Six members of the Nordeast Brewers Alliance went to Grand Rapids to represent Minnesota’s second largest homebrew club.

After driving across the Midwest we arrived at the conference. First order of business was to unload our kegs. We had sixteen kegs, eleven with barrel beer.

Next we hit the welcome reception where commercial beers were available to be sampled from local breweries. Tyler is just happy to be there, Perrin is wondering why we are taking a picture with a phone and not a ‘real camera’, Price wants another beer and Bengston is casting a spell on an unwitting victim.

The Welcome Reception was just the beginning of the evening. The Brewing
Network 9th Anniversary Party was the main event. While the wait for a bus was long and a couple of us hopped in a cab with the Chop and Brew crew it was a great time. We had a chance to ‘tag’ a couple of the Blichmann guys and partake in other tomfoolery.

The Brewing Network 9th Anniversary Party was held at Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock.  We pretty much had the run of the place, anybody could walk on the field or anywhere in the stands. It was a great venue for a beer event. While the beer lines were long at times, the free food and large pour were good compensation. 

With barely any time to recover Friday was Club Night. Club Night if the party night of the conference. Clubs from all over the country prepare elaborate booths to serve their fermented creations. It’s really is a blast and we hope to participate from the serving side at some time in the near future. For this Conference we were on the consuming side and had a great time.

Saturday was our highlight as we were serving our beer at the social club. Were we serving ten different barrel beers and five non-barrel beers. The Flanders Red and the Belgian Sour Blonde (HOBO) were huge hits as we expected. Chop and Brew stopped by to get some footage, be on the look-out for that in a coming episode. Some of the Brewing Network crew stopped over to try some as well.

The conference was so much fun and a big success for the NBA. We hope to have a presence every year at the conference.  See you in San Diego in 2015!