Beer Obsessed: Beer and Brewing Journal

With what was really quite a smooth trip from San Francisco to Minneapolis, I have now landed in the middle of the National Homebrew Conference.
I’ve hooked up with a few friends that I have met over time and I have tried some really tasty beers. The Brewing Network put on a show from the hospitality suite and I attended the meadmaker of the Year Seminar.
The one thing I was really looking forward to in a Homebrew Conference in this area is mead, and I have not been dissapointed. The mead panel had what is probably the 5 most knowledgable meadmakers on the planet. The meads poured during the seminar were great and the standouts have been the chipotle meads. I have tried a couple and being fruit meads (melomels) they have fruit on the top with a very gentle heat on the finish from the chipotle. Absolutely fantastic.
The seminar was very well attended which shows how much mead is appreciated in this area. The atmosphere was relaxed and light hearted as the panel pretty much just took questions from the audience. The entire time, delicious meads were being poured that the panel had produced earlier in the year.
I’m writing this up prior to club night which starts at 8pm tonight. Clubs from throughout the midwest and beyond will be represented. This is basically the largest homebrew party in the world.
I need a little rest before I go but please enjoy the photos (clicky for a higher res version)

The meadmaker of the year panel.

Mead being served thorughout the panel discussion

The panel was well attended showing the interest in mead in this part of the country.

The Brewing Network doing their thing up in the hospitality suite. The forum was “can you brew it” and it was basically an open mic for questions with plenty of entertaining stories between, Jamil and Tasty style.

Quality, clean beer and I love the label. I don’t get as much aroma as I do off of the oringinal versions of southern hemisphere. The taste exhibits some fresh hop chracter that goes right to bitterness. A nice beer but I think I prefer the last version. To cut Sierra Nevada some slack, they are flying in fresh hops from halfway around the world so they get huge props for their efforts and they have produced a beer that has maintained some fresh hop quality.

Other news:
Looking forward to spending time with homebrewers at the National Homebrew Conference in Minnesota next month. I will be arriving on the Friday so please come say hey to me if you can. From there, I fly to Boston for work and plan to hit some great brewpubs and will haul back as much beer as I can. Unfortunately, my work trip to Kiev has been cancelled. I was looking forward to it but Boston should be fun as well.
Tomorrow, the family and I leave for the big island of Hawaii for some much needed relaxation. I’ll get to the Kona brewpub and check it out but other than that, don’t intend on doing much besides drinking the local beer, sitting on the beach, and swimming with the kids.
Cheers and happy weekend.

Two of the west coasts finest in both pro brewing and homebrewing. Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Co. and Oakland resident, Nathan Smith who has beers in the final round of the nationals.

First off, I have to admit that this is my first NHC ever. As a homebrewer on and off for 20 years, I figured having it in my hometown was excuse enough to go and I’m glad I went. So far, I’m pretty sure I’m going every year no matter where it is.
I realized on my way to the convention that my brewing is pretty siloed in that I don’t have a lot of regular friends to talk with about brewing. I have made some professional-type connections through the website but no regulars. I was a bit nervous as I was about to go hang out with my tribe of people who I have never really met.Fortunately,  we have a lot in common. I did end up talking to folks and everyone has been great so far. I reconnected with some acquaintances that I haven’t seen in a while either. Hopefully what I get out of this weekend are some new friends who share a hobby that is near and dear to my heart.
The opening speech featured Gary Glass: head of the American Homebrewers Association, Charlie Papazian: no need to explain here, and Jamil Zainasheff, Homebrewer, AHA board member, and tireless volunteer. Jamil spoke about how the event was not about the beer but about the people. Coinky dink, exactly what I was think about this morning and great to hear someone else say it.
I rolled through a couple of seminars one by Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker and Vinnie Chilurzo of Russian River. I did get them on tape and hope to post them later. Matt’s was on wood aging and Vinnies was on fermenting with “wild yeast”: brettanomyces. Both were excellent. I also also spent a good amount of time in the hospitality suite were many vendors had their wares out. Blichmann has come up with their version of a gravity fed all grain brew system and it was impressive. Highly modifiable by the user and one option was a shelf to sit your mash cooler on….something I have been wanting to see for a while. I don’t know the cost but hopefully it is close to other systems.
Tomorrow is day two and it will be packed with seminars. Looking forward to the panel on Mead, great brewing tips with Ray Daniels and Randy Mosher. Others as well.
I forgot to mention that this is a beer event. It was everywhere. Wyyeast had three taps in the registration area. There was a club pouring about 8 different beers at the hospitality suite. There was beer being poured…and served to you at your seat…at the opening toast and Vinnie had beers to go with his presentation….brought to your seat while you listened to the lecure. Very nice.
More soon.