Home Brewer’s Gold is designed and written with a respect for the devotion of the world’s commercial brewers and the passion of today’s homebrewers. Its intention is to help inspire the evolution of today’s beer cultures and to develop even greater appreciation for the craft of brewing.
This book is about more than just homebrewing the winning beers of the 1996 World Beer Cup International Competition. The origins of every brewery can be traced to the spirit of home. Whether it was simple appreciation with friends and family or a passion to brew, one can certainly find an essential flame, an essential spirit belonging to all brewers.
Homebrewers are special. In every century, in every land, in every community, homebrewers represent the appreciation of craft, art and science and the special way brewing can contribute to the quality life in all communities. Today’s homebrewers find themselves admired for their creativity and their passion for revitalizing an appreciation for the world’s great beers, past, present and future.
I could not have developed, formulated and written this book without the participation of all brewers. Winning brewers were most generous in providing brewery and beer recipe information that helped in my recipe formulations.
Special thank-you’s to Marcia Schirmer, who directed the event; to Jeanne and Glenn Colon-Bonet, who managed the competition; to Sharon Mowry, who managed all of the shipping and organizing of the beer; and to Rebecca Bradford, who managed the staging. Thanks also go to Sheri Winter, Cathy Ewing, Bob Pease, Kyle Keazer and Melinda Bywaters, all staff of the Association of Brewers who contributed to the production of the event. Special acknowledgment must be given to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF). Their understanding of the World Beer Cup purpose and their cooperation and assistance in helping entries legally clear U.S. Customs made the event possible in the United States. A big thank-you to Mark Snyder, my project assistant, who collected all of the brewery-related data and information. Again, as with my book The Home Brewer’s Companion, I thank Tracy Loysen for helping me with preliminary editing of my manuscript. Finally, thank-you to Tom Nelson of TKO Software, developer of “Brewers Workshop,” used to assist me in calculating recipes.