National Homebrewers Conference, Denver - Day Three

Even though we didn't have a hangover, Satan and I said we would be good, and not have beer on Saturday. We were a bit tired of beer. We had been drinking since 11 am on Thursday, and were just tired of it. We headed off for the first seminar "Practical Brewing for Better Beer" by David Houseman. What does David do at 9 am? Pass out beer samples.

It was good beer. But Satan and I exchanged glances, laughed and sipped it during the seminar. And for the record, this was the best session of the entire conference. David inspired Satan and I to enter beers in competition next year.

While Satan attended "Brewing with Unusual Adjuncts" with Coors brewer Keith Villa, I went to "Innovation in Wheat Beer Brewing" with Flying Dog Brewery founder Eric Warner. He discussed wheat beer, which is a big trend in the US. It was a great overview of the style, and inspired me to work on the peach wheat.

We skipped the last session to get some beer we can't get in Texas, and pick up a couple of souvenirs. We returned to the hotel for the Grand Banquet. It was a pretty nice chicken dish, with some Rogue beer. We sat with some folks from Missouri. One guy was complaining that he had to empty his keg to take it home, and they couldn't take it full. They offered us the beer, if we would ship it back. Satan said he would. So on our trip home, we had a case of beer we couldn't get in Texas and a five gallon keg of stout.

On our 12 hour trip back to Midland, Gary and I plotted a way to attend next year's conference in Cincinnati, and what beers we're going to brew for the contest.