Coolest things I learned and did at NHC...

There was a good presentation on the development of a new hop called "Ron Mexico".

Once they weed out those that fail the trails quickly, they have a few at the end that are promising. Some of the final selection is done by home brewing with that hop, from one hill, which I thought was cool.

Presenters were Perrault, Cilurzo, and a guy from Hopunion.


Edit - Stan H. Got the lifetime achievement award, and has a new book coming out next year.

Edit2 - some experimental beers taste better than the concept. Clam Chowder Saison. Who knew.

 

It almost CAN'T help but taste better than this concept. As I've said before, some things can be brewed into a beer, but that doesn't mean they should.

 

They obviously got the idea from my Shellfish Medley Saison that was snubbed here...

 

This was made by Beechum , Conn, and Palmer, it actually was very interesting, and I could drink a pint of it.

 

¿almeja Barbuda?
.

 

Czech Lagers. I sorta wanna go to Prague now.

 

In case you care to read about the wonderfully terrifying Clam Chowdah Saison. The whole point of these very outrageous beer ideas is:

1. Scare People
2. Challenge People's Perceptions of What's Possible
3. Have fun with it

Most importantly - the beer is always first, followed by the concept. In this case, if I didn't call the thing a "Clam Chowdah" beer - I'm fairly certain most folks would have received it as an herbal Thymey Saison with a pinch of salt.

 

Waiting to hear @OldSock 's coffee talk

 

100% want to go to Prague now. Bob's beers were great and they both kept the talk lively and interesting! Not an easy task when presenting styles of beers.

I did love Modern Times crew's presentation on coffee beer. I was a pretty avid coffee roaster for a while there (still dable, but not as much), so was fun to hear a more knowledgeable roaster talking about the process and how to integrate different profiles into a beer. Never thought about adding green beans.

@drewbage and Denny did a great presentation...always fun to hear them talk. Was great to finally meet @hopfenunmaltz (sorry to interrupt your meal there Jeff, but had to say hi) since he's been a pretty big part of my growth as a homebrewer thanks to his knowledge dished out on this forum and @JackHorzempa who I got to hang out with a bunch on both club night and in the expo.

Got to talk with Mitch Steele for awhile was a great treat as well as sit & talk with @OldSock, Gordon Strong and many others.

It's always amazing to see how many passionate, knowledgeable and dedicated (& good) homebrewers there are out there. Not sure how, but most all of the beers I tried on club night were solid beers that I'd be very proud to have brewed (although a few were not...)
Cheers!!

 

Thanks for the shout out, was very good to meet you. No worries on the lunch served up in the homebrew area, it was worthy of interruption.

 

I didn't go to NHC but happened to be in San Diego for work last week; didn't even know it was going on.

Then, I'm sitting at the bar at The Neighborhood Wednesday evening, and some guys were standing and talking behind me. I started chatting with them a bit and one of them asked if I was a home brewer, which felt completely random since I didn't know NHC was going on, and we hadn't been talking about beer. He told me about NHC and then introduced himself as one of the owners of MoreBeer. Thought that was kinda cool.

Sorry, nothing to add, just felt like sharing.

 

The going pro talk was good. As was the coffee talk w Modern Times. Mitch's IPA talk was alright, I wish it was a bit more informative though. Wild and Spontaneous fermentation was great. I've always been intimidated by the process and risk until now.

Club night was a blast. How about that fried chicken been huh? I was shocked to see the lambic guys pouring solid sours all night. The overall quality of the beers was fantastic.

We hit as many breweries as we could. Rip Current, Belching Beaver, Ballast Point, Thorn St., Alesmith, Modern Times, Stone, Society, and White Labs. I feel like I'm missing one or two.

I had a blast. Would totally do it again. Not sure about heading to MD next year thought. That's a hella long flight.

 

Haha...Chris or Olin? Both are great guys (as is actually their whole crew). Sat with Chris for dinner at Stone Liberty Station on Thursday night before heading over to Neighborhood. Got into the "speakeasy" section for a drink...funky place!

Forgot that another highlight was meeting and chatting with Marshall from Brulosopher...since my whirlpool hopping experiment is still trying to get off the ground. Hoping to coordinate with him as well on it.

 

I know he told me, but cool beer bar I've never been to + lots of beers on draught I've never had + walking distance from hotel = I don't remember

 

Ummm. Did I hear about next year in MD?

 

Baltimore, June 9-11.