The Spirit World

The whole idea behind an American Homebrewers Association (AHA) membership rally is to get new members to join the organization. Even though I try to pass myself off as a beer evangelist I was unable to convince any new potential members to take the two hour trek from where I live on Long Island into Brooklyn on a cold and rainy night.

I arrived right at seven o’clock just as the rally was officially starting. I expected to see long lines of people clamoring to get inside the brewery or at least a packed, standing-room-only tasting room, but instead found myself with about ten other people, half of which were people I knew, members of the Long Island brewers club, Brewers East End Revival.

A guy in a Brooklyn Brewery jacket and blue jeans called us to order. “I’d like to tell you a little bit about the AHA,” he said. Then he introduced himself as Steve Hindy, one of the founders of the Brooklyn Brewery and coauthor of the recently released book, Beer School (authored together with Tom Potter). Mr Hindy then started to explain how the AHA came to be and why professional regional and microbrewers are so keen on fostering a healthy homebrewing community. “I started out as a homebrewer,” he said. But it’s more than just nostalgia or sentimental camaraderie, homebrewers make up a loyal customer base for craft brewed beer.

After grabbing a second round of Brooklyn Brewery beers from the bar Mr Hindy directed us past the entrance to the other side of the brewery where Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, would give us a “tour.” I was surprised when I got to the other side of the brewery and found a single (but very large) room full of stainless fermentation vessels and a three tank mashing, lautering, and boiling system that Garrett Oliver used as a dais from which to address us homebrewers. I did a quick head count and was encouraged to see that there were almost forty of us now.

After the tour we meandered back to the tasting hall to replenish our pint glasses and eat some pizza. There was also a raffle where about half the people who attended the rally won AHA paraphernalia like t-shirts, pins, pint glasses, etc. Mr Hindy threw in two copies of his book and two copies of Garrett Oliver’s book, The Brewmaster’s Table. The last prize to be raffled off was a copy of Mr Oliver’s book. I leaned over to the guy next to me who was wearing the AHA baseball cap he had just won and I said, “I never win anything.” The bartender called out the final number, “89!” Hey, that was my number. I happily exchanged the little red ticket for Mr Oliver’s thick beer and food pairing guide.