Tom Schmidlin

Hi everyone, I have been a homebrewer for 20 years or so, and a member of the AHA for most of that. I started in college with The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, and have really gotten in to the science of beer and especially yeast. As time has gone on I’ve gotten more and more involved with the homebrewing community, which has been very rewarding.

I’ll spare you the long story, but when I found out that legislation was in the works to “pop the cap” and remove the ABV limit in Washington, I began a grassroots effort to pass it. While that was successful, it was clear that if we were better organized we could get more done, not just legislatively but as a community.

Fast forward, and I am one of the three founders and current Treasurer of the Washington Homebrewers Association, a coalition of clubs we established to help the homebrewers of Washington State organize, communicate, and educate brewers in our region. We led the effort to pass legislation last year to let homebrewers take beer off of their property, where previously it had been illegal to even give a bottle to your neighbor. This has allowed us to hold community events and fundraisers where homebrew can legally be served, and earned us a table to serve our products at events sponsored by the Washington Brewers Guild. Most recently I am co-chairing a committee to bring the National Homebrewers Conference to the Seattle area.

The AHA has been a great resource for homebrewers for many years, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to serve as a member of the Governing Committee. Working as a leader in Washington's state-level version of the AHA has allowed me to gain experience working with various organizations to accomplish goals similar to those of the AHA. I look forward to using my experience and working with the Governing Committee and other AHA members.

In the past I have been President of the Cascade Brewers Guild, and I am currently a member of both the Cascade Brewers Guild and the Mount Si Brewing Society. I am active on the AHA Forum, a BJCP National Judge, exam grader and administrator, and give talks about beer and yeast to various organizations. I have written for Zymurgy, spoken at the AHA conference, and organized competitions. And yes, I’m the guy who was named 2006 Beer Drinker of the Year by Wynkoop Brewing Company.

I’m currently in the Biochemistry PhD program at the University of Washington, where I use beer yeast and computers to study proteins involved in human disease.