[reverseapachemaster]

I want to love the San Diego pick for next year, but I think it is WAY to soon to have it there again. I cant see how there isn't more cities that wouldnt line up to support this. A few that come to mind would be Dallas, Phoenix, Milliwaukee, Chicago, St Louis, Kansas City, San Francisco and New Orleans. I am curios as to why San Diego got so much attention again? I do understand how the selection process works, I just find it strange that no other clubs in those cities couldnt pull this off.

As much as I would love a local NHC here in Dallas I couldn't see it going off very well. June in Dallas can be in the upper 90s. This year it has been surprisingly cool but the last several years were hot and disgustingly humid. Our traffic is awful, public transportation is minimal and everything is spread out. We don't have that many local breweries yet so your options to explore beyond the conference are minimal. If you are willing to tolerate everything else I said then Austin would be your better option. Far more breweries but about the same weather and traffic.

[Stevie]

+1 Austin is a better choice. Would be funny to see the bars on dirty 6th filled with all the old timers.

[hopfenundmalz]

A few people liked the early morning running tours of GR. I am not a runner, I just heard about it.

Did anyone take the bus tours to breweries? I didn't have time for those. Interested if they were good.

Austin would be fun, but it only has the one commuter train, and I have never used the bus system there. I stay away from 6th street, as I am way too old for those shenanigans.

[theDarkSide]

I was talking with one guy at the airport and he said he bus tour driver didn't seem to know where he was going.  There was one point they came to an overpass but the bus couldn't go under, so he had them walk a half mile to the brew pub (supposed to go to the production brewery) while he found a way around.

I attended the Brewery Vivant dinner, which was pretty good from a food stand point and excellent from the beer side (many Red Coq jokes all night long).

I also attended the Bacon and Beer brunch, which I felt was a little underwhelming.  It was nice to have a small group chat with the like of John Palmer and Ken Schramm, but I would have liked to see more bacon.  Even one of the guys from AIH thought the bacon was lacking and they setup the event.

The BN party was fun (I hope John Palmer didn't break something on that tumble to first).  I had the VIP, which was ok for the money and included a shirt (which I always buy anyways)...although I got to try a couple beers I've never had before that weren't on the field.  One beer I had to dump (Train Wreck...undrinkable.  Hopefully it didn't kill any grass).

We got to "Pro-Night" about a 1/2 hour late, so we missed the opening speech (which a friend of ours said it was like listening to Charlie Brown's teacher) and all the food was gone except some chips (no cheese). 

Club night was awesome as always, with my best favorite beers being F$%* your Face, and a Flanders Red at the Daniel Fick's booth.  Hung out with the Red Ledge Brewers for a while since the VP is someone we communicate with on Twitter and the BN constantly...even got a t-shirt and a growler.

The banquet was great, but yes the sound sucked.  Worst thing I saw...when they started letting people in, someone dropped their tote bag full of beer and smashed them...I felt bad.  At least the concrete floor makes for an easy cleanup. 

I like the ticket line so there weren't 1500 people all being let in a once and causing a stampede, like in Philly.  That was a big, hot, sweaty mess. 

[Jimmy K]

A few people liked the early morning running tours of GR. I am not a runner, I just heard about it.

Damn! We're runners and did not hear about the running tours. I wanted to go on the pedal pub crawl, but didn't have time.

[AmandaK]

Has there been any chatter about doing Club of the Year like GABF does Brewery of the Year?

Having 'Small Club of the Year', Mid size Club', 'Large Club' and what have you would surely calm a good number of boos. Plus, it would give tiny clubs with really good brewers something to shoot for.

[msbrew]

Having 'Small Club of the Year', Mid size Club', 'Large Club' and what have you would surely calm a good number of boos. Plus, it would give tiny clubs with really good brewers something to shoot for.

Love that idea.

[dsmitch19]

Has there been any chatter about doing Club of the Year like GABF does Brewery of the Year?

Having 'Small Club of the Year', Mid size Club', 'Large Club' and what have you would surely calm a good number of boos. Plus, it would give tiny clubs with really good brewers something to shoot for.

I second this as a great idea.

[msbrew]

This was my first NHC. I was blown away and will definitely attend again.

So many great seminar topics and I'm looking forward to the audio for the ones I could not attend.

I volunteered as a steward. Really did have a blast doing that. There was some confusion for me as I'm standing in line clueless for the check-in table. The guy walks down the line collecting our papers. I stepped out of line along with all the others around me assuming they only wanted the paper, not knowing (until right before judging started) that I really needed to visit that table to get my category assignment. Oh well, it worked out.

One regret I have now is not coming in a day or two early to visit the GR-area brewing scene.  Not much time to do so once the conf got rolling. I did get to visit Hopcat and Founders, both incredible places.

Dislike = The $40 cab ride from the airport to JW Marriott.

The dinner was fantastic. Good choice of beers with dinner.

[Jimmy K]

Has there been any chatter about doing Club of the Year like GABF does Brewery of the Year?

Having 'Small Club of the Year', Mid size Club', 'Large Club' and what have you would surely calm a good number of boos. Plus, it would give tiny clubs with really good brewers something to shoot for.

I second this as a great idea.

I'd say 'National Club' (pulling members nationwide), 'Small Club' (fewer than X members), and 'Regional Club' (large clubs that are not national).

[guido]

A few people liked the early morning running tours of GR. I am not a runner, I just heard about it.

Did anyone take the bus tours to breweries? I didn't have time for those. Interested if they were good.

Austin would be fun, but it only has the one commuter train, and I have never used the bus system there. I stay away from 6th street, as I am way too old for those shenanigans.

I took the 131 tour on Tuesday and the Premier tour on Wednesday.  They were enjoyable.  I was worried since food and beer weren't included (we did get some free tastings), but it wasn't too expensive since we only stayed at each place long enough for a few beers.  Good times.

[theDarkSide]

Dislike = The $40 cab ride from the airport to JW Marriott.

I had made arrangements to share a cab with bosoxbrent and when we were taking a picture of the Welcome banner at the airport, a couple other guys asked if we wanted to share a cab, so it was $10 each.  Nice that MI doesn't allow them to up the fare for addition passengers.

[AmandaK]

Has there been any chatter about doing Club of the Year like GABF does Brewery of the Year?

Having 'Small Club of the Year', Mid size Club', 'Large Club' and what have you would surely calm a good number of boos. Plus, it would give tiny clubs with really good brewers something to shoot for.

I second this as a great idea.

I'd say 'National Club' (pulling members nationwide), 'Small Club' (fewer than X members), and 'Regional Club' (large clubs that are not national).

Perhaps some AHA GC contacting is in order... however the names split up would be fine, but continuing to have what is essentially "The Biggest Club of the Year" award and the "Best Winning %" Award while changing the entry limits and such will likely have some interesting outcomes.

I'm wondering how many clubs are banding together and forming 'super-mega-clubs' for next year.

I thought KCBM gave Radegast a good run this year... turns out we were $74,000 short on charity fundraising! 

[theDarkSide]

I thought KCBM gave Radegast a good run this year... turns out we were $74,000 short on charity fundraising! 

That's insane the amount of money they raised.  A guy at my table said the AHA should charge $1 extra per person and funnel all that money into the Radegast charity contribution.  So instead of $500, they could donate $3-$4k.  I know the conference fee is steep already, but $1 for charity is nothing.

[Jimmy K]

The guys from Grand Rapids Brewery Tours were driving people around the city in their van for tips. They gave us a ride to Brewery Vivant and picked us up a few hours later. They were very cool! Our friends found them - I think they were just hanging out by one of the hotels looking for people who wanted to go somewhere. Said they were just looking for publicity.
 
I'd post a link if I could find one.