If having a beergasm is possible, then Minneapolis, MN (or what we fondly call The Twincy) is where it would happen this week.
See, the American Homebrewers Association is holding it’s annual conference here this week - and that means beer geeks from across the country are descending on our fair city to talk about our favorite beverage.
Homebrewing is the granddaddy of the craft beer revolution that is sweeping the country.
100 years ago, pre-Prohibition, there were literally hundreds of breweries across the country, featuring locally-sourced ingredients that led to regional tastes in beer. You could drive from Minneapolis to Mendocino and taste dozens of different regional specialties that you couldn’t find at home. This was the heyday of brewing.
Then Uncle Sam said no more booze, and craft beer disappeared. Post-Prohibition, giant breweries dominated the market with homogenized beers, and slowly the regional tastes of brewing disappeared.
Today, though, craft beer is making a resurgence. And it’s thanks to guys who slaved away in their basements homebrewing concoctions Anheuser Busch would never have bottled that we have great breweries like Rogue, Summit, Sierra Nevada, Fulton…well, the list just goes on.
The American Homebrewers Association’s Annual Conference is going to have plenty of boring stuff only brewers and hard-core aficionados would enjoy. Classes on hops varietals and the technical details of brewing apparatus. Eh.
BUT.
There’s one event at this weekend’s national conference nearly everyone WISHES they could attend.
Thursday night at the Sheraton in Bloomington, MN is Pro Brewer’s Night at the conference. Starting at 8pm, 45 of the most acclaimed breweries in the country will be pouring samples of their favorite beers. And many will be poured by the brewmasters themselves.
Imagine Steve Jobs selling you an iPhone at the Apple Store. Yeah, that cool.
Tickets are prohibitively expensive at $83 a pop. But this is a chance of a lifetime for beer nerds and drinkers alike, and we’re betting there will be some rare brews on tap that you may never taste again.
Buy a ticket if you can. Sneak in the back door if you can’t. Just make sure you find time for this event.
Hurray Beer, as that awful ad campaign goes. And hurray Minnesota beer. We have some excellent brews in the Land of 10,000 lakes. This week is Minnesota’s week to put itself on the brewing map.
