NHC 2016 in Baltimore

copyright American Homebrewers Association

 I am so glad that I went to the National Homebrewers' Conference in Baltimore this year. The yearly conference, which took place from June 8th to June 11th, brings together homebrewers from across the country for days of educational seminars, browsing all of the gadgets sold by homebrewing retailers, and sampling some of the best beer from local/regional brewers and homebrew clubs. I attended the conference from June 9th to June 10th. Due to personal reasons, I had to cut it short, but I did a lot in a really short period of time.

June 9th

I rode the light rail from Cromwell Station in Glen Burnie and it dropped me right off right next to the Baltimore Convention Center. I was scheduled to be a steward at the judging competition at 10AM, so I had a few hours to kill. After checking in, I wasn't sure of what to do or where to go, so I just sat there and perused the HomebrewCon 2016 booklet. After some confusion about meeting times, I finally found out where I had to be for the competition.

Being the steward at the Final Round of the National Homebrew Competition was a great experience. Dave Rainone, who has been a steward in the past and also stewarded the morning round, was my mentor. We helped with the judging of the Pilsner style. Thankfully, the BJCP judges at our tables were nice and generous- they would tell us which beers were good and saved some for us. I remember trying the very first beer that we set out for them. It was delicious! AND, not surprisingly, it ended up winning the category.

It was fun hanging out with Dave...he was a good guy and he had a lot of good advice. One guy- Udi- started hanging out with us, helped us out, and was great to hang around with as well. I ended up seeing Dave and Udi a few more times over the next 24 hours...and every time we saw each other, it was like we were old friends.

Thursday night was Pro Night- when breweries from the area (and some out of the area) showcase their beers. While I missed a few good ones (mostly by accident or because I was so full of beer), I managed to try some really good beers. The best beer of the night, in my opinion, was from Adroit Theory Brewing Company based out of Purcellville, Virginia. Imagination Atrophy- a caramel macchiato milk stout- was out of this world! I remember seeing the line for it. When I asked the guy in front of me why he was in line, he said, "I don't know, everyone else was in line so I figured it was good." I concur.

There were others, but I stayed with the breweries I knew for the most part. I also thought that some of the breweries I wanted to check out did not show up (Burley Oak, Monocacy, Heavy Seas, New Holland, to name a few). Maybe they were there and I just passed them by, who knows, but I don't think so.

All in all, it was a good night (especially if you include a delicious meal at Da Mimmo Italian restaurant in Fell's Point).

Nice place...we sat at the table all the way on the left...the waiter didn't like us...there were stairs going up and stairs going down...marbled floors in the bathroom...but the food was rich and great and we had a great time there...

June 10th

I attended a few seminars today, mostly on how to go from a homebrewer to a pro brewer. I went to one seminar that dealt with oxidation. It was a timely seminar since the BJCP judges said that my saison had oxidation. When I got the chance, I went down to the Homebrew Expo, where retailers like Northern Brewer, Blichmann, and White Labs showed off thier stuff. The expo was great because I got tons of free stuff over the two days...yeast, hops, malt, stickers, sunglasses, lip balm, pens, posters, bottle openers and other trinkets.

Lunch was great! I went to the Gypsy Queen food truck right next to the convention center (in Sam Smith Park, by the fountain). For dinner, I went to Max's Tap House in Fell's Point and had beers by Epic Brewing and Union Craft. They had beers by RAR from Cambridge there, but I decided to try a few different ones. All in all, it was a good experience, but the food wasn't that great so I definitely won't be going back for that. You can say you have Eastern Shore Sliders (small crabcake sliders), but if they're not good then please don't use that name!

I had the Opa! Cone!!!!! Excellent food!

Friday night was Club Night, where the homebrew clubs showed their brewing skills. I must say that I didn't have too many great beers there. I started out going for the funky ones, but they didn't blow me away at all. When I went for what I liked- like IPAs- I managed to find a few good ones. I topped the evening off with a blended beer from one club- it was a Funky Chicken Ale with a Waffle Ale that tasted like maple syrup- called Chicken & Waffles. I'm not sure if it was awesome or just different or just a good bookend to a great experience, but I liked it.

I also bumped into Allen, a guy I met at an AHA rally at DuClaw Brewery. It was good to see him.

I also met up with two of my homebrewing heroes, James Spencer and Steve Wilkes from Basic Brewing Radio. I thanked them for what they have been doing for years- getting so many people to brew and have fun doing it. Are they geeky? Sure? Corny? Sure. But I can tell you that a lot of us out here/there appreciate all they do for us homebrewers out there.

Ok, so I saw Steve and bugged him a little bit...it's not like he managed to get a restraining order on me or anything...

 And, as if that weren't enough, I bumped into Gary Glass, the President of the AHA and the guy who judged my saison in Philadelphia during the first round. I thanked him for his comments and told him I was going to make it better. And I will.

And so it went. My first NHC. Maybe my last, who knows. But it was a great experience.

Been there. Bought the T-Shirt. Seriously. I did...