Homebrewers descend on the Bay

AHA founder/homebrewer Charlie Papazian. Photo by Damian

With no shortage of great beer already made here in the Bay Area (see hyperlinked list of Bay Area Breweries to the right after scrolling down a bit), beer enthusiasts could obtain a well crafted beer with very little effort. Despite this fact, the hobby of homebrewing is alive and thriving. This past weekend, a record high 1,200 homebrewers from around the nation descended on the Oakland Convention Center for three days as part of the 31^stNational Homebrewers Conference, organized by the American Homebrewers Association.

The AHA was founded by Charlie Papazian, who just so happens to be the National Beer Examiner. Here’s his take, and photos, of this year’s conference. 

No longer is brewing beer at home about drinking beer on the cheap or—as back before the craft brewing renaissance—out of necessity to drink full-flavored beer. Today, hobbyists brew to express creativity, to get in touch with their ancestors from 8,000 years ago when humans first learned how to ferment, to impress their close friends, and to make new ones.

Sure, there are some antisocial brewers. But by and large, the homebrewing community celebrates camaraderie. It does so as much as, if not more than, the mashing, sparging, hopping, pitching, racking, priming, bottling or kegging, and, of course, imbibing that comes with making ones own beer.

If you haven’t been bitten by the bug yet, think about trying to make a batch of your very own beer. If you already periodically turn your kitchen into a brewery all by yourself, look into honing the craft and joining one of the 750 homebrew clubs in America.

Just as California leads the nation in number of commercial breweries, we also boast more clubs than any other state. For those in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, here’s a list of clubs you may want to consider joining. They’ll help you brew better beer and more importantly, they may become your new BFFs.

Antioch – Delta Brewing Club

Berkeley - Bay Area Mashers

Capitola/Santa Cruz - Central Coast Zymurgeeks (Hope to rendezvous again soon)

Chico – Chico Homebrewers Club (Loved the Stone clone on the Charlie tap)

Concord - Diablo Order of Zymiracle Enthusiasts (DOZE) (Congrats on all those medals)

Los Altos – Worts of Wisdom

Oakland – The Draught Board

Pacheco/Martinez – The Brewing Network (Brew Strong, my brothers)

Petaluma – HOME Brewers

Placerville – Hangtown Assoc. of Zymurgy Enthusiasts (HAZE) (Go Queens of Beer)

Pleasanton – Mad Zymurgists (Congrats Greg. And great job, Brian!)

Sacramento – East Sacramento Brewers (ESB)

Sacramento – Gold Country Brewers Association

San Jose – Silicon Valley Sudzers (shout to Peter & Sammy)

Santa Rosa – Sonoma Beerocrats

San Francisco – Bay Area Brew Crew (I’ll be joining in due time)