In my other beer life, when I'm not writing BYOB for BA, I'm also a member of the AHA Governing Committee. With the incredible growth and enthusiasm we're seeing in the hobby, the org has been growing like mad. Every year at the homebrewer's conference, the GC meets (we also meet monthly via phone and exchange daily emails) and offers our guidance and expertise to the AHA staff about what the community needs. So here's where I ask you: what can we do for you? Keep in mind some things are well beyond the ability of the organization to pull off (like making it possible to serve your homebrew on tap in your favorite watering hole), but the more ideas the better! Things I'm focused on: improving community reach (more women, more minorities, need more variety over breaded white technical dudes) and the sharing of information. Increase recognition for clubs beyond the competition front, increase support for clubs (what does that look like?). Help organize regional events devoted to homebrewing and more. Also, if you're not part of the AHA, what would you want to see before joining?
I was a little disappointed today when I tried to get tickets to Savor during the presale for AHA and BA members only (this is to be one of the benefits of the membership) and it was sold out in seconds. Then I find only minutes later that 8 tickets are for sale on Stub Hub starting at $250 each. This is very disappointing to see this happen. I have never been to Savor and only wanted one ticket. How about making two tickets per member instead of four so more members can go?
Explain to Homebrew Supply stores that shipping to an APO address is NOT the same as shipping overseas and IS the same as shipping locally via USPS and there are even options such as FedEX Smartpost.
Let's see.. Savor is handled via the BA, the parent org, but they're trying everything they can to accomodate folks. The demand is shocking these days and everything is selling out in a hurry. There's a sad field of scalpers out there who seem to get their hands on everything and I can guarantee you they're not getting the tickets directly from the BA in a backdoor deal I'll pass on the APO message to the Retailer group since it looks like we're stepping up our relationship with retailers. As for rallies and the like, one of the things we're working on is increasing regional events. If you have suggestions of BA affliated breweries (the one requirement), send a message to [email protected]. She's always looking for new places. Don't forget, Philly gets the biggest rally of them all next year in the AHA Conference! Keep the ideas coming!
Make zymurgy subscription available to non-aha members. Not all the benefits of joining the AHA are availble to to every area, and I would really just like to get the mag. Getting some money from is still better than no money right?
I don't want to hijack this thread.. But is there a specific reason that you are not able to sell your home brew in a local bar? You can PM me the response if you would like.
Meatball, there's over the counter issue sales, but that's pretty much all there is. The AHA is looking at increased benefits, like being able to order online from some big suppliers for a discount and there's always growing the discount program to get more places involved! http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/grow-your-business/pub-discounts
Yea Ive seen it at B&N a couple times, but they are not always reliable to continue carrying the mags.
State liquor laws, health codes, taxation issues. It's a tangled morass that basically boils down to: the second you sell something to the public, the government wants to ensure safety and that it gets its coin. Hence all the rules and regulations and it only gets worse when the product you want to sell is alcohol thanks to the state by state system left in place with the repeal of Prohibition. Basically, to sell your homebrew, you would have to: File building plans, get all the appropriate licenses and permits(state and federal), have your facility approved by the health department and meet their regs (for instance here in LA, all walls in a food prep area have to be washable which means special materials and paint), meet zoning requirements, pay the appropriate fees and taxes and carry alcohol liability insurance before you can sell drop one legally, remain pure and downy in the eyes of the law and not jeopardize your local watering holes liquor license. Right now, our battle front is on getting homebrewing legal everywhere and making it so that you can take your beer out of your house to go pour at a competition or club meeting! There's a way to go before anything like sale of homebrew will happen.
Wow. So basically it is illegal to brew beer currently for anything other than your own personal consumption? I thought competitions at least and brew club meetings would be ok.
because you don't have a distribution license. At that point, you're treated like a full fledged brewery, and the state needs to get their piece of of the pie. I did finally use my card for a discount at Iron Hill Brewery the other day (first time ever), and was surprised at what they took off my bill. That said, Philly is a great beer city, and only Iron Hill, Boxcar, and Triumph participate with AHA?
Depends upon the state and how serous they want to be and how much we're attempting to clarify the laws. For instance in the past two years, we've helped with legislative efforts in Oregon (where competitions and meetings were shut down for the better part of a year after the Oregon ABC realised that the law on the books prohibited that), Michigan (made it legal effectively to have a club meeting in a alcohol licensed facility - so that brewpubs and the like didn't have to worry about losing their license for hosting homebrewers) and just this week in Wisconsin, a bill that's sort of Oregon and MI combined was signed into law. The problem with alcohol laws as they exist is that it's not always clear what can and can't be done and if your local control board decides your business has done something illegal, then it's the death penalty. So much of these questions come up when someone worried about their license either balks or seeks clarification and causes the state to realize this stuff is happening. (And meatball - this is the other reason you should become a member! )
First, the site seems pretty thorough to me, and is quite complete. So Kudos to you guys. One idea I did have was to maybe give members access to a recipe building tool, like tastybrew or beersmith or the like. AHA would have to work something out with one of the calculators or create their own? And/Or maybe a well put together xls spreadsheet for recipe generation for people wanted to give recipe building a try.
I also would like to see some more local events, or possibly make it available to small groups in the area that are affiliated with AHA to post events, maybe not "AHA' events but something that is endorsed in some way. I would see that this may be a little difficult, but if you had a few people in each state that were dedicated and they could have some events, such as group tours of local breweries, education, home brew demos, tastings, or even pub crawls. Most decent sized cities have a Beer week or something, I'd like to see some AHA representation at some of these as well, even if its just a volunteer with some info. I have actually taken it upon myself to go to a few local breweries and pubs and talk to them about becoming involved in the AHA Pub Discount... its cheaper for me, and they get some publicity and maybe some people visiting the area will look them up on the AHA website and try them out.one of them is a woman owned company.
I would love to see some sort of way to get the AHA into areas where it isn't even known. I'm just glad I'm not the one who would have to work out the nearly impossible logistics of such a thing. Perhaps a homebrew competition in areas that do not have a club, heavily publicized, sponsored, judged, and run by the AHA itself, and held in public as part of an already existing festival/fair/whatever, with spectators allowed (with proper ID). When it's done, the leftover beer could be given out to (of legal aged and banded) spectators as samples, all as a way to let people know "yeah, you can brew this stuff", and by the way, we're the national organization that can help you get started. Like I said, I wouldn't want to be the poor sap who had to get all of that set up, though. :-) But at least I would like to see something to bring attention to the organization and to homebrewing in general in areas where the hobby is seriously underrepresented. Promotional pamphlets in bars, libraries, bookstores... just something.
lol see that "poor sap"seems like the perfect job to me. I love being able to bring something I love doing to other people. The issue I see is there would have to be some sort of AHA involvement other than just rogue members taking it upon themselves. If the AHA would have some kind of sign up for people to promote it, even if its just basic training (web based would be fine) and then some "sales collateral" such as .PDFs or pamphlets, I would say they should get a few people in each area to try to get more people aware of and involved in the organization. When I talk to people as of now I state "I am an AHA member, however I am not acting as an AHA representative in official capacity" so they know that I am just someone who enjoys and supports the organization, and good beer.
Ask not what your Home Brew organization can do for you, ask what YOU can do for your Home Brew organizations I also forgot to add, I would like to see if AHA would be interested in helping home brewers do a "group buy" for items such as glassware. i see some places that offer nice quality pint glasses, but to get the best prices you need to buy LOTS! well in some other groups I am a member of sometimes they organize a group buy (and the companies encourage them!) for example for my old Datsun one Nissan dealership in WA offers 20% off for anyone ordering parts that mentions they are part of this group. Its a little different then the AHA membership discounts becuase it may be limited to certain items at certain times (such as pint glasses for a month or something) This way the company still gets a big qty order to justify the discount, but it isnt always doing one or two here. I would have not problem ordering a dozen or so if i could get them at a discount. Perhaps it would be more like a weekly or monthly limited time deal, or deal finder.
