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The 2013 National Homebrewers Conference was held at the Marriott in Philadelphia (the city of brotherly hate) on June 27-29.
I rode with Jeff (aka Hangin' Tough) and Chris M. on Wednesday the 26th. As soon as we entered the city we could feel the tension, not only from hostile drivers who honked at each other, but also from the fact that we were not allowed to turn left. We had to make three rights in order to go left. It was almost as stupid as furloughing federal employees to save money while giving away billions of dollars to nations that hate us.
We dropped off our Club Night and Hospitality Suite beers at their respective locations, dropped off the vehicle at a parking garage, and schlepped our stuff four blocks to the Marriott in the heat. It was a hot, smelly day, and the plethora of beggars made it especially enjoyable. We could actually see bacterial clouds. We checked into the hotel, then went to the 5th floor to check into the conference, where we received a bag of goodies as well as two commemorative beers, one bottled and one canned. Chris and I wandered about while Jeff went off somewhere, I think to get a tetanus shot.
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I got a text from Les saying that a group was going to Monk's. Chris and I headed there. About halfway I got a call from Kevin, who said that Monk's was very crowded (as one would expect when thousands of beer geeks flood Philly) so everyone was going to Triumph Brewing. Chris and I changed course to make the mile-long journey to the east side of town. On the way we got caught in a torrential downpour. I felt like R. Kelly's girlfriend.
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We met Les, Kevin and several others and tried all 9 of Triumph's draught beers:
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Afterward the other guys went to a party given by the Brewing Network while Chris and I went across the street to Eulogy. They had about 350 beers in bottle and several on draught. We ordered draughts of Chouffe Houblon, which was nice and hoppy; and Petrus Aged Red, which was a very good cherry ale. The décor was nice.
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We then went in search of a bar called Benelux, which supposedly had good pommes frites in addition to a good beer selection, but we found out it had closed. After a tasty wrap at Au Bon Pain we went to the Varga Bar. They had several draughts and about 50 bottles. After a sample of Shawnee Dubbel we each got a draught of Sly Fox / De Proef Brotherly Love Saison. It was a nice funky, hoppy, Bretty, earthy beer.
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Thursday June 27. The three of us went to nearby Down Home Diner for breakfast, then walked around the Reading Terminal Market, which had many food stands and different kinds of food. Several of the businesses were run by Amish folks. We then returned to the hotel to rest up for the pounding that we would be giving our livers for the next three days.
At noon we went to a beer sampling featuring Spiegelau glassware. The purpose was to promote their glassware by showing that it enhances one's beer drinking experience. They make four glassware shapes, each geared for a particular type of beer. Each shape is designed to present a beer's flavor, aroma, and carbonation better than an ordinary pint glass. Their glassware is also thinner than pint glasses, which helps maintain carbonation. When beer is poured, it absorbs heat from the glass while the glass loses heat until the two are at the same temperature, and the more heat that the beer picks up, the more quickly it goes flat. Thinner glass transfers less heat than thicker glass. (Of course, heat transfer can also be minimized by serving beer in a chilled pint glass.) The thinner glass does not break as easily as you might think because it is higher quality. All glass is made from quartz, but it often contains impurities (such as iron oxide, which produces a slight greenish hue). Spiegelau glassware is highly pure, and this makes it more pliable and thus less breakable than normal glass.
We tried four different beers (Sierra Nevada Summerfest Lager, Sierra Nevada Kellerweis, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, and Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale) in the four different pieces of glassware, pouring half of each beer into one of their glasses and the other half into a standard pint glass. The thin glass certainly kept the beers colder. Also, the beer in the Spiegelau glassware had noticeably better aroma. This was especially true for the latter two beers, which had more pronounced hop aroma. The shape of the glassware made the difference: regular pint glasses flare outward, allowing aromas to escape easily; whereas all the products we were testing either come straight up or curve inward, helping to trap aromas. (Interestingly, even though Bigfoot's hop aroma was enhanced, the malt aroma was not.) I did not, however, notice much of a flavor difference between their glassware and the normal pint glass.
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We then went to the Homebrew Expo (vendor exhibits) and Liberty Well Social Club (aka Hospitality Suite, where various clubs served beer at different times throughout the conference). Some of the vendors served homebrew. One had a beer called Grandma's Bush. Another had a hard lemonade called Skeeter Pee.
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After a trip to the Reading Terminal Market for food and a brief rest at the hotel room it was off to Pro Brewers Night, held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which is attached to the Marriott by an indoor walkway. Many commercial breweries showcased their beers. Here are the ones I tried:
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Afterward we all went to the Hospitality Suite, where several clubs served lots of homebrews, including some sour ales such as
a Berliner weiss, a Flanders red, and one made with potatoes. It was a great party. I hit the hay at 2 AM.
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Friday June 28. Chris got up early for breakfast at the Down Home Diner. I woke up tired, not so much from drinking as much as from standing for so long the day before. Jeff and I met up with Chris for a bit, then when the Reading Terminal Market opened at 8:00 the two of us ate at the Dutch Eating Place, which filled up by 8:02. Amish folks served us good food cheap.
Jeff and Chris went off to attend seminars. I didn't because I had only purchased the "social package", which included everything except the seminars. And my girlfriend can attest that I have a very social package. So I went to the Homebrew Expo for a while.
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At lunchtime, Joel had a hankering for a Vietnamese hoagie [insert off-color joke here], so he, Jeff, Chris and I walked to Chinatown. By the way, downtown Philadelphia has more beggars than I've seen in any other city. I think the government buses them in from other places as part of a federal homeless exchange program. Anyway, we arrived at Banh Mi Cali, where we ordered Vietnamese hoagies. I ordered a shrimp hoagie on whole wheat, which I didn't eat right away but saved for dinner. When I eventually opened it several hours later, what appeared was a mystery meat sub on white bread.
Later on we attended the keynote address, then went over to the Convention Center to set up for Club Night. Our club, the Chesapeake Real Ale Brewers Society (CRABS), did a "Bawlmer, Hon" theme with pink flamingos, crabs, crab mallet tap handles, and costumes consisting of beehive wigs, muumuus, and horn-rimmed glasses. Lots of people took photos of us.
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More than 80 other clubs had booths as well. There were many creative decorations, as well as well over a thousand kegs of homebrew.
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Barley Legal, a club from New Jersey, won the Pissoir d'Or (Golden Urinal) for bringing the most kegs of any club: 128! It has a tap on it, so they hooked a keg to it and drank or washed their heads with the beer.
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Afterward we adjourned to the Hospitality Suite, where Jason, Chris S. and I poured several kinds of sour ale until 2 AM. Lots of people crowded around our table to partake, and they drank every drop.
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Saturday June 29. Went to the registration area to replace my tasting glass. I had managed to break one and lose another the night before. Went to the Homebrew Expo one last time. The FastRack folks had a fun challenge: put 24 bottles in their product, place a box over it, and flip it within 20 seconds to win a free FastRack. I failed miserably. You can watch someone win here.
I met several folks at Brü to sample some Stone beers and rub elbows with Stone's brewmaster Mitch Steele.
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Across the alley is McGillin's, the oldest continuously running pub in Philly and the 5th oldest continuously running pub in the U.S. It was originally called the Bell-in-Hand Tavern, and it still has the original bell-in-hand sculpture hanging over the bar (see photo below left). I went over there with Trevor, Jeff, Joel, Joel's cousin and her boyfriend (pictured above right). We got some beers and fatty appetizers.
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We walked back to the hotel for the Grand Banquet. I napped in my room and overslept a bit, but was able to find a table with a few vacancies so I got an extra salad and dessert from the empty place settings. Four beers from Rogue were served with the meal. They announced the winners of the homebrew contest, which had 7757 entries from 2187 people. Also, the conference had a record attendance of somewhere between 2200 and 2500 people (actual numbers have not been posted as of this writing).
Afterward we went to the Hospitality Suite where there was lots of homebrew, not only from the clubs that were serving their own, but also a large portion of the leftover beers from the competition. There were very few sours, so obviously some of the judges or stewards got them, but since they had been working while the rest of us were partying, they deserved them. Many of us stayed until the very end at 2 AM.
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Afterward I partied with several of the BaltiBrew guys in one of their rooms until 3:30 AM.
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Sunday June 30. I felt pretty good considering all the late nights and beer. Jeff and I went to Tommy Dinic's for a sandwich. Their pulled pork is touted as being the best sandwich in America. Unfortunately that sandwich didn't come out until 11:00, and since it was 9:00 and we had to check out of the hotel by 11:00, we settled for a roast pork sandwich, which was good and lean. We then gathered our stuff, checked out, and headed back to Maryland, stopping at State Line Liquors on the way. It had been a fantastic trip.