THE PURSUIT OF craft beer and brewing is well suited to social settings and interactions, an activity best shared with friends. It’s unlikely you’ll have difficulty finding comrades to join you on brewday or to help you enjoy the fruits of your labors. Nor will you lack for company when organizing an impromptu beer tasting at home or at a local bar or pub. Many non-brewers are fascinated by the brewing process. They’re happy to come by, help out, and hopefully learn a thing or two. That scenario works out well because brewing, especially all-grain brewing, is work, and the more the merrier, especially when it comes time for lifting, and of course, cleanup. When I brew at home, I make a party of it and invite the neighborhood.
Home brewing is a social activity. Sometimes it takes a village to brew a beer.
A chalkboard announces the beers that are available for the day’s tasting at the Tuckahoe Brewing Co., New Jersey.
Aside from brewing and drinking beer, brewers love talking about beer: their own beer, beers they have tried, and beers they would like to try. So if you find you need to venture outside your regular circle to find people who share your enthusiasm, interest, and curiosity for craft beer, rest assured there are plenty of like-minded men and women out there, not to mention a plethora of clubs, organizations, beer festivals, and other events to satisfy your thirst for craft beer. Membership in a home-brewing club is a great way to learn from more experienced brewers and to solicit feedback and advice on your own beers from impartial sources. Keep in mind that your family members and close friends may be your biggest fans or your harshest critics.
There’s a lot of waiting around with home brewing, so it’s good to be around friends.
Friends also help the cleanup go faster.
Brewers love getting together and talking beer. The venerable Master Brewers Association of the Americas has been meeting annually since 1887, and this is the MBAA Convention, in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1935.
Where can you go to enjoy good craft brew other than your own? You may have to look no further than your local brewery. Some states take a more relaxed approach to alcoholic beverages, especially beer, while others regulate breweries more strictly. If you live in a state with more liberal laws, or are just plain lucky, the nearest brewery might be just a few blocks away. Depending on state and local laws, the brewery may be allowed to sell food along with its beer, sell you its products “to go,” or allow you to consume them on the premises. If you think laws pertaining to the sale and manufacture of beer and other alcoholic beverages in the United States seem rather arbitrary, they are. Many of these laws date back to Prohibition!
The tasting room at Kane Brewing Company, Ocean, New Jersey.
Most breweries, however, offer tours and tastings, and beers may be sold for take-out in glass “growlers,” which are capped jugs that hold about a half-gallon of beer or less. Once purchased, you can typically bring them back to be refilled at a discount, making growlers an economical and environmentally friendly way to enjoy your local brew.
A neighborhood brewery is more than a source of fresh beer; it’s a good source of information. Your local brewery is a good place to meet people who share your interest in brewing and your enthusiasm for craft beer. Often, the brewers themselves are more than happy to give you some tips, share recipes, and provide a contact for a local home-brew club.
On a statewide level, almost all fifty states now have a brewers’ guild; larger brewery-intensive states even have regional guilds. Your state guild is yet another resource for beer news and information, as many guilds offer an enthusiast’s level of membership.
Brewery and beer-themed day-trips and vacations are increasingly popular, in case you want to combine travel and craft beer. There are a number of organizations and companies that offer tours to large beer fests, such as the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) held annually in Denver, as well as to European destinations: Belgium, for instance. Some US cities are recognized as beer lovers’ paradises, among them Portland (Oregon), Seattle, San Diego, and Denver. As of 2012, the states with the most craft breweries per capita were Vermont, Oregon, Montana, Alaska, and Colorado.
Home-brew clubs are a great way to meet people, learn about beer styles, and get tips on how to improve your beers. You’ll also get information on competitions if you’re interested in seeing how your beers measure up against those of other amateur brewers. Many of these competitions are sanctioned by the AHA (American Homebrewers Association)/BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program). The AHA is a membership organization based in Boulder, Colorado, which offers a wealth of information and holds events all over the country, including an annual conference and competition. The BJCP boasts almost 5,000 active member judges who have passed a rigorous series of exams on beer styles, ingredients, beer characteristics, and the brewing process.
Visiting breweries and trying different beers is a fun activity. Most breweries offer tours and samples. Dick Yuengling is pictured in front of the brewery’s gift shop.
Each brewery is unique and worth a visit; the colorful interior of D. G. Yuengling & Son, western Pennsylvania.
Brewer Francesco Barritta at the Birrificio Cunegonda in Spilinga, southern Italy. Craft breweries are booming in Italy, with many younger adults choosing beer over wine.
Home-brew guru Charlie Papazian leads a toast at the AHA’s annual conference.
If you’re not quite ready to enter your beer in a competition, or you’ve brewed a few batches of beer and realized you don’t love it, that’s fine. There are clubs springing up all over the country aimed at craft beer enthusiasts, rather than brewers. Barley’s Angels, for example, is an international organization especially for women consumers and beer retailers. Stalwart organizations such as the Brewery Collectibles Club of America, hold events nationwide and fill a different niche for beer lovers.
The beer is flowing at the annual AHA conference.
Not a joiner? Then seek out the many local, regional, and national beer festivals. If you don’t have a lot of time for travel, it’s a great way to taste a number of different beers from different breweries all in one place. The largest by far is the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), sponsored by the Boulder, Colorado-based Brewers Association. The festival is divided into four tasting sessions, attracts some 40,000 beer drinkers, and features beers from more than 400 American breweries. The festival is also a competition, with gold, silver, and bronze medals awarded to beers from craft breweries of all sizes in more than eighty different beer-style categories.
In recent years, beer has been challenging wine for that coveted spot at the dinner table. Pairing beer with food – not just bar foods and pizza – is a new approach to beer and an excellent way for craft brewers to showcase their delicious and distinctive brews. For example, a light-bodied, well-carbonated wheat beer might be paired with salad or a creamy goat-cheese appetizer. A crisp, hoppy pale ale would be the perfect complement to a pizza or spicy chicken wings. Meats, a good burger, or braised ribs pair well with an amber or hearty brown ale or lager. And to finish off the meal, a robust porter served with peanut butter or coconut cookies. Multicourse beer dinners featuring local, regional, national, or international beers paired with fine cuisine are always enjoyable. Cooking with beer has also become popular, and there are several good cookbooks that highlight this trend.
Beers to be judged at the 2010 Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers, an annual event held in Chicago. There are numerous local regional and national competitions each year.
SAVOR, an annual national event, pairs craft beers with food. conference.
There are many, many ways to enjoy craft beer, whether you choose to brew it yourself, participate in a club, attend a beer festival, or engage in any of the other activities available to today’s beer enthusiasts. I hope you have enjoyed this introduction to craft beer – Cheers!