Brewers Association

This article is about the American professional brewing organization. For other beer-related groups, see List of beer organizations.

Logo of the American Homebrewers Association featured in 2011.

The Brewers Association (BA) is an American trade group of over 1,000 brewers, particularly concerned with the promotion of craft beer and homebrewing.^{[citation needed]}

The BA was established in 2005 through a merger of the Association of Brewers and the Brewers' Association of America, intending to "promote and protect small and independent American brewers, their craft beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts."^[1]

Two of the largest programs supported by the BA are the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) and the annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF).^{[citation needed]}

The current president is Charlie Papazian.^{[citation needed]}

American Homebrewers Association

The American Homebrewers Association is a division of the Brewers Association focused on homebrewers of beer, cider, and mead^{[citation needed]}. The AHA was founded in 1978 by Charlie Papazian in Boulder, Colorado^{[citation needed]}. The AHA runs the world's largest homebrew competition^{[citation needed]} and also organizes several homebrew events in the US and Canada. Gary Glass is the current director. The AHA publishes the magazine Zymurgy six times per year to all paid members.^{[citation needed]}

Every year the AHA hosts the following events.^{[citation needed]}

• National Homebrew Competition
• National Homebrewers Conference (including the finals of the National Homebrew Competition), held the third week in June
• Big Brew, held the first Saturday in May
• Mead Day, held the first Saturday in August
• Learn to Homebrew day, held the first Saturday in November

Ninkasi Award

The Ninkasi Award is the prize given by American Homebrewers Association for the brewer who gains the most points in the second round of the National Homebrew Competition judged at the National Homebrewers Conference.^{[citation needed]} Points are gained from the brewer's winning entries in the 23 categories of beer and several categories of mead and cider. At least 2 points (1 bronze placement) must come from a beer entry. The winner of the Ninkasi Award is widely considered^[who?] the best homebrewer of the year.^{[citation needed]}

The Ninkasi Award is named in honor of Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer.

Past winners

1992 - Steve & Christina Daniel
1993 - Walter Dobrowsky
1994 - Michael Byers
1995 - Rhett Rebold
1996 - Tom Bergman & Chas Peterson
1997 - George Fix
1998 - Art Beall
1999 - Tom Plunkard
2000 - Joe Formanek
2001 - Brian Cole
2002 - Curt Hausam
2003 - Curt Hausam
2004 - Jamil Zainasheff
2005 - Paul Long
2006 - Joe Formanek
2007 - Jamil Zainasheff
2008 - Gordon Strong
2009 - Gordon Strong
2010 - Gordon Strong^{[citation needed]}
2011 - Paul Sangster

References

1. ^ Brewers Association: Mission & History

External links

• Official Site