9 Lessons From Homebrew Con 2016

Authors: Marshall Schott & Malcolm Frazer

I started writing this article from the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, just over 2 hours of sleep in the prior 24 hours due to delays, missed flights, and a shitty airline. What was supposed to be a 45 minute layover turned into a lonely night in an awkward and surprisingly cold airport. In my haze and annoyance with not being home, I began reflecting on this year’s conference and thought I’d put to paper the mental list of things I learned at this year’s Homebrew Con, not “real” information gleaned from seminars and interactions with smart people, but stuff that came from my experience of 4 days in Baltimore, MD with a bunch of other homebrewers. Malcolm was there too, he also contributed to this article.

#9: Lyft is better than Uber, unless it’s not…

I know it’s not directly brewing or conference related, but transportation while at the conference is important. Most conference-goers rely on other people to get them to places they want to go, and lately these other people take the form of “alternative” taxi drivers. Uber being the most popular, I heard of a new option a few months ago called Lyft and noticed it tends to have more available cars. I used both services this year and learned a few interesting things from various drivers of both. Apparently, Lyft has slightly less stringent requirements when it comes to hiring drivers, and they pay more while charging less. Cool! Except for those times Lyft is under heavy demand and decide to charge users upwards of 75% more than the typical price for a ride, often pushing it over the price of Uber. So I keep both apps on my phone and choose whichever is offering the best deal at the time I need it.

#8: Baltimore is not as bad as some people said it would be

When the location of this year’s Homebrew Con was announced in San Diego last year, the shit-slinging about Baltimore began immediately. I’d never been and was compelled to believe, at least to some degree, those who knew the city better then me. While I’m not convinced it’ll go down as one of the best conference locations, I thought the convention center worked out incredibly well, the Hilton was very nice and awesomely attached to the convention center, and the ventilation seemed to be in tip-top shape (ahem). There definitely wasn’t a huge number of local breweries, but the few craft beer bars I went to were badass and made for some very memorable nights. Due to being more familiar with and having family in the area, Malcolm was was pleased when he heard the conference would be in Baltimore for both beer and food purposes. Sure, things maybe got a little sketchy in certain areas and certain times of the night (err… early morning), but that’s the case in most big cities, there wasn’t a point during the trip I didn’t feel safe. And the crab was delicious!

#7: Hazy beer is alive and well

With very few exceptions, every homebrewed Pale Ale, IPA, and otherwise hoppy beer that was shared with me in Baltimore ranged in clarity from moderately hazy to downright murky. And the brewers weren’t only okay with it, but proud that they’d accomplished their intended goal. In addition to the homemade versions, some rad folks shared cans of popular and hard to find commercial examples of New England style hoppy ales from Treehouse, Lawson’s Finest Liquids, and The Alchemist. I’ve been stoked to try these beers so I could develop an opinion for myself. Ultimately, my allegiance to clear beer remains, though I suppose I can sort of see the appeal in these cloudy styles, as they did have some qualities I thought were somewhat unique. Whether that had to do with the haze or not is up for debate. As for Malcolm, he maintains impartiality when it comes to beer appearance and will continue to enjoy both hazy and brite versions equally.

#6: Collecting xBmt data at the Expo in the afternoon is not as easy as I expected

In San Diego, I setup a couple 30-ish minute xBmt evaluation sessions in the hotel lobby, I think all around 10AM, before the Expo really got going. For those who have never attended Homebrew Con/NHC, the Expo is where all the vendors setup booths and supply attendees with oodles of free schwag. And beer. Nearly every booth has a seemingly endless supply that they serve to people from open to close. In Baltimore, I setup shop around 1:30PM in a corner of the the Social Club, which yielded a crowd of mostly interested people with a few understandably lit bumblers. That was easy enough to laugh off, but what really bothered me was that I missed my buddy Brian Hall’s seminar since participants had lined up and I lost track of time. I’ll have to figure something else out for next year and do better planning. In the end, we made it work, thanks to the help of some awesome friends.

#5: Fanny packs are the way to go and not at all dorky

While non-fanny sporting conference-goers were forced to lug around over-sized bags to carry stickers, ring bottle openers, and dry yeast packs, those of us fortunate and shameless enough to sport a bum bag were able to carry our booty hands free!

On top of all that, fanny packs stylistically hold an empty tasting glass, cell phone charger, and wet wipes for those sticky situations. I’m a strong advocate.

#4: Milk The Funk is amazing and changing the world of sour beer brewing

If you’re a brewer of sour/funky beer and haven’t heard of Milk The Funk, come out from under your rock and consider joining their incredible Facebook group now! While my focus has been on brewing mostly clean beers for xBmts, my enthrallment with and love of sour styles remains. For the last two years, I’ve attended what has come to be one of my favorite events at Homebrew Con– the Milk The Funk Meet-Up. Over an hour of people from all over sharing bottles of their sour, funky, mixed fermentation, barrel aged creations. Michael Tonsmeire from The Mad Fermentationist blog and author of American Sour Beers, Matt Miller and his Sour Beer Blog crew, Brian Hall from the Brouwerij-Chugach blog, Mary Izett of the Fuhmentaboutit! podcast and author of Speed Brewing, Ed Coffey from the Ales of the Riverwards blog, Jeff Mello from Bootleg Biology, Dave Janssen from Hors Catégorie Brewing… are you kidding me?!?!

Milk The Funk is dedicated to growing what we know about making these lovely beers and there’s no denying the impact their passion is having on the world of sour beer brewing. It’s admirable, educational, and intensely inspiring.

#3: Homebrewing is filled with fun and welcoming people

I hate the term “celebrity,” but it’s true this hobby has its share of revered authors, podcast hosts, and industry experts, many of whom you’ll find wandering the halls of Homebrew Con. What makes these people different than typical Hollywood stars is the fact they’re mostly super down-to-earth folks who aren’t only willing to engage in brewing banter, but actually look forward to it. From Malcolm chatting up Randy Mosher about the myriad fruits and sugars available in South America to John Palmer snagging a seat at our table during the Grand Banquet then heading to a loud bar with us for the after-party, everyone feels like a friend and treats each other as such.

I can’t speak for everyone, but the groups I found myself attracted to were sort of like Velcro in that we seemed to collect more as we jaunted along. From bottle shares in random rooms to bar hopping with brewing legends, meeting awesome people is one of the coolest aspects of the Homebrew Con package.

I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t bring up my experience with the longest standing sponsor of Brülosophy, JaDeD Brewing. These idiots reached out to me a couple months after I started this gig seeking a beta tester for a yet-to-be-released immersion chiller called the King Cobra. Well, I had the pleasure of meeting Clay and Jeremy, aka Team Idiot, in person at Homebrew Con. As any reader of Brülosophy is likely aware, I think JaDeD Brewing’s The Hydra and King Cobra are the best immersion chillers on the market, and now I know the idiots behind the company are just as rad as the product they make.

#2: Diversity is growing and making homebrewing a better hobby

Yes, the conference was mostly a sea of white bearded men, it’d be foolish to claim anything else. Given the reality of this stereotype and my adamant hope for more diversity in the hobby, I find myself awkwardly cognizant of who I’m around and what’s going on when I attend homebrewing events. At Homebrew Con this year, I noticed people from all walks and thankfully didn’t witness a single instance of derogatory or otherwise shitty behavior. That’s not to say it didn’t happen, I could only be in one place at a time after all, and it’s also likely my own membership in the bearded white dude club made it such that I missed the bad stuff. However, without getting into silly details, what I did observe was open-minded and kind-hearted homebrewers embracing differences, enjoying the company of others, and dorking it up the way homebrewers are wont to do. I loved it. Furthermore, Malcolm was delighted to see several couples in which both partners brewed or at least participated in the hobby together in some fashion, and I agree, brewing beer is a cool way to squeeze in a little together time. It’s progress and that’s great, let’s keep it up!

#1: Homebrew Con is the best brewing event in the world!

It’s also the only one I’ve been to outside of club meetings. Either way, it’s hard for me to put to words what an incredibly fun time Homebrew Con is. What I said in an earlier article about my experience at the San Diego conference was fully confirmed. Yes, it’s expensive, but so incredibly worth it. I was recently told about this phenomenon referred to as FOMO, a condition I admittedly suffer from, and thinking of all I’d be missing if I skipped Homebrew Con is enough to bring on the fear. I know there are those who seek to find fault in everything, perhaps we’ll hear from them at some point, but I value community greatly and experience Homebrew Con almost like a family reunion– a few days of drinking great beer, learning neat stuff, and hanging out with people I love being around. If you can swing it, the Homebrew Con 2017 will be in Minneapolis, MN next year and I’m sure it’s going to be damned hoot!

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