Why You Should Attend Homebrew Con

What Is It?

Last week, registration for Homebrew Con 2022 opened. Homebrew Con is an annual gathering of homebrewers from across the country and around the world. Three days of brewing education, gear demonstration, home-brewed fun! This year’s event will be held June 23-25 in Pittsburgh. Since it is so close, Butler County Brewing Society is excited to be attending and participating as a club. Several of us have already registered, and you should, too!

What’s the Club Doing?

While the gear demonstrations, ingredient giveaways and education sessions are always top notch, the best part of Homebrew Con is always Club Night. Held Friday night, Club Night is a chance for homebrew clubs from around the country to show off and share their amazing homebrews. This year, BCBS will not be left out! We’ve got Best-of-Show winners and beers worthy of being brewed for service at local tap rooms, so why not show off a bit!

At Club Night, not only are the beers being served great, but tradition is for each club to develop a theme for their booth complete with decorations and costumes. As a throwback to Hamilton’s past, we’re going with a “Little Chicago” theme, replete with gangster era costumes and a “speakeasy” side door. Club Member’s Dave Ward and Dave Pfirrman have been working hard to come up with a great design to match the great homebrew we will be serving.

Why Should I Go?

I asked Dave Ward, BCBS Homebrew Con Committee Chair and attendee of three previous Homebrew Cons (Grand Rapids 2014; San Diego 2015, and Minneapolis 2017) why members should plan on going. Here’s what he had to say:

The seminars are a wealth of information and opportunity to expand your brewing knowledge. Guarantee you will find yourself in a situation where you want to be in two places at the same time. Many of these seminars involve sensory activities, so being there in person is the best way to learn. I’ve seen seminars on decoction where they serve two identical beers one made through a decoction process and one not. Another had five different samples all spiked with an off flavor. Was great to listen to the presentation describing the flaw while sampling an example of it.

Club night is the biggest party focused on home brewing that you will ever attend.

Market place is like going to a trade show for brewing hardware & ingredients. Thinking about a new HLT or chiller? That manufacturer will be at the show and may have the item in there booth. Great opportunity to compare option A vs B and event talk with owners of the company.

There are typically lots of samples to take home or test. Curious what some of the new hops taste like? The hop suppliers typically have free samples of hops and beers that are made with those hops.

Meet and talk with the celebrities of our hobby (Mitch Steele, Drew Beechum, Denny Conn, Charlie Papazian, John Palmer…..)

Meet other like minded zymurgists. They may even want to come to a brew club meeting!

Dave Ward, BCBS Homebrew Con Committee Chair

How Do I Register?

If this has convinced you to attend Homebrew Con 2022, then there are a couple of things you need to do.

1. Join the American Homebrewers Association. Even if you aren’t able to attend Homebrew Con this year, I highly recommend joining the AHA. Membership gets you access to hundreds of award winning recipes, recordings of educational sessions from previous Homebrew Cons, 20 years of Zymurgy magazine archives, and discounts at taprooms and homebrew stores across the country. (When you join, be sure to list “Butler County Brewing Society” as your homebrew club. If enough club members also join AHA, then we get a steep discount on club insurance, which helps our budget stretch further for other activities and events!)
2. Register for Homebrew Con. The Early Bird discount is available until April 23, but why wait! You know you don’t want to miss out on this, so get registered now!
3. Secure Lodging. Homebrew Con is being held in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, right in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh. The AHA has secured blocks of hotels at discounted rates within walking distance or a short ride share, but they are going fast. There is also airbnb/vrbo type housing nearby. Looking to save some money on your hotel? Come to our April Membership Meeting and talk with other BCBS Members planning to attend.

So, You’re Going, Right?

If this hasn’t convinced you to make plans for Homebrew Con 2022, well… I can only imagine that you have a baby due in June. 🙂 I literally cannot think of another reason why you wouldn’t be there. I cannot wait, and I hope to share the experience with you all.

PRO TIP: Leave for Pittsburgh Wednesday afternoon and shoot to arrive at dusk or later. The view of the city at night coming out of the Ft Pitt Tunnel and crossing the Bridge is spectacular! Up there with approaching Cincy from the Cut in the Hill.