A Little Homebrew Video

Our good friend Claire, who writes an amazing food and drink blog called The Kitchy Kitchen, stopped by a few weeks back to learn a bit from Patrick and pick up some homebrewing equipment along with a recipe for our Humulus Blonde. The beer she ended up making won a silver medal at the LA Queen of the Brew competition! Congrats Claire!

Here is a video of the entire process from purchase to tasting and also check out Claire's blog for other food and mixed drink recipes at www.thekitchykitchen.com

Home Brewing from Claire Thomas on Vimeo.

Monday Update on The Bruery (5/7)

I bet you're as tired as I am about me not being able to find a location. I plan to change that this week, as I'll be expanding my reach outside of Orange County to Corona, Chino, Chino Hills, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Long Beach, among a few other areas. My first choice is to stay in Orange County, but I gotta do what I gotta do.

This weekend was the Southern California Homebrewers Festival. About 1500 people attended this mecca of beer festivals, drinking great beers from the 30-odd homebrew clubs serving their goods up. BrewCommune served around 15 beers and ran out of most of what was brought. We also won the first IPA competition with my India Pale Lager. I brought two kegs that were drained in a little over 2 hours. I thought I'd be specializing in Belgian-style beers, but I might have to add this beer to my lineup. Thanks to Lyn for the photos (more are on this BrewCommune thread). As usual, I didn't bring my camera!

This week I'll be focusing on finding a place, then I'll worry about ordering equipment and finalizing my recipes.

AHA Governing Committee Election Update

The election is over, and I've been informed I wasn't elected to the Governing Committee. Most of the incumbents were re-elected, with the exception of one. I won't say who was elected (it should be announced soon), but I think the AHA members made a good choice.

Perhaps not being elected is a good thing, as I can focus more of my attention on starting up the brewery. I'll admit, it does suck to lose.

4/16/07 Edit: Congrats to Drew Beechum, Chris Frey, Dave Houseman, and Susan Ruud.

Vote for me!

Not entirely related to starting up a brewery, I'm a candidate for the American Homebrewers Association Governing Committee. The Governing Committee acts like a board of directors for the AHA, and it would be a huge honor to be a member of it. I'm up against a group of great homebrewers and leaders, but there's four spots open and ten candidates, so my chances could be worse. If you're an AHA member, and think I'd be a good fit, please vote for me!

Vote by April 2nd: http://www.beertown.org/apps/aha_election/aha_election.aspx

My personal statement (also on http://www.beertown.org/homebrewing/election.html):

Like most AHA members and unlike most of the other candidates, I am not a celebrity brewer. I'm not a Brewcaster™, I haven't written any books, and I don't have a single brewing-related invention to my name. If you recognize my name, you're probably mistaken. Despite my lack of notoriety, I would be an excellent addition to the AHA Governing Committee. Beer is an important part of my life. I homebrew four batches per month, and I am currently pursuing my dream of opening a craft brewery in Southern California. I am an experienced leader as Vice President of my homebrew club BrewCommune, and I am also a BJCP Certified Judge. As for general qualities, I am an extremely organized, analytical, motivated person. I've been told I am an excellent communicator. Also somewhat related to beer, I am a recent law school graduate. As you might imagine, I drank a lot beer to get through it! During this experience, homebrewing was a source of joy, comfort and most importantly a diversion from the drudgery of law school. Once I graduated, it was all too apparent that my calling in life is as a brewer.
Regardless, I believe my legal experience would be helpful in achieving several goals I'd like to pursue as a member of the AHA Governing Committee. If elected, I would use my position to advocate the change of arbitrary laws at the state level that hinder homebrewing and the appreciation of craft beer. As an organization that represents a significant population of craft beer enthusiasts, the AHA is in the perfect position to be a catalyst for such important changes. I am also very interested in assisting with expanding the AHA Pub Discount Program, the National Homebrew Competition, or anything that supports the AHA.

I believe homebrewing to be the main source of innovation in craft beer, and I plan to devote my life to furthering it, whether I am elected to the AHA Governing Committee or not. It would be my sincere honor and pleasure to serve you.