Author: Marshall Schott

This article is unapologetically long, detailed, image heavy, and sprinkled with sentiment…

I was hesitant to write about my experience at Homebrew Con in Minneapolis, MN this year, partially because I feel like others have already done a good job of summarizing what went down at the event, though there’s a part of me that admittedly fears coming across in some unintended way… namely, as a homebrew “celebrity” trying to coyly prove my self-worth by sharing all the cool stuff I got to do because of my exposure.

Just typing the word “celebrity” makes me cringe, then again, typing out that it makes me cringe makes me cringe even more. It’s vicious, this mind of mine.

I attended my first Homebrew Con in 2015 in San Diego, CA when it was still called the National Homebrewers Conference (NHC). Brülosophy had been around for a bump over a year and I was surprised every time a fan of the site approached me or I saw someone wearing one of our shirts. A year later, in Baltimore, things were a bit more intensified, and understandably so– the site was getting significantly more traffic, myself or some other representative of Brülosophy had made numerous appearances on others’ podcasts, and we were producing more content that people seemed to enjoy (or at least read). The attention was unexpectedly appealing, I’d be lying if I said otherwise, and it got me thinking about who I wanted to be and, more importantly, what I wanted Brülosophy to represent in homebrewing. I’ve never been one for exclusivity or pretending to be cooler than I am, so I made the very conscious decision to be exactly what I am– a dorky homebrewer who loves to have fun with cool people. This mentality has served me well, I think, leading to some incredible experiences like partying until the wee hours of the morning at Max’s in Baltimore last year with folks I’d just met and, well, some pretty killer stuff this year.

What follows isn’t intended to induce envy, offend, or anything like that. If it motivates anyone to hunker down and make sure they make it to Portland in 2018, fucking fantastic, I can’t wait to hangout!

Homebrew Con 2017, Brülosophy Style

The Lead-Up

I have a couple amazing neighbors who’d been listening to me gab on about how rad prior conferences were, both well enough aware of Brülosophy’s standing in the homebrew world, but they aren’t homebrewers and hence I never considered them being a part of Homebrew Con. Then, Chip Walton from the awesome Chop & Brew video series contacted me to talk about hosting a pre-conference party, which became a topic of conversation among my buddies and me. About a week after we started selling tickets, I noticed a very familiar name pop up on the guest list and flipped my shit. On a call with Jersey later that day, he said he had that time off from his job as a F-15 fighter pilot and that he would be joining me in Minneapolis. Hell yes! I had Jersey over to brew a batch a couple weeks before the conference so that he could at least relate a little with what people would be talking about (more to come on this in a future article).

He was able to reserve seats on all the same flights I was on– we were doing this thing! Meanwhile, Chip, Malcolm, and I were in regular contact about the Prefunk, which we learned was no small task– organizing an event space, securing raffle prizes from sponsors, dealing with a gazillion other things we’d never had to deal with before. It was hectic, but we believed it’d all be worth it when the day finally came.

Day 1: Heading Out & The Prefunk

At 4:30 AM on Wednesday, June 14, 2017, I awoke after a mostly restless night, showered, pounded a cup of coffee, then drove a few houses down to pick Jersey up in order to make it on time for our 6:35 AM flight. It was about 5:40 AM when we arrived to the counter, we threw the one fully loaded bag we planned to check on the scale, which is when we were informed by the employee, “You can’t check bags within 40 minutes of departure.” Cool, we still have almost an hour, but thanks for the tip. “I’m sorry, guys, but your flight leaves at 6:05 AM, I can’t take your bag.” What the hell?! Somehow both Jersey and I failed to confirm our actual flight time and just, I don’t even know, assumed it left 20 minutes later than it did. We pleaded, Jersey provided his military ID, and the dude eventually said he’d try to help us out, tagging the bag then throwing it on the conveyor. “Just remember next time you have to check your bags 40 minutes before your flight leaves.” Yes sir.

We made it through the not-too-long TSA line, collected our crap, then hastily walked to our gate to discover a smallish line of people boarding a plane. Wanting to see if we might be able to swap seats with someone so we could sit next to each other, Jersey decided to get on first to feel it out and walked toward the attendant. Immediately after scanning his boarding pass, I see him about-face and head back toward me, cracking up. “Dude, I almost boarded a plane to Los Angeles!” Our layover was in Phoenix. We then realized the gate was one of those weird A/B ones, so an understandable mistake. We both proceeded to board the proper plane where we were seated next to each other once in flight. The rest of our travels to Minneapolis went smoothly– after grabbing a bite at the Phoenix airport, we boarded a larger plane with what we later learned were a bunch of other homebrewers, in fact I was seated next to and had a good chat with Danielle Schanke, an Arizona Society of Homebrewers board member.

We arrived in Minneapolis around 1:45 PM and hustled to baggage claim, anxious to see if our bag made it. It did! Coincidentally, my friend Derek Springer from the Five Blades Brewing Blog happened to be there at the same time, so we all caught an Uber together, inviting another lone homebrewer who was waiting for a ride to come with us. We got to the hotel about 20 minutes later, contributor Malcolm Frazer was waiting for us, and stowed our bags safely in our room. Just before heading to Insight to prep for the Prefunk, I got a text from contributor Jake Huolihan saying he was on his way to the hotel, so we waited for him in lobby. This worked out well, as Brian Hall from the Brouwerij-Chugach blog and his buddy Matthew Brown showed up, so we hung out in the lobby and I passed around my phone to show people a recording of the One Minute Beer Review with Jersey and Tim, a new segment we’ll be introducing on the podcast soon. Jake arrived and we jolted to the convention center to check in before catching another Uber to Insight.

Once at Insight, we got to work organizing the check-in station, setting up the homebrew area, and making sure everything else was in order. Chip and some of the Chop & Brew crew arrived around 4:30 PM and joined the effort. At 5 PM, everything seemingly in place, we opened the doors and the badass party-goers began to flow in. With other things to manage, Chip and I ran Jake and Jersey through the check-in process then handed the task off to them. Soon, the brewery was packed with awesome people.

Tunes were bumping, conversations were being had, and my-oh-my was the delicious beer flowing! Drew Beechum hosted a terrific trivia game, the homebrew share proved yet again that incredible beer can be made in garages, and we announced 5 super lucky raffle winners!

As some people drank and conversed, others got behind the mic to strut their karaoke stuff.

At 10:30 PM, we kicked everyone out, helped clean the place up, then headed with some stragglers to Republic, a gastropub with a killer lineup of beer and tasty bar bites. While there, Jersey and Mike Koncel caught an Uber back to the hotel for some reason (I forget) with a promise to return shortly. About 30 minutes later, Jersey was back and proclaimed, “I lost Mike.” Come to find out, he caught up with Rebecca and Eric Cousineu, of the Eric Brews blog, and decided to hang with them.

At some point, following multiple plates of french fries and pints of beer, we all decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel to pretend to get a good night’s sleep.

Day 2: Watch Us Science With Denny & Drew, Karaoke, & Squeeks

I have a terrible habit of waking up too early, it has served me well at times, but on this particular morning it did not. I slept awkward and had a kink in my neck, so I got up, took a few ibuprofen, drank a ton of water, then did some “work” on the site. When Jersey woke up an hour or so later, I messaged some people about heading to breakfast and Jake suggested we go to a bagel shop a few blocks away. It was about 10:15 AM when we approached our breakfast destination, which is when I noticed it was directly adjacent to Brits Pub, a place I’d enviously seen people who were in town a day earlier than me raving about on Facebook. Our post-breakfast plans were set! Brian and Matthew met up with us, ate some breakfast, then we all went to Brits and drank pints of delicious London Pride, Bengal Lancer, and my favorite, Brit Hop.

Bellies full and palates pleased, we were off to the convention center to check out the expo a bit before we all headed to the auditorium where Malcolm and I joined Drew Beechum and Denny Conn for our talk, Hold My Beer and Watch Me Science. I think it went well, we certainly had fun, and thanks to Jersey, we never ran out of beer!

Following our talk, we meandered a bit and, like Velcro, picked up a few more rad people. With a couple hours of free time, we decided to head back to Brits Pub for dinner and more beer, this time with a much larger party.

After the delicious meal, it was time to head back to the convention center for the Kickoff Party where a bunch of local(ish) breweries served an endless supply of beer we can’t really find here in California. My favorite of night was Utepils Brewing with their incredible Kölsch, Pils, and Altbier!

After a couple hours at the Kickoff Party, a few of us hatched a plan that would end up turning men to boys, women to little girls, and homebrewers to a badass bunch of shameless heroes– we booked a private room at a karaoke bar.

Over the course of 4 hours, a rotating series of around 25 of our friends, old and new, dropped it like it was hawt! This is also when contributor Matt Del Fiacco finally showed up.

It’s possible some will use this as proof we’re blithering idiots who don’t take brewing seriously for some silly reason, and while that’s perfectly fine, I’m here to tell you this is what happens when you let the go and allow yourself to have a good time!

Roughly 4 hours later, I’m pretty sure we headed back to the hotel where we talked to some people outside for a little bit before heading up to the room Olan Suddeth from Brew United and Mike Koncel were staying in. Squeeky cheese and liquids were consumed…

Day 3: Friends’ Seminars, Podcast Fun, & Club Night

I awoke in my bed around 9 AM with nary a throb in my head, all of my teeth, and vitality like yeast had been pitched just 4 hours earlier. Brian and Derek were scheduled to give their talk, Lagers To Lambic: Hard Stuff The Easy Way, at 10:15 AM, so most of the aforementioned people were there in addition to a rather large group of other conference-goers. It was fantastic, I only wish I had the speaking skills of these guys! After the talk, we hit up the expo briefly and I happened to bump into Juneal Colburn of Growler Farms, a new hop farm based out of Chetek, WI. We talked for a bit before I suggested returning to, you guessed it, Brits for an early lunch. Juneal’s husband, Andy Hall, met us there and we had a great time chatting about all things brewing and beer. Having previously agreed to record an episode of the Basic Brewing Podcast, Jake and I hit James up to see if they were free. They were! We met up with James and Steve in the lobby of the convention center and our ever-growing group of brewing nerds made our way back to our room.

To start, James, Steve, and all of the non-Brülosophy members of our group participated in a couple tasting sessions for The Hop Chronicles, which will be aired on the Basic Brewing Radio podcast in the near future.

After that, James suggested the Brülosophy guys participate in an experiment he brought from home, one that was recently discussed on his podcast. I whipped out my recorder, prepared my palate as best I could given the situation, and got to tasting. It was so much fun being the one experimented on for once, totally different perspective, and a fascinating experiment to boot.

After a fun little bottle share, I peeled away with Juneal and Andy to record a segment where we chat about their new hop growing operation. Stay tuned to The Brülosophy Podcast to learn more about what Growler Farms is up to, it’s cool stuff.

Interviews complete, it was time for more seminars. Since Malcolm, Brian, and Scott were doing their talk, My Milkshake Brings All The Boys To The Yard, at the same time Matt Del Fiacco was giving his Against The Grain: Wood Aging And Barrel Alternatives talk, I was forced to split my time between them.

The first part of Milkshake and the last part of Wood were both fantastic, equally as informative as they were entertaining. I’ve never felt more inspired to play with wood as I did after Matt’s session.

After the seminars, one group made their way to Butcher & Boar while some of us peeled away to a less packed bar next door, Bulldog Minneapolis, to pack our guts with food for the upcoming long night of beer sampling. Following a quick stop at our hotel rooms to prep ourselves, we went back to the convention center for what I think is the best part of Homebrew Con proper– Club Night.

There aren’t words to describe how rad of night this was. Abstract Artimus slayed while homebrewers from around the world sampled hundreds of delicious beers, ciders, and meads made by local clubs. Pure amazing! After shutting club night down, industry badasses from Bootleg Biology and JaDeD Brewing as well as rad homebrewers like Ryan Casey and Greg Washington joined our group for a New Glarus heavy beer share and pizza. An absolute night to remember, no doubt.

Before closing my eyes, again in my bed, I looked up and noted it was 3:30 AM. Jersey was sawing logs, I wasn’t far behind.

Day 4: More Talks, NHC Awards, & Going Out With A Bang

Saturday began by waking up earlier than most people thought was possible (8:15 AM) and quickly showering in preparation for Chino Darji’s killer talk, Brewing When You Have No Time, where he laid out some clever methods for squeezing brewing into a busy schedule. Jersey decided to sit this one out and catch up on some sleep, so I joined a few other guys at the expo, spoke to some vendors doing fascinating things for homebrewing, and drank great beer made by Michael Dawson and others.

A few of us then caught Annie Johnson’s presentation, Czech Plz! What I Learned Brewing With The Czech Masters, that was really interesting and hilarious.

After more time (and beer) at the expo, it was time for the newfangled award ceremony. While some of us really appreciated the less formal format, others thought it diluted the coolness of winning. Either way, our section exploded when Malcolm was revealed to be the bronze medal winner for his California Common!

A group of us then bounced over to scarf a hearty meal at Chipotle, something I hope becomes a tradition, before scooting back to check out the Knockout Party. After sampling a few beers, inhaling tons of noxious bum air, and chatting with a few folks, we opted to head to the North East neighborhood and end our trip with a good old fashioned brewery hop! Thanks to Chip and Bryon Adams for the recommendation, this night ended up being way better than I expected. We started at Fair State where we had a couple beers to get warmed up, walked in the rain to Indeed and enjoyed some tasty libations, then made our way to my favorite stop of the night, Bauhaus Brewery.

Delicious German lagers, crazy tasty poutine, and corn hole, which Brian and I dominated at!

We planned an earlier night since we were all taking off the next morning… buuuuut, that’s not really what happened. Rather than return to the hotel and sleep like smart people, we thought we’d make one last stop at Town Hall, a really cool local brewery and bar. To my surprise, a couple friends I’d met at the Southern California Homebrew Festival a month prior, Corey Magers and Sean Daniel, were quietly sipping beers at the bar. Quiet no more! Appetizers and beer were ordered while we all capped the night off with unsurprisingly forgettable conversations.

We finally decided to leave and landed back in our rooms around 2 AM, fully intending to hit the sack. Instead, Malcolm brought over a lauded commercial NEIPA and some homebrew to share, so we called Brian, Olan, and Mike back over for one last nightcap. Mike brought a block of Wisconsin cheddar and Brian brought a tile of Rice Krispie treats.

Finally, we did it, everyone parted ways and we went slept.

And Then It Was Over…

Bittersweet as always, Homebrew Con 2017 was done. Jersey, Derek, and I caught an Uber to the airport around 9:30 AM, boarded flights, and flew home to our families. Pulling into my driveway, I was greeted excitedly by 3 adorable kiddos and a beautiful wife. Jersey snagged his stuff and headed a few doors down to our neighbor Tim’s house where their families were swimming. It was Father’s Day and Laura gave me the option of what to do that night. My kids were begging to go swimming, so we went down there, cracked a few cold ones, and got back to the norm.

The night was sealed with a trip to my favorite tri-tip spot, Doghouse Grill, where I had a single Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with my delicious sandwich while enjoying my the company of my family and reminiscing on all that happened the 4 days prior.

Homebrew Con 2018 will be in the beautiful city of Portland, OR from June 28-30, you better believe Brülosophy will be there and we’d love for all of you to go as well! Start planning (and saving) now, this is the event of a lifetime, something I trust you won’t ever regret attending.

A huge shout-out to the American Homebrewers Association who not only organizes Homebrew Con every year, but also supports Brulosophy.com as the primary sponsor. If you’re not a member, GO JOIN NOW!

Also, cheers to all the kick ass sponsors who made the Chop & Brü Prefunk raffle possible, many of whom also kicked it with us throughout the conference. Grainfather, BräuSupply, Ss Brewtech, Spike Brewing, Love2brew, JaDeD Brewing, Yakima Valley Hops, Imperial Organic Yeast, Gladfield Malt, Bootleg Biology, Hopsteiner, The Brew Bag, ThermoWorks, PicoBrew, and our friends from Experimental Homebrewing— YOU are homebrewing and we love you!

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