End of Year Wrap-Up 

2009 has been a banner year for Washington homebrewers.  We successfully ran a campaign to legalize the transportation of homebrew out of our houses allowing a host of possibilities for sharing our passion for hobby.  We presented the first set of awards for excellence in the homebrewing scene.  We held homebrew festivals bringing together homebrewers and beer lovers and saw homebrew served at Washington beer festivals.  We held numerous homebrew competitions bringing in well over 1000 entries across the state including our first competition to break 300 entries.  We represented Washington at the National Homebrewers Conference and held two BJCP exams, increasing the number of judges in our state.  Overall, an incredible year thanks to everyone's efforts.

2010 plans to be another great year.  We plan to build on all of our accomplishments, work on expanding homebrew involvements in festivals, continue to grow our competitions and judge pool, and host the first round regionals of the National Homebrewing Competition.  We've already laid out a rough calendar for 2010 which you can find here.  There are going to be a lot of great homebrewing events all throughout the year so check out the calendar and plan ahead.  We'll need help accomplishing all of our goals for the year so get involved, help out with your clubs, and contact the WAHA Executive Board with any way you can help.  Thanks again for all of your support and lets make 2010 an even better year for homebrewing in Washington.

Golden Mash Paddle Nomination Period Open

The Washington Homebrewers Association is proud to open the nomination period for the second Golden Mash Paddle Award. The purpose of the Golden Mash Paddle is to recognize individuals who work to significantly advance homebrewing in Washington. The nominees and recipients of this award go above and beyond the call of duty to help serve their fellow homebrewers.

Do you know someone who went out of their way to help some new homebrewers get started? How about the organizer of a competition? Maybe a judge who provided outstanding feedback? Even your friendly homebrew store employees are eligible. Anyone can submit a nomination and any Washington resident can be nominated. You can nominate more than one individual if you feel it is appropriate.

All you have to do is go to the Golden Mash Paddle Nomination page which you can find at http://www.wahomebrewers.org/awards, or contact your WAHA club representative between now and January 14th. At a minimum you need to provide the nominee's name, some contact information for the nominee (e-mail, phone, club, etc.), and either a basic or detailed description of the individual's contributions. You can nominate someone anonymously but if you leave some contact information, we can get a hold of you if we have some questions. After the 14th, we will contact the nominee and allow them to submit more details about their accomplishments (so don't worry if you don't know everything they have done). In February, the WAHA Club Representatives will review the nominations and select the Golden Mash Paddle Recipient (which will be announced in March or April).  More details are available on the website.

So please, take a second and think about the individuals who have helped make homebrewing in Washington a better hobby and nominate someone today. Even if a nominee does not end up winning the award, they will be notified of their nomination and get confirmation that their efforts made a difference to their fellow homebrewers. Let's all raise a pint and a nomination for those who help make Washington homebrewing better!

New WAHA Clothing

The Washington Homebrewers Association is proud to release the next round of WAHA apparel.

We will be pulling together orders through club reps but will also be able to have inventory available at upcoming events like the Exbeerience.  Additionally, we may be able to mail out orders for the actual shipping costs (for now estimate $2 per item).

Be the most comfortable homebrewer on the block with your new homebrewer hoodie.  THIS HOODIE IS ONLY AVAILABLE BY PRE-ORDER UNTIL FEBRUARY 17TH! As a bonus, you can pick what color you want the hoodie in.  We'll have either forest green or black hoodies available.  Grab one of these sweet hoodies for $30 in M, L, XL, and XXL (XXXL available on special request).  This will be a limited run so get in on this now!!!

We are also releasing our new t-shirt design.  Same great design as the hoodie but perfect for summer wearing.  Once again, you can pick your colors if you pre-order!  You can order these t-shirts in either forest green or black.  You can get the new shirts for $15 in M, L, XL, and XXL ($18), XXXL ($21).

In addition, ladies, we finally have a shirt for you.  Get a t-shirt for your favorite brewing gal with our new ladies t-shirt.  Support homebrewing and look great in the process!  These shirts are available in S, M, L, and XL for $15 and will be available in black and forest green.

And we still have a limited amount of our original WAHA t-shirt for $15 (M, L, XL, XXL).  Finally, we also have our WAHA hats.  They are available in beige and olive for $18.

All you have to do to place an order is to click here.  If you are with a club we'll try to get them distributed to your rep who can bring them to your next club meeting.  If not, we should be able to mail them for roughly $2-3 a shirt.  All of the funds go to supporting WAHA efforts like educational speakers, awards program, clinics, legal efforts, and orchestration of events like the NHC and WAHA sponsored competitions.

Click Here for More Details

BJCP Exam Scheduled for March 21st

The WAHA wants to keep bringing new judges into our ranks and also make sure that our existing judges can continue to advance in rank.  To help keep the advancement cycle going, we have scheduled a BJCP exam for Sunday, March 21st, 2010.  Take out the books and beers and start studying today!

It will likely be held at Big Al Brewing in White Center.  Due to the new BJCP policy of only 20 examinees per exam, space is limited and full payment in advance may be required to secure your seat if we come close to the limit (we will post final details on the WAHA site). The cost is $50 for first time takers, $30 for the whole exam for existing BJCP members, or $15 for a partial retake (written or tasting).  

If you would like to reserve a seat, please contact Mark Emiley and indicate if you will be taking the test for the first time and if you will be taking the written, tasting, or both. 

Registered members on the WAHA site can access the "Brewing & WAHA Files" section on the left and get access to some study materials.  We'll post anything we can find in that folder.

Good luck and study hard!

Educational Speaker - Wyeast-Advanced Yeast - March 27th

We are preparing details for the folks from Wyeast to come back and give another speech on yeast right before the Cask Beer Festival.  We'll have details coming shortly on the WAHA site but start thinking of your questions now!  We hope to see you there for the continuation of the WAHA Educational Speaker Program.

2010 WHOTY Competitions Coming Up

2010 is here and the first WHOTY qualifying competitions are coming up!  Watch for the McChord Brewfest, Cascade Brewers Cup, and Puget Sound Pro-Am all in the first half of the year.  Enter early and often for the best chance to be named the 2010 Washington Homebrewer of the Year or earn entry slots for the Bert Grant Competition!

First Round of National Homebrewers Competition in Seattle

In 2010, Seattle will be hosting the first round of the National Homebrewers Competition for the Northwest Region.  There is nothing like home field advantage (no damaging shipping and an understanding of local judge palates) so we are encouraging as many Washington brewers to prepare some great entries in preparation.  The competition will be held in early April at a location in the Puget Sound and we will be looking for as many judges as possible to make plans to judge that weekend.  We are also looking into helping hook up out of state judges with local homebrewers willing to host them for a night.  Regardless, we want people to get involved!  Tim Hayner and Mark Emiley will be working to run the show and you can contact them with any ideas or help that you are willing to contribute.  Help us make our hosting of the Northwest qualifiers of the National Homebrewers Conference a success!

National Homebrewers Conference Package Preparation

The Washington Homebrewers Association is working to assemble a bid package for bringing the National Homebrewers Conference to Washington.  Tom Schmidlin has been working hard to bring together all of the information necessary to prepare our bid.  Now that we have our laws changed, the doors are open for our bid.  Tom and Mark recently toured convention centers and hotels trying to figure out the best arrangements for the conference.  When the time comes, we will need plenty of people to help run this historic event.  If you want to be a part of our preparations for the NHC, please contact Tom Schmidlin and let him know how you'd like to help!

2010 National Homebrewers Conference Registration Open

The 32nd annual National Homebrewers Conference will be held June 17-19, 2010 in Minneapolis at the Sheraton Minneapolis South.  The National Homebrewers Conference is a fun, educational gathering designed to enhance homebrewers´ brewing skills and knowledge and increase homebrewing camaraderie. Special seminars and events cater to beer enthusiasts and amateur brewers of every level.  As Washington prepares to host the conference in an upcoming year, we encourage all brewers to attend this exciting event every year.  You can find all of the information you need about the conference at: http://ahaconference.com/.  For those of you who are ready to register, we encourage you to register under your club name as well as the Washington Homebrewers Association to help show your support for the alliance we have found in our state.