www.nthba.org

Well I brewed this weekend, a hop bursted American Wheat beer similar to last year (except I'm going with heavy Citra this year). I also e-mailed the brewery so assuming they have room I should be set. If for some reason my bride decides I have other plans at least I'll send the keg with one of you guys/gals.

Since we will be serving our beers inside the brewery, we will not be bringing the club keggerator to the event. Everyone will need to come up with some way to serve their beer.

Well I have a two tap jockey box, I'll need to use one tap but the other is free to somebody in need. It would probably be good to put your keg in an iced container as foam can be an issue if you don't keep the beer cool (been there, done that, got the T-shirt).

I would like to get some thoughts down about the event while they are fresh on my mind. I invite others to join in here.

Dislikes:
Late changes to the competition categories.
Room was hot. Needed more fans.
Did not like the sample card. Preferred unlimited pours.
I would rather have poured smaller pours like 2 to 4 ounces.
I could not hear Zack addressing the crowd. Need a PA that works.
Needed more ice and sooner. I would have been starved for ice if I had not brought 80 pounds myself.
Did not get a taster glass.

Likes:
Enjoyed the attendees.
Talking to the other brewers.
Overall I had a lot of fun.

I agree that the glasses should be smaller, 4oz max. Smaller glasses would maybe resolve the concerns with the tasting cards.
More fans would be great too.
I wasn't too concerned with the category changes, since we knew going in that the beer would be judged differently than most competitions.
Getting ice earlier would be a big help.

Overall a fun event.

Well I thought is was a fun event, my hearing is slowing coming back. Yeah, the heat was an issue but when you stuff that many people into a space like that it's gonna be a problem which as previously stated more fans would have helped. I also could have done without the "cards" because that put us into a postion of having to "police" the participants which I would rather not have to deal with. I wasn't all that interested in the contest portion of the event as the categories were almost random and I guess we don't get feedback so that portion of the event really didn't matter to me on way or the other.

I thought it was fun to see what the participants thought of the beer and I was especially interested in their choices when all the taps were running. I learned a couple of things when serving beer to the public: first, the way you "brand" your beer and what you call it makes a ton of difference and certain styles will do way better than others when dealing with the public. My take was that most attendees are not beer nurds and don't really know the difference between the different styles etc. Hopefully, the event educated some folks so they can become more descriminating comsumers. I noticed that many folks really went for what I would call a "novelty" styles; interesting. Next year I will be making a "Chick Beer", I'll be able to float the keg faster plus I'll be able to chat up all the hotties.

Yes, branding is important. My Blonde Tease was popular with the ladies.