The Washington Homebrewers Association publicly announced today that the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) National Homebrewers Conference is coming to Bellevue in 2012. Each year a significant portion of the AHA’s 26,000 members descend upon one lucky city to share their love of homebrew and beer in general. Next year, they’re coming to Bellevue. While the secret has not been very well kept, it is official as of today. The AHA wanted to wait until the 2011 conference had concluded before they announced the location of the 2012 conference.

This is a bigger deal than you might be thinking. The 2011 AHA National Homebrewers Conference, held this past weekend in San Diego, was attended by nearly 2,000 homebrewers from across the nation. No doubt there will be many great beer events—for homebrewers and other beer lovers—planned around the conference. We will have more details in the coming months. The event is scheduled for June 21-23, 2012.

Below is the official announcement we received this morning via Nate Muller, the Washington Beer Blog’s Senior Homebrew Correspondent.

Homebrew correspondent Nate Muller (dark shirt on left) and fellow homebrewers participate in a podcast from the 2011 AHA National Homebrewers Conference.

The Washington Homebrewers Association is proud to publicly announce that the 2012 National Homebrewers Conference will be held in Bellevue, Washington from June 21^st-23^rd at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue. This is the largest annual gathering of homebrewers in the country and is an event not to miss. It features three days of educational seminars from homebrewers, craft brewers, and industry professionals, hosting of the second round of the National Homebrew Competition (the world’s largest beer competition), a local craft brewers festival, industry exhibits, and a homebrew club night / festival where you can try the best and most innovative homebrews from all over the country (and from all of our clubs!) You can find out more about the National Homebrewers Conference at www.ahaconference.org and can see a fun pre-conference video at www.brewingwithbigfoot.com (the local committee’s main website).

The conference is a great time but takes a lot of effort from local homebrewers and clubs. We will be needing people to help plan pre-conference events, judge and steward for the competition, help with beer logistics, and generally just lend a hand throughout all of the conference events. With a lot of help the conference will run incredibly smoothly and everyone will have a great time. We will be working to get up a tool to volunteer to help with the conference very soon. You can read about all of the things that the local committee has to work on here: http://ahaclubs.homebrewersassociation.org/NHCplanningguide.

The most important thing that you can start doing now is brewing beer, meads, and ciders! We are the hosts and as the hosts, we want the guests to be able to enjoy great brews all throughout the conference. You can start brewing some great, exciting beers now and definitely get brewing next spring. Homebrewers who are part of clubs should start getting together to plan out what beers they would like to have on tap at throughout the conference. Clubs should start finding out who is planning on being a part of the conference and form a planning team to help arrange club logistics.

We are very excited to have all of you be a part of what will be the greatest conference ever. Get the word out to your friends and start your beer engines!

Cheers,

Washington Homebrewers Association

by Nate Muller – Senior Homebrew Correspondent

Are you a beer lover who would like to start homebrewing? Did you buy a homebrewing book, but you still haven’t found the energy to open it?
Believe it or not, King County Library is looking to help you out. They are sponsoring a series of beginning homebrewing classes at various libraries around the county. They have partnered with a friend of mine, Steve Antoch. He’s a master beer judge and a fantastic teacher. The classes are targeted to people who have never tried homebrewing, but there will also be plenty to learn for a novice. The classes will cover everything you need to know to brew your first batch: ingredients, equipment, and process.

The class schedule and teacher bios are below.  As you can see, I’m one of the teachers. I hope to see you at one of the classes!

Cheers,
Nate

Updated 2/19/2011

• Federal Way 320th Library,  4/6/2011, 7pm,  Mike Hausenfluck
• Mercer Island Library, 4/20/2011, 7pm,  Nate Muller
• Maple Valley Library, 4/20/2011,  7pm, Steve Antoch
• Des Moines Library, 5/8/2010, 2pm, Peter Twigg
• Fairwoods Library, 5/10/2011, 7pm,  Mike Hausenfluck
• Fall City Library, 5/12/2011, 7pm, Steve Antoch
• Shoreline Library, 5/19/2011, 7pm, Nate Muller

Homebrewer Instructor Biographies

Dan O’Leary -  Dan has been brewing for just over 6 years. Dan is the Treasurer of Kent’s Impaling Alers Homebrew Club. He has won several 1st place medals for various beers in competitions between Minnesota and Washington. Most notably, Dan took 2nd Place at the National Homebrew Competition in 2010 for his American Wheat beer. Dan generally brews true to established styles but is dabbling into Sour Ales and some collaborative barrel aging projects.

Dan is a commercial airline pilot for Horizon Air, based out of SEA-TAC. He has been flying for Horizon for over 10 years.

Mark Emiley -   Mark Emiley has been homebrewing since 1998, when he cooked up his first batch of Porter. With over 225 extract and all-grain batches under his belt, he has won numerous beer-making awards and his recipes have even been brewed commercially many times. Mark has passed the Institute of Brewing and Distilling’s General Certificate in Brewing & Packaging examination through UC Davis. As the Executive Chair of the Washington Homebrewers Association and President of the Boeing Employees Wine and Beer Makers Club (BEWBC), he has taught dozens of homebrewers how to start brewing, both individually and in group classes. He has brewed beers from every style in the BJCP’s (Beer Judge Certification Program) style guidelines and is a BJCP judge, holding the rank of Master.  Mark is a former US Air Force officer and analyst for The Boeing Company.

Mike Hausenfluck - Mike began homebrewing in 1994.  He is a Past President of Kent’s Impaling Alers Homebrew club.  Mike has won numerous awards in homebrew competitions over the years.  He is a Certified BJCP Judge, and loves brewing all styles, but particularly enjoys brewing Belgians such as Saison. He is a graduate of the American Brewers Guild Craftbrewer’s Apprenticeship Program.  Mike is a high school Spanish and French teacher in the Issaquah School District. Teaching others is among his passions in life.

Nate Muller -  Nate has been brewing since 2004.  He is the Treasurer of Kirkland’s Cascade Brewer’s Guild homebrew club.  He’s a BJCP Certified beer judge, which has taught him to appreciate just about every style of beer.  He recently won best-in-show at the Seattle Weekly homebrew competition with his Belgian Dubbel named OmmeKNate, earning him the opportunity to brew his recipe at Big Al’s professional brewery. The beer was on tap around Seattle, as Big Al’s Local Hero #9. His latest brewing interest has been trying to perfect a flavorful session beer. He’s still working on the perfect recipe.  Nate is a Product Manager at Microsoft.

Peter Twigg - In 1996, Peter purchased a basic beer kit for his father for Christmas. Over the next 14 years, the hobby has become more his own than his father’s and the simple kit has expanded into a good portion of the garage and basement. He brews at least monthly and shares anything he deems acceptable with as many people as he can find. Peter has won numerous awards for his beers including Best of Show at the NovembeerFest Competition in 2009 with a fantastic English mild. He took the BJCP exam in the fall and is anxiously awaiting his final exam results. Peter is a Technical Project Manager (PMP certified) and currently works as an independent consultant.

Steve Antoch - Steve began home brewing since 2002 when he was given a “Mr. Beer” kit as a Christmas present. He is one of the founders of the Mt. Si Brewing Society, which meets in Snoqualmie, and is one of the Charter members of the Washington Homebrewer’s Association, holding the position of Education Focal. He has won several awards for his beers in various homebrew competitions around the Puget Sound area.  He is a BJCP Judge holding the rank of Master, teaches the BJCP Certification classes to train other BJCP Beer Judges, and is a BJCP Exam Grader. Steve is a former US Army Officer and works as a Computing Research Engineer for FTI Consulting.

Today at 2:00 Brouwer’s Cafe hosts the awards ceremony for the 2010 Seattle Weekly Homebrew Competition. Each year local home brewers submit samples of their beer to the competition with the hopes of getting to live the dream–the winning brewer is awarded the opportunity to brew the winning beer on the big system at Big Al Brewing.

The winner will be announced and their beer, which has already been brewed at Big Al Brewing, will be on tap for the first time. Last year, Brouwer’s quickly blew through two kegs of the winning beer. This year they have secured four kegs.

Visit the Brouwer’s Cafe website for more information.

We just learned about the winners of the Puyallup Fair Amateur Beer Contest. What’s more, we just learned that there is such a thing. Cheers to that.

The top three winners of each category are being displayed through the remainder of the Fair, which ends Sept. 26. First and second place winners received a cash premium and rosette; third place winners were awarded a rosette.  Best in Show winners received a large rosette as a prize.

Contratuations to the top finishers (listed below), as well as everyone else who took home an award.

• Best of Show: “Toilettenwasser,” a German Pilsner brewed by Cary Peltz of Renton.
• Best of Category: Standard Bitter, brewed by Jason Glasgow of Poulsbo.
• Best of Category, Mixed: Al’s Chocolate Stout, brewed by Al Toepfer of Snoqualmie.

The 4th annual ExBEERience will be held on Saturday, March 13, 2010 at Redhook Brewing Company in Woodinville from noon to 4 PM. The event, sponsored by the Cascade Brewers Guild home brewing club, will feature commercial brewers, home brew samples, food, and the recognition of award winners from both the 2010 Cascade Brewers Cup home brewing competition and the annual awards from the Washington Homebrewers Association.

Brewers scheduled to pour at the event are Alaskan Brewing, Baron/3 Skulls, Big Al, Black Raven, Firestone Walker, Fremont Brewing, Georgetown, Issaquah Brewhouse, Kona, Lazy Boy, Odin, Powerhouse, Redhook, Trade Route and Widmer. Proceeds benefit Childhaven, a non-profit to benefit abused and neglected children.

Entry is $20 in advance, $25 at the door and includes entry, lunch and 9 beer tokens. Additional tokens available to purchase on site; ATM available. Advance tickets are available at Brown Paper Tickets, http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98927

2010 Puget Sound Pro-Am Homebrew Competition – Best chance to win GABF Pro-Am! This just in from Mark Emiley, PSPA Competition Organizer. Visit www.bewbc.org/pro-am.

ATTN Homebrewers:

On behalf of BEWBC, the Impaling Alers, and WAHA, we are happy to announce the kick-off of the 2010 Puget Sound Pro-Am! This is the country’s largest GABF Pro-Am qualifying competition with 14+ breweries selecting homebrew recipes to scale up (more breweries still being added!) Last year the PSPA sent 12 of the country’s entries into the GABF Pro-Am and brought home the gold medal in 2008!

This is an AHA/BJCP sanctioned competition aimed at providing award winning homebrew recipes to be brewed by Puget Sound breweries with the goal of capturing a medal from the Great American Beer Festival’s Pro-Am Competition. The Puget Sound Pro-Am is unique in that it will have at least FOURTEEN breweries selecting their favorite homebrew beers from the best of show round to scale up and brew on their systems. Winning beers of AHA members may be sent on to the GABF for a shot at national glory! Not from the Puget Sound area? Out of state entries are more than welcome (the 2008 GABF gold medal winning entry was from a Colorado brewer). Non-AHA members can still enter the competition and win other awards and prizes (the Powerhouse Brewery will not be submitting to the GABF and will be free to pick any entry).

Start dreaming and brewing up your entries today! We want you to have plenty of time to brew up that perfect beer! The brewers are not just looking for stylistically accurate beers, but they will be looking for damn tasty beers. This is a perfect shot for that hybrid beer you make. You’ve got plenty of time to brew up entries specifically for one of the slots!

Check the competition website at http://www.bewbc.org/pro-am for the latest details including participating breweries, desired styles, contest rules, and links to online registration. Entries (three 10-12 oz brown bottles) are due April 20th with an entry fee of $6 per beer submitted online (several drop-off locations accepting entries beginning in early April). Judging will be held on April 24th at Larry’s Brewing Supply in Kent (if you are interested in judging, stewarding, or helping with event execution, contact Mark Emiley at markemiley@earthlink.net or register online). Winners will be selected in the weeks following. Check the website frequently for updates on participating breweries and contest details as the competition grows. To have the best shot of having your beer brewed, you need to be an AHA member by the time of the competition, so join today! Invite your friends to join the AHA and submit beers as well (all beers will be judged and ranked regardless of AHA membership). Good luck, and may your wildest brewing dreams come true!