially poisonous bitter berries. I guess if you want to be sure, go ask an anthropologist.

As we grow older and more adventurous, let’s hope we will take our taste buds on the journey. I admit that I have little patience with people that won’t try this or that for fear that it might taste bad… If it does, just spit it out! Grow up already! I am not talking about eating stuff like raw monkey brains or sheep’s eyeballs, (more…)

I thought I made a breakthrough a few weeks ago. After writing and ranting about better beer for nearly a year and a half, I was finally asked to recommend a beer selection to pair with a recipe in the Sunday Gazette-Mail. Wow! I was finally getting some respect from the Gazette’s foodies, Tara Tuckwiller and Robert Byers, who do the weekly “Main Ingredient” column. But the request did trigger a “red-flag.”

What I am talking about is “beer typecasting.” The first recipe they asked me to work with was Grilled Bratwurst, the second was Fried Catfish Tacos and the third was “Fish and Chips.” I was able to find what I thought were excellent beer choices to go with each. I noticed all along that none of the recipes fell into the “fine-cuisine” category; but more like cuisine you would find in a sport’s bar. I started to ask myself: ‘Am I (and better-beer) being played?’ I obliged them anyway, hoping for the best.

I withheld making any conclusions until this week. Where was that e-mail asking me to pair something with this week’s recipe? My inbox fell silent. Hmmm… My suspicions may have been confirmed this morning as I was sipping on my delicious black coffee and un-banding the Sunday Gazette-Mail. Oh! What’s this? A wonderfully delicious looking dish made with meat from a goat. Oooh, looky! It’s Parmesan and mint-crusted chops and looks like a fine dining entrée. “Hey, honey, they asked John Brown to give a wine recommendation for this dish. How nice.” What? No beer this week? I may just be jumping to conclusions here. Maybe it was a simple oversight on the part of Tuckwiller and Byers? Either way, the subject of typecasting needs to be discussed. (more…)