[ethinson]

I'd love if the 2019 East Coast (if the rotation holds) to be in North Carolina.  They are blowing up in their beer scene, the Charlotte homebrew club has won club of the year (Carolina Brewers? I forget the name) and Charlotte is certainly big enough to host.  Asheville sadly doesn't have a convention center or anything like that, but it's only a two hour drive from Charlotte if people wanted to venture that way, or set up a bus trip etc. Also, I'm from North Carolina and live in Oregon now, so I am biased of course.

Spoke with the Charlotte Club last year at Baltimore about this very thing.  Being a displaced Carolinian living in MD, I also had a vested interest in wanting an NC-hosted conference.  I grew up in a dry county, which now has 4 breweries/brewpubs either in planning or initial ops.  The beer scene really has changed the state!

The club members told me the state laws needed to be changed to allow serving for things like Club Night.  Much like Maryland had done in years' past, which allowed Baltimore to host.  Sounds like a good effort for the AHA to get behind...

Did you make it to the San Diego conference in 2015? They had some weird stuff going on there too based on the laws.  They didn't have a problem with serving homebrew, but you couldn't serve homebrew and commercial beer in the same place.  Big signs at pro night of NO HOMEBREW past this point, and vice versa on club night, and also because they had servers pouring/serving beer with the banquet dinner you couldn't bring any of your own beer into the hall.  It was bizarre, but they did a pretty good job working around it. 

I really wouldn't be shocked to see the laws change.  The beer scene in NC is booming, and apparently the homebrew scene there has been for a long time.  I didn't know it when I lived there, but some of the LHBS and clubs have been around a long time.

[MDixon]

Servers in NC cannot have ANY alcohol as in none/nada. There are some laws which should change in this session, but next year is short session so it would be two years before this one could even be brought up for change and I don't believe anyone is pushing for homebrewers to have the ability to serve and consume.

I believe the conference no longer requires the hosts to work themselves to death during the conference. That was an issue for NC hosting in the past. Asheville is the ideal place to hold it, but there are not enough clustered hotel rooms to pull it off. Charlotte could do it. Our club in Raleigh is far too lazy to pull it off.

[majorvices]

Nashville hosted the Southern Brewer's Conference last August (and again this August) and while the conference itself is small the convention center is more than big enough to host HomebrewCon (it's way bigger than the one in Minneapolis). Not sure what legal issues there are but I know they have fixed a lot of the beer laws in Tenn over the last 5 years. Didn't seem like there was any problems with drinking or serving.

[BrewBama]

Nashville hosted the Southern Brewer's Conference last August (and again this August) and while the conference itself is small the convention center is more than big enough to host HomebrewCon (it's way bigger than the one in Minneapolis). Not sure what legal issues there are but I know they have fixed a lot of the beer laws in Tenn over the last 5 years. Didn't seem like there was any problems with drinking or serving.

I wonder if AHA would entertain a Southern Chapter so those in TX, AR, OK, LA, MS, AL, GA, TN, FL, etc can participate?  Routinely visiting the NE coast, North, and West Coast is pretty cost prohibitive.


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[hopfenundmalz]

I'd love if the 2019 East Coast (if the rotation holds) to be in North Carolina.  They are blowing up in their beer scene, the Charlotte homebrew club has won club of the year (Carolina Brewers? I forget the name) and Charlotte is certainly big enough to host.  Asheville sadly doesn't have a convention center or anything like that, but it's only a two hour drive from Charlotte if people wanted to venture that way, or set up a bus trip etc. Also, I'm from North Carolina and live in Oregon now, so I am biased of course.

Spoke with the Charlotte Club last year at Baltimore about this very thing.  Being a displaced Carolinian living in MD, I also had a vested interest in wanting an NC-hosted conference.  I grew up in a dry county, which now has 4 breweries/brewpubs either in planning or initial ops.  The beer scene really has changed the state!

The club members told me the state laws needed to be changed to allow serving for things like Club Night.  Much like Maryland had done in years' past, which allowed Baltimore to host.  Sounds like a good effort for the AHA to get behind...

Legislation changes have to start and be worked at the local level. The AHA will support that, but the lead has to happen from the members in the state. I know someone from Ohio doing this now, so that the Conference could be there someday.

[Steve Ruch]

I wonder if AHA would entertain a Southern Chapter so those in TX, AR, OK, LA, MS, AL, GA, TN, FL, etc can participate?  Routinely visiting the NE coast, North, and West Coast is pretty cost prohibitive.
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No kidding. The only reason I can go next year is that I can take public transportation and stay in my own bed at night.

[reverseapachemaster]

I wonder if AHA would entertain a Southern Chapter so those in TX, AR, OK, LA, MS, AL, GA, TN, FL, etc can participate?  Routinely visiting the NE coast, North, and West Coast is pretty cost prohibitive.

I seem to think there was one NHC/HBC in Dallas and it went so poorly that it was banished for all eternity. (I might be mis-remembering though.)

I could easily see Austin, Houston, Atlanta, Nashville, Kansas City, St. Louis and Tampa having active enough craft and homebrewing scenes to have some very nice HBCs. We're still pretty backwards with our alcohol laws in the south and I'm sure that plays a role. I know here in Texas our state's ABC has become more aggressive about regulating homebrewing events which has made things difficult for local events.

Also, how many people really want to come to the south in the middle of June?

[erockrph]

I had heard that Providence was on the short list of locations to consider last year, and I hope it remains so if NHC returns to the East Coast in 2019. That's about my only hope for getting to one between now and retirement (which is still 15-20 years away for me).

[BrewBama]

I wonder if AHA would entertain a Southern Chapter so those in TX, AR, OK, LA, MS, AL, GA, TN, FL, etc can participate?  Routinely visiting the NE coast, North, and West Coast is pretty cost prohibitive.

I seem to think there was one NHC/HBC in Dallas and it went so poorly that it was banished for all eternity. (I might be mis-remembering though.)

I could easily see Austin, Houston, Atlanta, Nashville, Kansas City, St. Louis and Tampa having active enough craft and homebrewing scenes to have some very nice HBCs. We're still pretty backwards with our alcohol laws in the south and I'm sure that plays a role. I know here in Texas our state's ABC has become more aggressive about regulating homebrewing events which has made things difficult for local events.

Also, how many people really want to come to the south in the middle of June?

Looks like they've had a few down south: https://www.homebrewcon.org/conference/past-conferences/


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[hopfenundmalz]

It flew under the radar back then. 2400-3500 attendance, not possible.

[MDixon]

The main reason Asheville is out as a location is because there are not enough clustered hotel rooms to handle the conference.

[majorvices]

Also, how many people really want to come to the south in the middle of June?

Hahaha! That may be it. I've lived in the south since '93 and I am used to the heat but it can be stifling to those not used to it. That said, Minneapolis was a fine event and I'm glad I went. Nashville is a much cooler town though and there are plenty of breweries and the beer scene is robust.

[denny]

I was hoping it would be in Nashville....

I know Nashville has been look d into, but IIRC there ae legal issues to be resolved.

[denny]

I was hoping it would be in Nashville....

+1. ...or even Atlanta.


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I could totally be wrong, but it seems to me, there's a rotation of where they host, East Coast, Middle, West Coast... since I've been a member it's been

Grand Rapids MI (Middle)
San Diego CA (West)
Baltimore (East)
Minneapolis (Middle)
Portland (West)

So.. Atlanta could be 2019 as East again.  Not sure if Nashville would be "East" or "Middle", but that could also be in the next year after that.

I'd love if the 2019 East Coast (if the rotation holds) to be in North Carolina.  They are blowing up in their beer scene, the Charlotte homebrew club has won club of the year (Carolina Brewers? I forget the name) and Charlotte is certainly big enough to host.  Asheville sadly doesn't have a convention center or anything like that, but it's only a two hour drive from Charlotte if people wanted to venture that way, or set up a bus trip etc. Also, I'm from North Carolina and live in Oregon now, so I am biased of course.

It's not really a criteria.  Sure, we like to have it moved around, but that's not as much of amconsideration as having a good location interms of services and local committee.

[toby]

I wonder if AHA would entertain a Southern Chapter so those in TX, AR, OK, LA, MS, AL, GA, TN, FL, etc can participate?  Routinely visiting the NE coast, North, and West Coast is pretty cost prohibitive.

I seem to think there was one NHC/HBC in Dallas and it went so poorly that it was banished for all eternity. (I might be mis-remembering though.)

I could easily see Austin, Houston, Atlanta, Nashville, Kansas City, St. Louis and Tampa having active enough craft and homebrewing scenes to have some very nice HBCs. We're still pretty backwards with our alcohol laws in the south and I'm sure that plays a role. I know here in Texas our state's ABC has become more aggressive about regulating homebrewing events which has made things difficult for local events.

Also, how many people really want to come to the south in the middle of June?

I can only assume that's a big reason (coming to the Gulf South in the summer). Our laws in Louisiana are a little wonky now where mixing commercial and homebrew are concerned, but New Orleans can certainly handle the size of the event. But we don't really have the club infrastructure to organize it yet.