[narvin]

Are the NHC meetings normally in "big" beer cities? Forgive me for asking, but what's in Baltimore outside of Stillwater and DuClaw?

-Vote for Tampa in 2017! 

What's in Tampa other than Cigar City and that chain restaurant bar? 

Glad you asked.  First, I'm not affiliated with the AHA, but I'd say that conference is held in cities that meet all of the following:

a) Have craft beer bars/brewpubs/breweries.
b) Have a big convention center and international airport
c) Have enough non-beer related activities for family.
c) Have active homebrewing clubs that volunteer to help and have submitted a bid for the conference.

Is it always in a "big" beer city?  Maybe, maybe not, depending on your definition of big, I suppose.

However: the conference was in Baltimore twice before, and they were both a really good time (at least, I know the second one was personally).  There's a lot of beer happenings in the area because craft beer and homebrewing has been popular for a while -- definitely before the first craft beer bubble in the late 90s.  Some good ones from the first boom didn't survive, but the city and the greater metro area has plenty of breweries as mentioned above, old and new, as well as the nearby Delaware and south-central PA areas.

Other things to note:

- 16 homebrew clubs in central maryland.
- The Brewer's Art, a brewpub in a sprawling Victorian townhouse that's been making Belgian-style beer in America long enough to be the original owner of the domain "belgianbeer.com ".(https://web.archive.org/web/19980417235256/http://www.belgianbeer.com/)
- Oliver's, at the Pratt Street Alehouse, making English ales since 1993 with ringwood, open fermenters, and a true 7 barrel Peter Austin system in the basement.
- Max's Taphouse (http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1189/), all around great beer bar with 145 taps and host of the best Belgian festival in the US every year, according to the Good Beer Guide to Belgium.
- And, uh, the birthplace of the bottle cap (have to mention it, since it's our club logo).  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_cork

[hopfenundmalz]

Baltimore. June 9-11.

I got a text or a Tweet (not sure which, it just showed up on my ipad) that said it's Philly next year. 

Yeah, I did too from the conference App, followed by "oops Baltimore!".

Not in Philly.

[S. cerevisiae]

- 16 homebrew clubs in central maryland.

Maryland has a mature homebrewing community.  We also have a homebrew club association called the Free State Homebrew Guild.  The Free State Homebrew Guild was a first within the AHA. 

http://www.mdhomebrewers.com/

If anyone bothered to notice, the NHC 2015 tasting glass sports Maryland Homebrew's logo.  Maryland Homebrew has been in business since 1992 (www.mdhb.com).  I have been a customer since the basement days.  A lot of home brewing supply stores have come and gone in the last twenty three years.

 

[pete b]

Personal confession - was driving from Rehoboth Beach to home after the conference, and when we crossed into Maryland it dawned on me what Delmarva stands for. Doh!

It's not apparent to many travelers that Delmarva stands for Delaware-Maryland-Virginia.  The Delaware and Maryland parts are easy, but the Virginia part is not apparent until one looks at a map.  Delaware used to be part of Maryland at one point.  It was then a part of Pennsylvania.  This tug of war is the reason for the establishment of the Mason-Dixon line.

Cool. I wonder how long till they call my area Wagonho?

I live in Mass near the NH and Vermont border. VENHMA? MANHVE?

[theDarkSide]

Personal confession - was driving from Rehoboth Beach to home after the conference, and when we crossed into Maryland it dawned on me what Delmarva stands for. Doh!

It's not apparent to many travelers that Delmarva stands for Delaware-Maryland-Virginia.  The Delaware and Maryland parts are easy, but the Virginia part is not apparent until one looks at a map.  Delaware used to be part of Maryland at one point.  It was then a part of Pennsylvania.  This tug of war is the reason for the establishment of the Mason-Dixon line.

Cool. I wonder how long till they call my area Wagonho?

I live in Mass near the NH and Vermont border. VENHMA? MANHVE?

Ver-hamp-sachusetts!

[toby]

What's in Tampa other than Cigar City and that chain restaurant bar? 

There are 3 CCB related properties (the brewery, brewpub, and cider and meadery), Tampa Bay Brewing, Coppertail, Dunedin, Rapp, 7venth Sun, Cycle, St. Somewhere, and Green Bench, just off the top of my head. 

[flbrewer]

[dbeechum]

I've been to a surprising number of those.

[klickitat jim]

Personal confession - was driving from Rehoboth Beach to home after the conference, and when we crossed into Maryland it dawned on me what Delmarva stands for. Doh!

It's not apparent to many travelers that Delmarva stands for Delaware-Maryland-Virginia.  The Delaware and Maryland parts are easy, but the Virginia part is not apparent until one looks at a map.  Delaware used to be part of Maryland at one point.  It was then a part of Pennsylvania.  This tug of war is the reason for the establishment of the Mason-Dixon line.

Cool. I wonder how long till they call my area Wagonho?

I live in Mass near the NH and Vermont border. VENHMA? MANHVE?

Ver-hamp-sachusetts!

Pronounced verns hamster chewed shoes

[guido]

What's in Tampa other than Cigar City and that chain restaurant bar? 

There are 3 CCB related properties (the brewery, brewpub, and cider and meadery), Tampa Bay Brewing, Coppertail, Dunedin, Rapp, 7venth Sun, Cycle, St. Somewhere, and Green Bench, just off the top of my head. 

On a scale of 1-10, how serious is the humidity in Tampa in June?

[jeffy]

What's in Tampa other than Cigar City and that chain restaurant bar? 

There are 3 CCB related properties (the brewery, brewpub, and cider and meadery), Tampa Bay Brewing, Coppertail, Dunedin, Rapp, 7venth Sun, Cycle, St. Somewhere, and Green Bench, just off the top of my head. 

On a scale of 1-10, how serious is the humidity in Tampa in June?

10 being the most humid, I'd ay 10.  I tell you what, it was a real shock coming back from San Diego Sunday night.

[toby]

What's in Tampa other than Cigar City and that chain restaurant bar? 

There are 3 CCB related properties (the brewery, brewpub, and cider and meadery), Tampa Bay Brewing, Coppertail, Dunedin, Rapp, 7venth Sun, Cycle, St. Somewhere, and Green Bench, just off the top of my head. 

On a scale of 1-10, how serious is the humidity in Tampa in June?

About the same as these parts.  It's only about a 10 in June.  Wait for July and August for it to go higher.

[narvin]

It was rainforest-level humidity when we got back Sunday night, but we had a week of unusually hot weather and a ton of rain.  If you're lucky, the mid-atlantic could be nice in early June.

[toby]

I thought we were all homebrewers?  If the standard weather in the South bothers people, they would outright die on one of my summer brew days.

[hopfenundmalz]

It was rainforest-level humidity when we got back Sunday night, but we had a week of unusually hot weather and a ton of rain.  If you're lucky, the mid-atlantic could be nice in early June.

I remember Philly being hot and humid, with a daily afternoon thunderstorm rolling through.