National Homebrew Conference - Help for a NOOB club

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jpoder

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My homebrew club (The GLUB club) has signed up to pour at club night at NHC. We're Philly based, and want to share! At our meeting last night we realized that none of us have ever been to an NHC, and the website is severely lacking with info in this regard (we did learn that we should take our glass everywhere with us, though :confused:). Can a few of you experienced folks help us out? Being total Noobs at this, I'm not even sure we know what questions to ask, but Here are our questions/concerns that have come up:

1) If we have club members that can only make it for club night, do they have to buy the Social – No Banquet ticket or is there another option? Kind of expensive if they are only going to club night.

2) How much beer should we expect to bring/pour at club night?

3) what are logistics like for dropping off beer and setting up our booth. How about tearing down/packing up?

4) Any other suggestions/tips for us? (either as a club or as individuals attending for the first time)

5) Any other suggestions for can't miss events at NHC?
 
My homebrew club (The GLUB club) has signed up to pour at club night at NHC. We're Philly based, and want to share! At our meeting last night we realized that none of us have ever been to an NHC, and the website is severely lacking with info in this regard (we did learn that we should take our glass everywhere with us, though :confused:). Can a few of you experienced folks help us out? Being total Noobs at this, I'm not even sure we know what questions to ask, but Here are our questions/concerns that have come up:

1) If we have club members that can only make it for club night, do they have to buy the Social – No Banquet ticket or is there another option? Kind of expensive if they are only going to club night.

2) How much beer should we expect to bring/pour at club night?

3) what are logistics like for dropping off beer and setting up our booth. How about tearing down/packing up?

4) Any other suggestions/tips for us? (either as a club or as individuals attending for the first time)

5) Any other suggestions for can't miss events at NHC?

Hey! I have not been there yet either but my club is also going to be there. From what I was told,
1)members pouring at the event do need to purchase at least the social only ticket.
2)A lot, I will try to find out exactly how much we figured out last meeting, but it was a ridiculous amount.
3)Set up I believe is 2 hours before and tear down is only a half hour! They do have the keg drop-off info on the website.
4)Club night is about what club can do the most ridiculous, awesome, funniest booth around, and if you pour the most beer you get a trophy(the golden urinal!)
As for #5 this will also be my first time so I can't really say. If you need anymore info pm me I will do the best I can, our president is helping out a lot with the conference.
 
Bring the jockey box, house clamps, multiple regulators...pipe wrench for fittings. A simple foldable table or card table to hold the jockebox will work.

Make a very clear tasting notes sign describing the malts, yeast, hops.
 
Lst year, my club brought 35 kegs for club night. We hooked a computer up to a flat screen monitor for the beer list.

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Ha- do you guys remember the Homebrewtalk.com's booth at NHC 2008?
We had kegs, and some people to serve, but they "forgot" us and we ended up in a corner with a hand-written posterboard sign at the last minute. :D
OllllllllllllllO brought a pizza oven, and we bought some frozen pretzels at Sam's Club, and served those pretzels. We also had a livestream for the people on the forum to watch.

Food is a nice thing to have, since people are walking around drinking and sampling lots of beers (and mead and a few "other" things). I always appreciate things like that, and I normally stop and chat with people who get my attention. I've met some great people that way!

To get in, you have to have bought a ticket. The "social package" doesn't include the seminars (which are great) but does include the Club night, Probrewer's night, and the Hospitality Suite (where some clubs set up and serve during "shifts").
 
Lst year, my club brought 35 kegs for club night. We hooked a computer up to a flat screen monitor for the beer list.

Holy smokes! Did you go through all of that beer?! Now I'm a little worried we are in over our heads!
 
Holy smokes! Did you go through all of that beer?! Now I'm a little worried we are in over our heads!

Nope, maybe 1/2 of it. My kegs of Rye IPA and Wee Shroomy kicked, but I brought home a partial keg of the Tofu Pale Ale. For some reason, people were kinda scared by it! ;)
 
okay...sounding better...15-ish kegs is starting to sound more realistic for us. Any suggestions for beers that work out well? should we aim for more session beers (low ABV)? old standards (pale ale, dry stout, etc)? something a little different? ...or very different (don't know about a tofu beer!)

How long does club night go on for? How many people should we figure we need to man a booth?

Any pitfalls you have hit in the past that you would advise us to avoid? Anything that newcomers tend to do/not do?
 
okay...sounding better...15-ish kegs is starting to sound more realistic for us. Any suggestions for beers that work out well? should we aim for more session beers (low ABV)? old standards (pale ale, dry stout, etc)? something a little different? ...or very different (don't know about a tofu beer!)

How long does club night go on for? How many people should we figure we need to man a booth?

Any pitfalls you have hit in the past that you would advise us to avoid? Anything that newcomers tend to do/not do?

It's only about 3 hours, if I remember right. It's nice to have enough to pour while others can browse around the other booths. It's wild, and crazy, what some of the clubs do for decoration. And you can always attempt to win the Golden Pizzer.

It seems like the "different" beers are always sampled, but I also go around and try most of the pale ales and IPAs, or if someone tells me, "I got a great XXX at that booth", I usually check it out. It seems like the mead stuff goes really fast.

Have a dump bucket on each side of your booth, so if someone with some beer in their glass wants to try one of yours, they can dump right there and fill up.

Have a board/chalkboard/something with a list of beers, and anything unusual about them.

Make your booth have a theme- I've seen some great decorations and themes.
 
If you volunteer to judge in the final round, would you get any of the perks of having bought a ticket without actually buying a ticket? I'm hoping to get my results from my tasting exam before the NHC, so if I can get in by judging instead of buying a ticket, that would be awesome. That's assuming I actually made it in as at least a Recognized Judge, though. I've got a day to decide if $145 is too much and whether I can justify it to the wife, haha.
 
If you volunteer to judge in the final round, would you get any of the perks of having bought a ticket without actually buying a ticket? I'm hoping to get my results from my tasting exam before the NHC, so if I can get in by judging instead of buying a ticket, that would be awesome. That's assuming I actually made it in as at least a Recognized Judge, though. I've got a day to decide if $145 is too much and whether I can justify it to the wife, haha.

They take the judges that are there. You don't get in free for judging!

They take the higher ranked judges first, so I don't know how many are master/national/certified/recognized.

I thought about maybe judging this year, but I don't know if I would.
 
Yooper said:
They take the judges that are there. You don't get in free for judging!

They take the higher ranked judges first, so I don't know how many are master/national/certified/recognized.

I thought about maybe judging this year, but I don't know if I would.

Does this mean you're going to Philly, Yooper? That'd be cool!
 
They take the judges that are there. You don't get in free for judging!

They take the higher ranked judges first, so I don't know how many are master/national/certified/recognized.

I thought about maybe judging this year, but I don't know if I would.

Well I keep reading on the website about their desire to improve the quality of judging so it seems to me the quality of judging could be improved by offering volunteer judges without a ticket access to at least the awards ceremony with no banquet. It wouldn't cost them anything to do that.
 
nukebrewer said:
Well I keep reading on the website about their desire to improve the quality of judging so it seems to me the quality of judging could be improved by offering volunteer judges without a ticket access to at least the awards ceremony with no banquet. It wouldn't cost them anything to do that.

To the contrary, it would cost them the food & BEvERageS plus the price of tickets they otherwise would have sold to paying guests.

From what I understand, the lack of qualified judges hurts more in the first round than at the Conference where the final round is done.
 
To the contrary, it would cost them the food & BEvERageS plus the price of tickets they otherwise would have sold to paying guests.

From what I understand, the lack of qualified judges hurts more in the first round than at the Conference where the final round is done.

Yes, there are "recognized" BJCP judges at the NHC who are declined, because they have enough "higher" BJCP judges. Or at least that was true in the past.

I'm only "certified" while others are "national" with a few "master" judges, so I don't know if they'd even take me, but I have so much fun in the activities that I might not want to anyway.

I'm considering going to Milwaukee at the end of April to volunteer for first round judging, depending on when we leave Texas.
 
They take the judges that are there. You don't get in free for judging!

They take the higher ranked judges first, so I don't know how many are master/national/certified/recognized.

I thought about maybe judging this year, but I don't know if I would.

Generally, they try to have 2 Narionals and a Master in each group of 3 judges.
 
Well I keep reading on the website about their desire to improve the quality of judging so it seems to me the quality of judging could be improved by offering volunteer judges without a ticket access to at least the awards ceremony with no banquet. It wouldn't cost them anything to do that.

There is only so much soace at the banquet/awards. By giving people free awards only tickets, we'd be eliminating people who want to pay for the banquet.
 
FYI, the Conference hotel is sold out already. Be ready when the registration opens. Things will happen fast.

Doesn't appear to be as of 9 AM west coast time.

UPDATE:

Hotel Update: February 5, 2013, 10:45 am MT
Friday and Saturday nights are sold out at the host hotel. We’re in the process of securing more rooms at nearby hotels and will post more information on February 6.
 
Denny said:
Another update...AHA site has crashed due to the load. You can register for the conference here...

https://www.regonline.com/35thannualnationalhomebrewersconference

I used that link to get my tickets around 3:30. Pretty freaking geeked for my first NHC. It's funny: I've never been interested in Hollywood stars or pro athletes, but the idea of meeting JZ, Tasty, some famous pro brewers, Denny, Yooper, and others who have given so much to this community of brewing makes me embarrassingly excited!
 
I used that link to get my tickets around 3:30. Pretty freaking geeked for my first NHC. It's funny: I've never been interested in Hollywood stars or pro athletes, but the idea of meeting JZ, Tasty, some famous pro brewers, Denny, Yooper, and others who have given so much to this community of brewing makes me embarrassingly excited!

I'll second you- I was thrilled to meet these guys when I went to NHC for the first time! And I'm still happy to re-visit them.

I really like Denny, and appreciate all he's done for the AHA. I also got to appreciate Palmer's weird geeky sense of humor. That's a blast.

I'm looking forward to learning more about water chemistry from some of our water geeks that I've never met.

I'm excited too!
 
Poor, Palmer!!!

Enjoy NHC, I'm doing Disneyland with the kids and may have a lot going this summer. So, after attedning the last two, I opted out, which is sad, because I do like Philadlphia. I am going to try to make next year though.

EDIT: WOW!!!! My spelling in this is terrible. I assure you, I was not drunk when I wrote this!!!
 
Palmer has a sense of humor???? ;)

Yeah, you should hear him laughing behind your back sometime! :D


Shooter, if you come to NHC 2014, I'll give you one of my homebrews. I'll drive to that one, so I can bring beer. This time, I'm flying (too far to want to drive myself) but next year it's "only" 8 hours away for me to drive it.
 
Yeah, you should hear him laughing behind your back sometime! :D


Shooter, if you come to NHC 2014, I'll give you one of my homebrews. I'll drive to that one, so I can bring beer. This time, I'm flying (too far to want to drive myself) but next year it's "only" 8 hours away for me to drive it.

Poor Palmer?!!?? Maybe I should say poor Denny!!! :D

I'm really hoping I can make 2014. At the moment, that's the plan. I've also never been to Grand Rapids or anywhere in Michigan for that matter. So, I look forward to sampling a few beers I can't get out here. I'm a bit sad I won't make Philadelphia. I had a blast in San Diego and Seattle/Bellevue.
 
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