Beer is my life and other tales of homebrew beer

June 19, 11:10 AMBeer ExaminerCharlie Papazian

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Anchor Brewing Company's Bob Brewer serves brewery's reserve stash of Our
Barrel Ale.  Below, AHA Director Gary Glass prepares for the opening toasts.
Opening toast twittered yesterday.  Photos by Charlie Papazian

The beer is “on!”  The American Homebrewers Association’s National Homebrewers Conference got off to a roaring beer start when Gary Glass, American Homebrewers Association Director officially opened with the first toast of the conference.  The flow of beer hasn’t stopped since.

I managed to pull myself together after a marathon day of being sequestered in board meetings.  Priming myself with homebrewed mead, Maibock, and a hoppy English Mild at a prelim reception I made my way to the featured event of the day – Pro-Brewers Night.  An evening of sampling the special beers from over 35 breweries from the Bay area and beyond.

There’s no plot to this story except that wherever you wandered you encountered good beer, good people and the story of homebrewing gone pro.  Here is a random and glancing blow by blow walk through.

Homebrewer Brad Schweizer offers me a tiny sample from his single bottle stash of 25%+ naturally fermented homebrewed ale hopped with a boatload of fabled New Zealand Nelson B Sauvin hops and 144 pounds of malt into a 18 gallon batch.  A smooth way to start the evening.

Brewed in Hawaii, Garrett Marrero, owner, brewer from Maui Brewing pours me favorites Big Swell IPA and Coconut Porter.

Vinnie Cilurzo, Russian River masterbrewer is on hand pouring his fable Pliny the Elder and other delicacies.

Anchor Steam Brewing Company’s Bob Brewer is generously pouring one of Anchor Brewing’s rarest beers.  As near as I can tell from internet sources OBA a.k.a., Our Barrel Ale is a blend of Liberty Ale, Old Foghorn and Anchor aged six months in charred oak barrels that had been used to age Anchor Old Potrero Straight Rye Whiskey.  Bob is standing besides a tall stack of boxes and suggesting that what we’re seeing is probably half of the remaining inventory at Anchor, “There isn’t a better group of beer enthusiasts than the homebrewers here that would appreciate this special beer.”

Gottfried from Moonlight Brewing Company encourages me to try the Redwood tipped amber ale that has no hops, just Redwood tips. 

Minneapolis is hosting next year’s American Homebrewers Association conference.  Homebrewers from the area are proudly wearing Summit Brewing’s t-shirt proclaiming “Beer is My Life.”

Sam Calagione, owner, founder of Dogfish Head Brewing company is personally pouring his beers for the crowd.

Tomme Arthur offers a few gems from his stash of great brews from Lost Abbey Brewing Company.

I walk past a homebrewer wearing a t-shirt asking, “What’s in Your Garage?”

Need I really answer that question?

Relax.  Don’t Worry.  Have a homebrew.

This is Charlie Papazian, reporting late at night from Oakland, California swerving and and avoiding typos the best he can.