Homebrew Con 2024 location?

[Knkbrand]

I thought I would hear some kind of news about next years Homebrew Con, but cannot find any information. Cn anyone that is in San Diego this weekend fill us in on the location for next years Homebrew Con 2024?

 

[jdauria]

I thought I would hear some kind of news about next years Homebrew Con, but cannot find any information. Cn anyone that is in San Diego this weekend fill us in on the location for next years Homebrew Con 2024?

I believe they announce the next year's location on the last day, which is tomorrow. It's got to be somewhere in the Midwest or South, since it's in CA this year and last two in person ones were RI and PA. Was thinking Nashville since they lost out in 2020 due to Covid, but was told they did not apply to host next year. My prediction is Texas or New Orleans, it has not been down south since 2002. My Master Homebrewer Program buddies who are in San Diego this year are saying unofficially the rumor out there is Denver for next year.

 

[Knkbrand]

I believe they announce the next year's location on the last day, which is tomorrow. It's got to be somewhere in the Midwest or South, since it's in CA this year and last two in person ones were RI and PA. Was thinking Nashville since they lost out in 2020 due to Covid, but was told they did not apply to host next year. My prediction is Texas or New Orleans, it has not been down south since 2002. My Master Homebrewer Program buddies who are in San Diego this year are saying unofficially the rumor out there is Denver for next year.

when I went to Portland, I thought there were ads all over the hotel saying that the next year would be in Rhode Island. Maybe I am misremembering. I hope it gets announced tomorrow!

 

[Bobby_M]

The next location is always announced via a poster at the conference (day one) and it's also in the printed program. I'd be surprised if they didn't do it again this year.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

edit (a couple of days later): dates for 2024 were announced at the end of the conference.

 

[Knightshade]

I’ve been at con, and haven’t seen any hint of where next year’s is going to be.

I missed end of day talk yesterday, so maybe it was announced then.

 

[day_trippr]

From what I have found on the topic, the sponsors are playing 2024 close to the vest, with the word out that if San Diego loses as much $$$ as Pittsburg did last year, there may not be a Homebrew Con 2024 ("at least not in person")...

Cheers!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

edit: deleted link to post in another forum that was deleted.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

Homebrew Con to be combined with GABF, in Denver, in October. Blah

 

[Knkbrand]

Homebrew Con to be combined with GABF, in Denver, in October. Blah

I personally think this is a bad idea, and will be the beginning of the end.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

I personally think this is a bad idea, and will be the beginning of the end.

Part of me says it sucks being an adjunct to another conference. But I have had a good experience in the other direction: Oracle combined the Java dev conference with their giant Oracle one - us Java devs got double the parties.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

will be the beginning of the end

For the home brewing hobby, maybe it's "the end of the beginning"

• In the mid 2010s, there was a wealth of home brewing knowledge that was recorded in book form.
• Brewing software embraced (and extended) that knowledge.
• In the early 2020s, self-publishing of quality content (videos and books) is moving the hobby forward.
• home brewers discussing creative uses of fresh ingredients will continue to move the hobby forward. Who, in 2019, would have predicted discussion in 2023 on how to make good beer quickly using fresh packages of hopped LME?

There will continue to be opportunity for the home brewing industry to serve the hobby. Services that were valuable in the past may not be as valuable in the future. And new services will be offered.

edits for typoz and such

 

[Rikk]

So I guess there was a reason for the delay. Will it be October 23 or 24?

 

[matt_m]

Bummer. I'd intended to go this year combined with a family vacation but we had to change plans. I'd already said next year knowing it would likely be somewhere east. We'll have to see how their plans play out.

 

[Boilerbrew]

This is certainly a bummer for me but I would rather this then nothing at all.

 

[Braufessor]

So, what does that do to the National Homebrew Competition?? Curious as to how that will be set up.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

So I guess there was a reason for the delay. Will it be October 23 or 24?

Announced last night (6/24, link to live stream provided by "The Brewing Network"):

 

[Drewch]

Well.... The AHA is a subsidiary of the BA. I guess it's not completely unreasonable for the AHA's conference to be an addendum to the BA's conference.

But the GABF is always in Denver, right? Does this mean Homebrew Con is now fixed in Denver, too?

 

[Bobby_M]

The main benefit of moving the Con all around the country is that it gives different regions of homebrew clubs driving access. Something like 80% of clubs pouring at club night are within a few hours of driving because shipping full kegs and booth gear is unreasonably cost prohibitive. For example, my club poured at Baltimore, Philly, Providence and Pittsburg. I can't conceive of how it would work to get it all to Denver, but then maybe club night is over for everyone else too.

 

[cfrazier77]

This is sad, but it is a result of the current decline of homebrewing. Hopefully that changes in the near future.

 

[MaxStout]

Heh, HomebrewCon joined at the hip with GABF. Economy of scale, I guess. If you're going to book a venue, might as well kill two birds while you're at it.

I'll be waiting for the ads: "Frontier Airlines, the official sponsor of HBC/GABF"

 

[Airborneguy]

I attended an annual gaming convention in Florida that piggybacks onto a much larger wargaming convention. We’re like 25 people to their 1000+. Had it not been for the larger con taking us in, we’d never exist.

I’m sure it limits us in some ways, and it certainly causes confusion on small issues such as ticketing and games signups, but overall it is a net positive.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

This is sad, but it is a result of the current decline of homebrewing. Hopefully that changes in the near future.

In the early to mid 2020s, I suspect that these

• annual attendance at Home Brew Con
• annual participation in National Homebrew Competition

are not a quality measurement of the popularity of the hobby.

The conference will continue, competitions will continue, educational content will continue to be produced (but maybe not for consumption at conferences), discussion will continue (but where and how that discussion occurs will continue to evolve).

The perceived or measured decline in certain hobby activities seems to have little impact on my enjoyment of the hobby.

---

FWIW, I see a numer of businesses that are in the "home brewing segment" of the economy that also offer products and services to commercial craft breweries.

 

[madscientist451]

I'm not surprised about the reports of HomebrewCon losing money.
When they had it in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, I didn't go because of the hassles and overall cost to attend.
Both locations were about 2.5 hour drive from my house. But with outrageous hotel and parking costs in both cities, as well the high crime rate in Baltimore, I decided to skip both.
There are alternatives to big city, high cost locations. Harrisburg, PA, for example, has an airport, plenty of reasonably priced hotels, an active brewery scene and I imagine would be a less costly place to stage an event. Its also a short driving distance to many population centers. I'm sure there are other small city locations around the country that would work out for HomebrewCON.
I won't be attending the 2024 event in Denver.
Organizations don't like to downsize and do anything that lowers their perceived importance.
But wouldn't a cheaper, smaller HomebrewCon that didn't didn't lose money be a more sustainable model?

 

[Drewch]

But wouldn't a cheaper, smaller HomebrewCon that didn't didn't lose money be a more sustainable model?

It'd be interesting to see the business case analysis comparing tying HBC to GABF vs other options like locating in smaller, presumably cheaper cities.

 

[madscientist451]

I believe they gonna stay connected to GABF no matter what, its going to be in Denver for good, which might just work for them.
It probably doesn't cost that much more to put the two events together.
Maybe I'll eventually go, just not in 2024.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

But wouldn't a cheaper, smaller HomebrewCon that didn't didn't lose money be a more sustainable model?

It would be interesting to see details of where the AHA spends money on HBC. The classes are given by volunteers. There is a ton of "free" homebrew beer. Do vendors pay a fee to be there? I only recall maybe one event with catered food. The attendance cost is not cheap and I am responsible for my food, housing and transportation costs. Clearly the venue is a big cost and it probably has been hard these past years to right size the venue for an unknown crowd size. Are there other big costs of HBC?

 

[kingmatt]

It would be interesting to see details of where the AHA spends money on HBC. The classes are given by volunteers. There is a ton of "free" homebrew beer. Do vendors pay a fee to be there? I only recall maybe one event with catered food. The attendance cost is not cheap and I am responsible for my food, housing and transportation costs. Clearly the venue is a big cost and it probably has been hard these past years to right size the venue for an unknown crowd size. Are there other big costs of HBC?

I was at this year's Con (and last year) and I spoke with some of the vendors who indicated it was VERY expensive for them to be a vendor.

It seems to me, the venue and advertising are really the only major costs I could see for the AHA (they gave us breakfast a couple days and a taco buffet at club night this year fwiw).

The judges for NHC are volunteer, volunteers man the events, the speakers are volunteer, the beers at knockout are the B/C bottles from NHC etc.

Meanwhile, vendors apparently pay an exorbitant fee (and provide the freebie swag themselves), entries for NHC have skyrocketed to $29 a pop, tickets to the events are hundreds of dollars each...we even have to pay $30 for a tee shirt if we want one!

I loved being in San Diego but found that Con overall was disappointing compared to last year. There were way less vendors, way less swag and the setup for club night and the kickoff party were poorly constructed as everyone was crammed into far too small a space.

I was disappointed to hear about Con combining with GABF, but at least they are continuining it in some fashion, for those still interested in attending.

This will be my last Con, unless there are major changes. I have been to GABF and it draws a TON of people so the logistics of adding another event seems like it will make it a nightmare to manuever (finding accomodation, flights, getting in and out of the event etc.)

 

[mashpaddled]

I was disappointed to hear about Con combining with GABF, but at least they are continuining it in some fashion, for those still interested in attending.

FWIW it's not a combined event. GABF is taking place late September with HBC about a month later.

 

[tdf]

FWIW it's not a combined event. GABF is taking place late September with HBC about a month later.

I think you're confusing the 2023 GABF with 2024.

2024 GABF is October 10-12 and so is 2024 Homebrew Con.