2013 NHC in Philly! Who's going?

[Yooper]

Anybody witness the exploding commemorative cans? I guess they pulled the cans they handed out at registration due to quite a few exploding. I looked at the 2 we have and they look like the are ready to pop.

Mine just was sitting on the desk here and when I picked it up, the bottom bulged out and I dropped it into the trashcan where it exploded. Heard it was sour, but didn't try it.

Looks like Monks is pouring Pliney, Sup, Dam, and one other RR now.

Yeah, we drank a Damnation last night then the Pliny was tapped. We spent $90 on Pliny at our table. It was fun!

Last night was awesome, beers were very good. clubs should be very proud of yourselves for the show and beers you poured. I think I caught yooper's headache too. might have been from the body check she layed on me...you are a trip woman!!

drinking with palmer was one of many highlights for me along with Dave Pyle and stefin clapham's sours!

looking forward to one more party. see ya there!!

stonebrewer

But.............you said something like "Could you give me a body check just to see?". I didn't realize you weren't "set" and that you'd fly so far and take out all of those other people. I apologized profusely to them, but they were pissed.

You flew really far for such a tall guy. I was surprised at the air you got.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

My cans look okay so far...

 

[Coff]

was the beer atleast good?

No it was good at all.

My cans look okay so far...

Your can is not ok, open it immediately. I got a response from We Can Mobile canning who canned the beer, he confirmed with the head brewer at Round Guys that the beer was over carbonated. It was not due to a bad seam in the can.

 

[njale]

homebrewtalk for club of the year next year

 

[TBBrewer]

was the beer atleast good?

We drank ours. Both cans bulging and over carbed as hell. It did not explode, but it foamed out of the cup the second it hit the glass.

 

[TBBrewer]

I did unfortunately, and I believe I was the first to experience it. I checked in Thursday morning at 7:30 then went to work for the day, on the drive into work it exploded all over my windshield and all over me. I tweeted a photo to Round Guys, the AHA and the company who canned it called Mobile Canning or something.

They were all apologetic at the time but basically thought I got the one defective can that made it through. 2 hours later the same thing happened to my buddy, then I met 4 people at Pro night who had the same issue.

It's really ashame bc Round Guys is quite good, but they are very new so I hope it doesn't hurt them.

That really sucks. Glad it was not any worse.

 

[njale]

that must be a amazing light lager to take BOS

 

[Coff]

We Can Monile canning sent me a DM on twitter and said that Round Guys confirmed the beer was over carbonated and it was NOT an issue with the seam on the cans.

That's actually dissapointing to me as Im a Round Guys fan, sounds like they rushed this beer into cans. Bad form.

I don't know if this is common knowledge or not but the beer is a Pilsner fermented warm. I asked them what the reasoning was on that but they stopped responding. My guess is its a rush job.

 

[ChugachBrewing]

I think I had that beer, were you wearing a tank top? If so, very nice beer and what's the story behind it.

If you're the same guy I poured you a dark sour from the beer engine later on made by one of our members.

Yup that was me. The Lou Pepe was a cantillon beer I had (as in drank) at Monks.
The beer I served was a spontaneously fermented ale, a Flanders red, and a Petit sour.

 

[brewguyver]

Thanks for the heads up on the cans - we almost flew with two of them . That would have been ugly.

Club night was awesome - props to the Ohio brewers with all the experimental IPAs, and o FBI who crammed every one of the SWMBO's fav hops into a single beer.

Monks and Eulogy were pretty awesome. I'll definitely be back to Philly for more food and beer.

Lastly, props to untapped - their servers held up pretty damn well given the number of checking in this weekend

 

[gmr]

Amazing time. Made it back to CT in one piece. Club night was epic - it was overwhelming in fact. I just walked around and looked at the lists... stuck to lower ABV stuff, and sours. The Boston club had a tremendous geuze on cask.

Our little club (M.A.S.H from Clinton, CT) were very outclassed in the booth decorating dept... but I feel our beer quality was on-par with most of the stuff I tried. Was proud my Blackberry Berliner Weiss was one of the first kegs I saw kicked. My wives Pink Peppercorn Saison also seemed to go over quite well - only her second all-grain batch.

 

[stonebrewer]

Just got home after dumping off islandlizard and sweetcell. Bad wreck on 95 just before we hit Baltimore is going to make it a long day for others who left after us!!

Agree, club night was the highlight of the 4 days for me. Pro night was okay, but was a little disappointed in the game some of the pros brought. I was really hoping FW would bring one of their AMAZING beers, but they brought an off tasting Wooky Jack. Loved the Stone Enjoy By...and by far my favorite of the night was Bitter Valentine. Club night was so much fun and you guys that brought beer to share did a fabulous job, one and all. Loved the Barley Legal guys! They had a wonderful barrel aged stout that I could have drank all night! The DC area guys had some great sours, mead, along with other very good beers. Loved how the MD area folks banded together! There were what, 10-15 clubs from the DC MD VA area!

The awards ceremony was a bit of a let down, but that might just be because I was party'd out by that time. It was great fun to watch though and congrats to Phil who was sitting at our table for a respectable Bronze with his Uncle Bob's Pilsner! He was gracious enough to share some with me and it was awesome!

Looking forward to Grand Rapids!

Cheers!
stonebrewer

 

[drmark50]

Anybody witness the exploding commemorative cans? I guess they pulled the cans they handed out at registration due to quite a few exploding. I looked at the 2 we have and they look like the are ready to pop.

One if ours exoloded in our car on the ride home.

 

[DLink]

After I heard about the false seal i separated my can from the rest of my stuff. When i got home Saturday I was unloading all of my swag and having a conversation. The can exploded in my hand and scared the hell out of me! Didnt cut me or anything but it stung like a bastard and soaked me. That is a shame for round guys, I thought the beer they poured was quite good.

 

[TNGabe]

Wow did I do a bad job of meeting up with HBTers. Did meet some other cool folks. That cask geuze a club night was delicious, so was the kriek a few booths up. The cuvée de Tomme clone from Austin as excellent too. Anyone try the Merican Sour at the Philly Homebrew booth at the expo? It was probably the best sour beer I got to try.

It was my first conference and after the registration and comp snafus, I was a little worried. Had a great time and can't wait for next year. Hope to get back to Philly. Great beer town and very friendly.

 

[Qhrumphf]

My can survived but drinking before it blows. Definite lactic character. Its actually still quite good.

Was my first conference. Was glad i went, even blowing off a wedding to do so. Plus club night folks loved my beers, plus John Palmer hanging out in our room drinking was awesome.

 

[TBBrewer]

Thanks for the heads up on the cans - we almost flew with two of them . That would have been ugly.

Club night was awesome - props to the Ohio brewers with all the experimental IPAs, and o FBI who crammed every one of the SWMBO's fav hops into a single beer.

Monks and Eulogy were pretty awesome. I'll definitely be back to Philly for more food and beer.

Lastly, props to untapped - their servers held up pretty damn well given the number of checking in this weekend

I was worried others would have tried to fly with those. Luckily, we made it home with the rye saison. Anybody try that yet?

I really enjoyed the one club that had all the smash ipa's/pales.

Strangeloves and Monks were the place to be. Amazing brews. I did not make it to Eulogy, but wanted to. I was using the Untappd app to see what was pouring where/when and it worked out well. The servers did do quite well.

 

[TBBrewer]

Amazing time. Made it back to CT in one piece. Club night was epic - it was overwhelming in fact. I just walked around and looked at the lists... stuck to lower ABV stuff, and sours. The Boston club had a tremendous geuze on cask.

Our little club (M.A.S.H from Clinton, CT) were very outclassed in the booth decorating dept... but I feel our beer quality was on-par with most of the stuff I tried. Was proud my Blackberry Berliner Weiss was one of the first kegs I saw kicked. My wives Pink Peppercorn Saison also seemed to go over quite well - only her second all-grain batch.

That blackberry berliner was very nice. Really enjoyed that one.

 

[TBBrewer]

Just got home after dumping off islandlizard and sweetcell. Bad wreck on 95 just before we hit Baltimore is going to make it a long day for others who left after us!!

Agree, club night was the highlight of the 4 days for me. Pro night was okay, but was a little disappointed in the game some of the pros brought. I was really hoping FW would bring one of their AMAZING beers, but they brought an off tasting Wooky Jack. Loved the Stone Enjoy By...and by far my favorite of the night was Bitter Valentine. Club night was so much fun and you guys that brought beer to share did a fabulous job, one and all. Loved the Barley Legal guys! They had a wonderful barrel aged stout that I could have drank all night! The DC area guys had some great sours, mead, along with other very good beers. Loved how the MD area folks banded together! There were what, 10-15 clubs from the DC MD VA area!

The awards ceremony was a bit of a let down, but that might just be because I was party'd out by that time. It was great fun to watch though and congrats to Phil who was sitting at our table for a respectable Bronze with his Uncle Bob's Pilsner! He was gracious enough to share some with me and it was awesome!

Looking forward to Grand Rapids!

Cheers!
stonebrewer

I was also somewhat disappointed with Pro night. Looked like a few breweries didn't show up. I was looking forward to Duclaw, but they were a no show.

Anybody make it over to the Stone tasting at Bru? It was a cool little place and enjoyed chatting with Mitch. The beer was also quite tasty.

 

[TBBrewer]

Wow did I do a bad job of meeting up with HBTers. Did meet some other cool folks. That cask geuze a club night was delicious, so was the kriek a few booths up. The cuvée de Tomme clone from Austin as excellent too. Anyone try the Merican Sour at the Philly Homebrew booth at the expo? It was probably the best sour beer I got to try.

It was my first conference and after the registration and comp snafus, I was a little worried. Had a great time and can't wait for next year. Hope to get back to Philly. Great beer town and very friendly.

That late night sours table was on point. Every single one we tried was very nice. They had a sour cherry that was amazing.

 

[Bobby_M]

The SWmBO (hophead) found a falconers, cascade, Citra, Nelson, + at the FBI booth. Needless to say I barely got a sip.

Anyone meeting up sat? We're jacks lack of lunch plans, but thinking of hitting the public market.

FYI if you're not going to the banquet, Parc Brasserie and Morimoto's were A-Mazing (and I'll be broke for the next month now but it was worth it).
View attachment 131922

Hey, that's a sexy looking....

























club in the background.

IMHO, The gems of our booth were the Russian Imperial Stout, Framboise, and the ice ciders. I hope everyone got to try at least one of them. They all kicked pretty early.

 

[Coff]

Wow did I do a bad job of meeting up with HBTers. Did meet some other cool folks. That cask geuze a club night was delicious, so was the kriek a few booths up. The cuvée de Tomme clone from Austin as excellent too. Anyone try the Merican Sour at the Philly Homebrew booth at the expo? It was probably the best sour beer I got to try.

The Merican Sour Is a beer brewed by a guy in my club. His name is Kirk, very much and eccentric dude, Hebrews exclusively sour/mixed fermentation beers. His basement is filled with barrels and large 60 gallon fermenters, everything is open his windows are open he does not sanitize, he repitches the same yeast slurry endlessly.

I brewed a turbid mash Lambic with him a few months ago using some of his slurry and bug farm I'm pretty excited to see how it turns out.

Also, the Dogfish folks had his beer and asked him to come down to the brew pub to work on some beers.

 

[gmr]

The Merican Sour Is a beer brewed by a guy in my club. His name is Kirk, very much and eccentric dude, Hebrews exclusively sour/mixed fermentation beers. His basement is filled with barrels and large 60 gallon fermenters, everything is open his windows are open he does not sanitize, he repitches the same yeast slurry endlessly.

That's awesome. it was a stellar beer.

Also got to purchase some ECY strains while drinking it, so that was a plus!

 

[Yooper]

Wow did I do a bad job of meeting up with HBTers. Did meet some other cool folks. That cask geuze a club night was delicious, so was the kriek a few booths up. The cuvée de Tomme clone from Austin as excellent too. Anyone try the Merican Sour at the Philly Homebrew booth at the expo? It was probably the best sour beer I got to try.

It was my first conference and after the registration and comp snafus, I was a little worried. Had a great time and can't wait for next year. Hope to get back to Philly. Great beer town and very friendly.

I tried unsuccessfully to find you and piratwolf through the whole conference, among others!

I just got home and my daughter called and thinks she's in labor so I went to pick up my grandson for the night while they go off to the hospital.

I'm sleeping with my grandson tonight, instead of in my own bed I think!

I loved many of the beers I tried, and made it a point to drink as many PA/local beers as I could instead of some of my old favorites. I really enjoyed most of the beers in the Liberty Well, as well as at club night.

Judging went smoothly, as far as I could tell from my perspective, and I think it was a well done conference.

 

[njale]

what were the highlight beer of club night?

 

[Yooper]

what were the highlight beer of club night?

There were so many! One of the ones I thought was especially good was the Buffalo Trace barrel aged RIS from Bobby_M's club (WHALES, I think?).

But there were so many, and it's all sort of a blur, as I drank a pint of Damnation and three pints of Pliny before even going to Club Night. That, and the all-day beer samples meant that certain clubs/beers blur together in my mind.

 

[gmr]

Judging went smoothly, as far as I could tell from my perspective, and I think it was a well done conference.

Agreed, Judging seemed to go very smoothly. Wasn't thrilled with the use of check box judging sheets, but I get why they chose them. I certainly still took advantage of the small comment spaces on a lot of the entries I judged.

 

[Yooper]

Agreed, Judging seemed to go very smoothly. Wasn't thrilled with the use of check box judging sheets, but I get why they chose them. I certainly still took advantage of the small comment spaces on a lot of the entries I judged.

I did write a few comments also, but not many. I don't like the check sheets either, but they seemed to work.

 

[njale]

what does everyone think of a light lager winning bos?

 

[Yooper]

what does everyone think of a light lager winning bos?

I didn't judge that category, so I didn't try that beer. We had a stellar group of master and national judges (with random lowly certified ones like me) and I think if it was picked, it must have been deserved.

Did anybody else notice that it wasn't really a big deal that the Homebrewer of the Year was a woman? I'm so pleased about that. I mean, yes it's great that it's the first time in thirty years of the competition, but gender really doesn't matter. I don't think having a scrotum makes someone a better (or worse) brewer.

What I did like was that there were more women than ever before, especially in the "scientific" seminars.

I was approached by a writer/brewer who wants to interview me about women brewers. I declined. I'm not a woman brewer. I'm a brewer. My gender has nothing to do with my ability, although it's been a struggle in the past sometimes to even get service in a LHBS.

One really funny note- a few of us HBTers were sitting on the floor outside of the seminars at 4:30 yesterday, waiting for the rest to show up. A guy was taking pictures, and saw someone's "HBT" thing on their badge. He asked "Are you a member of HBT?" and someone said that we all were. So we introduced ourselves, with me going last. I said I was Yooper, and he was shocked. He didn't know I was a female, even though I "knew" him right away.

I think it's pretty cool that no one really knows or cares what the gender is of their imaginary friends. We all here for the beer.