Another roadside attraction and other homebrewed beer tales

Cover of the original 1976 self published 48 page book which
created both joy and controversy amongst different homebrewing
communities.  Now available at garage sales, antique stores and
in your father's attic.

I and other American Homebrewers Association staff traveled to visit homebrewers, present seminars, attend conferences, meet beer people and make friends.   Recalling these homebrewed travels brings back both fond memories of those very grassroots times, friends made and how grueling it often was.   If I had a choice of having to do it all over again – I wouldn’t.   Like Maureen Ogle says in her part 6 AHA History series, the the constant traveling I and other American Homebrewers Association staff undertook in order to spread the word about American Homebrewers Association, beer and homebrewing “…hardly constituted pleasure tours.”

There were few options to use in communicating with others.  We worked the phone a lot.  That’s all we had other than putting a postage stamp on an envelope and mailing out a letter.  There were no computers, no faxes and believe it or not copying machine services were only just beginning to become accessible.  The travel that some at the time (perhaps those we weren't able to visit?) perceived as “grandstanding” was coming at the request of homebrewers all across the country.  They wanted a reason to get together, and the American Homebrewers Association was a good one. 

As Maureen notes, we didn’t exactly get overwhelmed with membership and support, but it was an essential exercise to meet face to face with those who supported the organization.  Sleeping on couches was just as common as a motel or someone’s spare bedroom.

Now then, I want to set the record straight with regard to a few of Maureen’s historic assessments. “Then there was Papazian’s book. … Advertisements for Joy of Brewing appeared in nearly every issue of Zymurgy, but the AHA never profited from any of its sales. Nor did the organization profit from Papazian’s later books, all of them written on what amounted to company time.”

Yes, there was my book.  The original Joy of Brewing was a 40 page $2 self published how-to project.  I naively placed an advertisement in the first few issues of Zymurgy magazine, but it was pulled upon realizing that it was not appropriate.  That was the end of that and rightly so.  Profit?  At $2 a shot retail the concept was off my radar.

Photo right:  We worked the phone a lot.

When writing the larger Avon edition Complete Joy of Homebrewing in 1983 it was researched and written on personal time.  In 1983 I was essentially working two full time jobs.  I lived the life of a recluse.  It wasn't exactly the most fun period of my life.  I used the association’s one computer generally between the hours of 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on a regular basis to type in my manuscript. I couldn’t have written the book on company time – we were too busy and understaffed.

Once the book was published,the association sold and indeed had profited from the sales of the book.  This was a time of guerilla marketing.  The ads in Zymurgy for the Avon edition run as an exchange for ads for American Homebrewers Association membership which appear in the back of the book.  Those ads resulted in thousands of memberships.  We had very few other marketing options.
 
As Maureen appropriately notes, “We could have done a better job with PR.” But I would have been hard pressed to approve spending resources we didn’t have on the dubious value of PR. It probably would have exacerbated the negative perceptions.  It is what it was. 

Also See

Relax don’t worry have a homebrew insights on history

Early history of American Homebrewers Association - introduction

Papazian lays his cards on the table

Papazian wanted to push Joy of Brewing to the next level

Daniel Bradford comes on as a hired gun

Spring boarding from the first Great American Beer Festival

Beer relevance - establishing a reason to exist

Beer and homebrew - I never asked anyone to trust me