| Thursday, June 11, 2015 |

Following breakfast at Denny’s, Matt and I returned to the hotel where I prepared to start collecting data for a couple xBmts. In a matter of about an hour, 15 really cool homebrewers showed up to participate including Denny Conn and 2014 Ninkasi award Jeremy Voeltz!

I wrapped this tasting session up and headed to my first seminar about using coffee in beer given by Michael Tonsmeier and some folks from Modern Times Brewing.

Seminar complete, we grabbed lunch, walked around the expo, chatted with Curtis from Brewers Hardware as well as 2013 Homebrewer of the Year, Annie Johnson, who was managing the Pico Brew booth. Immediately following this, a few of us attended a meet-up for the Milk The Funk Facebook group where delicious sour and funky beers were flowing freely.

Michael Tonsmeier’s madly fermented barrel aged Oud Bruin was memorably delicious and Dave Janssen’s Gueuze was something to behold. I shared a couple Flemish Reds I made back in March 2013 and a Blond Sour I made in August 2013. Halfway through this meet-up, I had to run back to my room to chat with the guys from Basic Brewing Radio. James brought some friends.

We packed a dozen people in my room and all donated their palates to the cause. A great time was had. Once recording was finished, we bolted to the keynote reception where Tomme Arthur gave a moving speech about how homebrewing has impacted his life.

We snagged some dinner and headed to the main event: The Night Previously Known as Pro Night (Welcome Reception). Holy shit.

It was at this point my phone’s battery died, likely for the better. Suffice it to say plenty (plenty) of incredible commercial beer was had by all. Thankfully, everyone (that I know) made it back to their rooms safe and sound.

| Friday, June 12, 2015 |

I woke up Friday morning feeling far better than I expected. Matt, Malcolm, and I ended up having breakfast at the hotel with Denny Conn were we chatted about things like the differences between homebrewing and commercial brewing. What’d you expect? After a very interesting seminar on quality assurance, a group of us attended the AHA Forum meet-up where nearly 23 rad homebrewers participated in a couple xBmts and I was able to put some names to faces.

After cleaning up my mess, Sean Terrill (the awesome refractometer calculator guy) and Franklin Hess invited some of us to join them for lunch. Our initial plan to get a quick bite at the nearest mall turned into something wholly different and badass. We jumped on the tram and headed to Karl Strauss.

Full of food, we walked about 10 minutes to the Little Italy Ballast Point and drank more.

Such a beautiful location.

In San Diego, good beer seems never more than a stone’s throw away. Right across the street from Ballast Point was Bottlecraft, a rad bottle shop and bar. Why not?

Malcolm then suggested catching an Uber to Modern Times to catch up with some local friends of his.

After a beer, we figured it was probably about time to head back to the conference center, as club night was about to begin. I’m not sure how much actual homebrew was there, certainly more than any one person could try on their own. But, oh, did some try.

This is one of those events where it seems you can’t avoid bumping into awesome people, most more than willing to engage in good conversation and obnoxious selfies.

Some of our favorite beers of the night came from contributor Greg Foster’s club, Pacific Gravity.

To the far left, that there is Reuben, a seriously awesome homebrewer and rad friend of Brülosophy. Peace, bro!

My local crew of friends certainly keeps my in check, if it weren’t for them, I might actually think my beer was good. I love these guys!

The night carried on, the beer continued to flow. I talked with Warren “Beardy” Billups from The Brewing Network about how the popcorn machines were probably a helpful ploy by the AHA, I caught up with the awesome guys from Love2Brew about some potential future collaborations, and I continued to meet all-around cool people.

After last call, a few of us headed up to our room where we had a neat little bottle share and ate pizza.

Franklin was done.

I was right behind him. A fantastic day, indeed.

Time to grab a slightly overpriced breakfast burrito then head over to help Denny and Drew in their seminar. They keep talking about me wearing a dress, which honestly, I’m not necessarily opposed to, I suppose we’ll just have to see what comes of this potential mess. Until then, cheers!

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