Homebrew Con (AKA the National Homebrewers Convention, AKA HBC) has been around a long time. The Underground Brewers have been around even longer. As far as we know, the club has never had an official presence at the convention. Until now….
The 2019 Homebrew Con was held in Providence, RI, practically in our backyard. From June 26 to June 29, hombrewers from all over the country gathered to learn, socialize, compete, and (of course) drink beer. Providence became, for that brief period, the homebrew capital of the world.
The HBC is rarely held anywhere near us. Most are held in the Midwest or on the West Coast. It had literally been decades since the last HBC in New England. So you can imagine our excitement on hearing that one would be happening just a short drive up I-95. A decision was quickly made: the club was going to be there, and we were going to show up in style.
What followed was a flurry of activity most unlike the normally-unfocused YAHOOS: an AirBnB was booked, a booth for Club Night was designed and fabricated, costumes were bought, beer was brewed. Hell, we even designed an entirely new logo to go on the booth decorations and costumes.
(Credit where due! Jaime Luna designed our awesome new logo, booth backdrop, and table skirt. Steve Victor and Caysey Welton put together the costumes and Caysey designed our beer menu. Pierre Margraff built our entire beer delivery system – 9 taps! Andy Tipler managed all the details of the housing, the kegs, the logistics, and the carpooling.)
The convention started, as it always does, with a day of BJCP exams and business meetings. The hot new exam on the block is for Cider Certification; only a few cider judges exist yet. Our own Steve (Pivo) Victor jumped in to take the exam and get certified. He will act as proctor when we administer the exam in February.
Most of the rest of use showed up later that day in a complex caravan of cars, kegs, costumes, and people, convening at a local watering hole for a few beers before retiring to the Airbnb. Once there, we had a few more beers. And meads. And ciders. You know how these things go.
Thursday’s dawn came far too early. But we had to saddle up. What are YAHOOS, first and foremost? Judges. And Thursday was the final round of the National Homebrew Competition. 4 or 5 of us were judging. A couple were stewarding. Our own Jim Link, Grand Master judge, was even invited to work the Best Of Show table. Game on!
Thursday night brought the official kickoff party featuring beer brewed by many local(ish) commercial breweries. As we roamed the aisles, we all thought the same thing: our beer is better. We’d all rather be back at the Airbnb, drinking our own homebrew. So, eventually, that’s where we went.
Friday was full of lectures and panels. Good stuff. Lots to learn and lots of people to meet. The lectures were generally excellent. But we were distracted. By mid-afternoon, we were all in the Club Night room, setting up our booth.
And then, the moment we’d all been waiting for: Club Night. We were ready to pour our best for the other homebrewers.
Once more, we limped back to our Airbnb, there to rehash the glory of our booth and drink a few more beers. We were joined by Mara’s dad, about whom we’ve heard so much. Andy T and Pierre, however, went to bed early because…..
First thing Saturday morning, Andy and Pierre gave their lecture on techno brewing toys for cheapskates. The room was packed. The talk was VERY well-received. By all accounts, one of the highlights of HBC. Woot!
After that, we broke down the booth and packed it in the cars, caught a few last lectures, had lunch (and a couple of more beers), and stumbled home. There were more parties going on, but we were done.
A wildly successful convention and a great showing by the club.
Time to start planning for next year in Nashville!