It’s “on hiatus”.
Yeah, who knows.
Not sure if a boycott type thing might help, or would only hammer more nails in a coffin.
I think it’s dead this year. The alternative event isn’t anything like HBC, not least of all because there’s no homebrew. I hope it comes back in a better form in the future.
I would think if it was going to happen in 2025 they would already be signing contracts for the event space no matter how large or small.
Perhaps a review of past event would help determine what size is appropriate for a positive cash flow. At one time the host club/area worked their tails off to make the event happen and manned the beer cooler. That was contracted for the first time in Philly due to restrictions IIRC. After Philly it stayed a contract function. I am not saying it should be handled by a club/area, but that has to add a considerable cost to the event.
Like some of you, I have a long history of attending HBC. Maybe it’s not that long, but I went to 11 in a row starting with Oakland. The most frustrating thing is that while Pittsburg was an obvious display of waning interest in the event, it was on par with some of the earlier attendance on the way up. I guess the adage that you’re either growing or you’re dying is at play here but isn’t it OKAY to slide back a bit to right size it. Go back to mid sized hotels with medium-large ball rooms and get out of the convention center game. Of course it looks pathetic and loses money when the convention hall is 10% filled.
In my experience, even mid sized events (1000 to 1500 attendees) are contracted out 3-5 years in advance.
I agree there’s nothing inherently wrong with scaling back to a manageable size event. So taking a year off may not be a bad idea. AHA needs to figure out its raison d’être and then figure how HBC fits into that.
I’m not going to pretend I have the faintest idea of what would be involved, but if another homebrewing organization (independent of the BA and run by actual homebrewers) started up right now, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
That’s the problem here. I’m not a fan of this, but I get why it’s being done even if I’d prefer for another solution to be put into place. There’s a number of factors going on:
- The BA and the AHA are both losing money as both Craft and Homebrewing recede somewhat
- Attendance at beer festivals and conferences - hell, even technical conferences - is way down over the years
- Planning a space/event is done years ahead of time and the pivot to market conditions will take time
- There is now and always has been since the merger of the AoB and BAA as to “why do we have an amatuer wing, that’s money spent away from the ‘core mission’”. Right now, it feels strongly like that view is winning in the BA whereas before the AHA was protected by virtue of being Charlie’s baby.
For me, as I’ve said elsewhere, I remember back in 2001 when we had the conference in LA we set a record - 500 attendees! The planning was done locally with national oversight. As the event grew, the BA event staff stepped in to make it more polished and professional. That staff is very skilled at making huge events like CBC and GABF happen. NHC/Homebrewcon feels like a losing proposition by being so small. It’s not terribly different than the attitudes of big beer towards successful brands that move less than 100k barrels per year - it feels like a failure.
I’ll go so far as to conjecture that the BA may have some reasons to view homebrewing as presenting some potential threats. From what I’ve seen in my area over the past 5+ years, mid-size/regional breweries are getting put out of business by glut the local/hyperlocal breweries that are springing up in almost every town and neighborhood. Most of these are run by homebrewers that are able to make the leap to going pro because the cost of entry is a fair bit lower at that kind of scale. There is a potential disincentive for the BA to support the pipeline of homebrewers who could potentially keep adding more pressure to their larger constituents if the trend of homebrewers turning pro and opening local tap rooms continues.
I’m not trying to imply that the BA is actively trying to kill off homebrewing or the AHA. I’m just having a hard time believing that the BA has the best interests of homebrewers in mind. I just don’t see the incentive for the BA. Their recent actions seem to bear this out.
I doubt the BA sees the AHA as any sort of threat. It’s likely homebrewer’s aren’t seen as contributing to the coffers. With membership at roughly 40 bucks and over 37k members the contribution from the AHA is roughly 1.5 million of a 22 million budget. At one time the BA had surplus of 1 mil, but 2023 brought in less than 200k in surplus. I have no idea how much HBC supposedly lost on the conference in 2023, but it was enough they shut down HBC for 2024. Of course it makes you wonder why they didn’t take drastic measures in the past in years when the coffers were low to negative.
Threat to the BA? I’m not so sure it is homebrewer. Many new taproom breweries around here have been started by probrewers that are branching out on their own or getting back in the game. Then there those that never homebrewed but went to one of the 6 brewing schools in the area. I do know some homebrewers that are going pro, but they are getting OJT at a brewery. Breweries are closing,but brave souls are still in the process of opening a brewery.
AHA member’s dues are only a part of the revenue stream. Add in HBC fees and adds in Zymurgy to that. The big revenue and also expense is HBC. Lower attendance put that in the red in a hurry.
We saw a big peak in the hobby. After a boom there is usually a bust. Here we are.
Nail on head
Well, if you don’t see anything after GABF calling for seminars or talks or an announcement of where it will be at GABF - consider it dead.
I know this might sound ridiculous, but would the BA ever consider combining HBC with CBC in a future year? I’m totally aware that a lot of “pro” brewers have a stigma and look down at homebrewers (trust me - it’s happened to me on more than just a few occasions). But at HBC in Pittsburgh a few years ago, I fondly remember speaking with a few of the vendors who stated that HBC was just like CBC but that the attendees (we, the homebrewers) were much more engaged and exciting to speak with.
Seems like a reasonable alternative to consider given the budget constraints, venue options, educational components, etc. I agree with some previous posts that this year’s GABF homebrew HQ idea sounds pretty unattractive and unappealing. Have been to GABF plenty of times, and for me, it’s no longer a destination event. HBC on the other hand, is an event I will always circle on my calendar and try & attend given the location.
I, too, am disappointed and hope HBC comes back in some shape or form in 2025. Where else can you rub elbows with the best & brightest homebrewing minds on the planet?
I’ve been to CBC and it isn’t anything like HBC. I have no interest in attending CBC again, just like I have no interest in attending GABF again.
I agree with Denny, CBC isn’t that interesting to homebrewers since it is a BUSINESS gathering about the beer business. It rarely has much of the interesting brewing and tasting content that we homebrewers enjoy. Yes, there are big shiny objects in the exhibition hall, but they’re expensive and of little use to our crowd.
Just food for thought: has AHA thought of establishing an affiliate link to online purchases? It could be a way to generate revenue via a tidy commission.
It doesn’t cost the member any more for their purchase and they get the added benefit of helping generate funds for the AHA on something they’re going to buy anyway. It doesn’t have to be beer related. It could be used for all online purchases.
The link could be added to the website, forum, magazine, …anytime the organization communicates they could put a plug in for using it… etc.
Just an idea. This is an organization of members. If the organization is broke look no further than the members to help.
Yes, it’s been tried in several forms
I don’t believe for a minute the organization is broke. I can believe expenses for everything are rising and membership is declining. The last HBC didn’t generate revenue according to rumor, at least I haven’t seen any numbers, and the BA decided a way to not lose is to not hold the conference in the first place. I also don’t see the AHA separating from the BA because it DOES generate revenue from memberships. Revenue the BA would certainly miss if it was no longer available.