Sessions began bright and early on day two and we were very thankful for the coffee provided in the main lobby. Our local homebrew club was scheduled to pour mid-day in the Social Club (located within the main Expo area, where up to three clubs could pour up to 12 taps at a time of their offerings). Since I’m not a homebrewer, per se, I signed up to pour for a few hours so that the hardcore brewers could fully participate in the conference.

It was a fun time pouring for everyone who came up to our booth. We had an array of homebrews, ranging from a Gose (“goes-ah”), IPAs, to higher alcohol wood aged brews. Some of the club members hung out to hear the responses from others and made connections and I got to talk to a lot of people I would have not been able to if I had not been behind the bar. It was a great experience. I was bummed to miss several sessions, but they are available online to view soon because I am an AHA member!

After my shift was over, I realized I was in fact hungry and needing to eat. Jon and I got some food to split, but then I realized I wanted something lighter and wanted to get off my feet for a bit (standing on a concrete floor for hours is not kind). I headed up towards my hotel (thank you for being close!) and headed into Citizen Baker, where I was able to have a fresh turkey sandwich on fresh homemade bread and salad (possibly while watching TV in bed to rest my feet). 😉

Break was over and back to the conference for more sessions and expo time! We decided not to attend the AHA members meeting, opting for a dinner break for a fabulous happy hour menu at Altabira on the rooftop of Hotel Eastlund.

Our local homebrew club had a booth for club night. Club Night is (in)famously discussed at meetings and it’s a showcase of your local brews (you can opt in for pouring your club’s homebrew for Social Club, Club Night, and Knockout). Instead of our usual jockey box, our club opted for a more permanent booth to be constructed for this event and beyond. Our club is “Central Oregon Homebrewers Organization”, COHO for short, and a member had the back of a boat constructed with a motor that has speakers and tap handles out of fishing poles. (Because “coho” is a type of salmon.) It was quite impressive.

There were many other clubs that had gone all out as well. There were superheros, and what took the cake (IMHO) is the three local Portland area clubs with a Western theme. The most impressive was the Oregon Brew Crew with a large display that included a wooden bar, a digital display of their offerings, a (fake) rattle snake, a cow’s skull and a working video game of The Oregon Trail.

Here is a slideshow of some of the club booths:

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In addition to the impressive booths, there were obviously the beers, meads and ciders to try! I had a fabulous cherry mead and several other meads and several ciders that tasted amazing!

We again shut down the house with lights coming on and an announcement that day two was over.

Saturday, day three, started again bright and early with sessions and the Expo. I knew I wanted to be in the Sierra Nevada session mid-morning to hear about Ken Grossman’s “Lessons I’ve Learned in 50 Years of Brewing” and it was a not to be missed session. I was able to get seats up front and again, another inspiring talk from a leader in the industry. He talked about the trials and hardships he went through to become one of the leading breweries in the industry today. Never give up on your dreams!

I had wanted to go to the FemALE Homebrewers meet and greet, but lunch was calling. We stopped in just as the meeting was breaking up and I heard it was hard to meet and greet due to the “Wings eating competition” going on in the same area. I do know they took a picture and I’m anxious to see that if it comes up and how many women brewers were at the meet and greet. I know a lot of women brewers and they are fierce and committed to their craft and I want to see the scales tipped evenly at events such as this and beyond.

I opted to go to the National Homebrew Awards ceremony and Jon went to a session on hops. They were both in the same area at the same time. If you went to the session, I’m sure you can watch the awards playback and vice versa. I hear Ted gave a great talk on hops!

The last official event was the Knockout party. It was held in a large ballroom with all the leftover beers, meads and ciders that were judged for the competition!

What I liked about this conference is that you can always find something to attend or do. There are an array of topics, ranging from the brewing process, ingredients, how to create recipe formulations, styles and even how to go pro. There are also club sessions and homebrew industry sessions, so if you’re a beginner or wanting to expand knowledge, there’s something here for you in the sessions or the Expo with businesses displaying their goods and services for homebrewers. I LOVED that there was more than beer, there were some fantastic sours, meads and ciders that you all are brewing! It was a fantastic time, learning about the growing industry and I’m glad I went!