2010 NHC - Wednesday Arrival & Brewing Network Party

First off, pictures forthcoming - stay tuned! I didn't bring my downloader.

Last night we were fortunate enough to get into the Brewing Network's pre-conference bash. After jumping on one of the many school buses provided as transportation, we found ourselves at the Northern Brewer warehouse - which resides in some warehouse district outside of Minneapolis.

Let's just say these folks know how to throw a party.

After getting our bag-o-schwag and all important tasting glass, our eyes glazed over all the beer-trailers, complete with 4 or 5 taps on each side. There was a Surly trailer, and 3 (4?) others providing roughly 30 beers on tap. Other than Surly, there was Moylan, Firestone Walker, Boulder, Two Brothers, Ommegang, Bell's, Town Hall, 21st Amendment, some excellent homebrews provided by the generous Northern Brewer staff, and others I can't recall. The mighty Tasty McDole was there, but unfortunately the precious few bottles of Janet's Brown (the delicious recipe he crafted for his late wife) he brought were gone like that.

The Homebrew Chef was also there, and provided some ass-kickin' sausages, which we devoured as soon as we were off the bus. The DJ was spinning some great tunes - the night was beautiful, we actually saw stars outside, a rarity in Chicago.

On the bus ride home it was a pleasure to chat with homebrew ninja Nathan Smith, a fellow musician and helluva nice guy.

Upon getting back to the hotel, we helped Mike and Bob - fellow HOPS! members, haul 14 kegs up to their room, and then raided any ice machine in sight to cool them all down for serving on Friday (apologies to any neighbors trying to sleep - we made quite the racket). Now those are some funny pics.

Will try to keep doing daily recaps each morning - fortunately there's some strong coffee here - cheers!