Hey, I’m Doug Piper and I’m not going to try to impress you guys with an amazing homebrewing bio.
Instead, please check out my online brewing events with subject-matter-experts www.gourmetbrewing.com. If you like those, I hope to encourage the AHA to consider doing them even better. Besides that …I’ll focus on membership growth, growing homebrewing, and petitioning for your priorities.
Otherwise don’t choose me because:
o I’m not a great homebrewer, but I enjoy trying.
o I’ve never won a homebrewing award, but I’ve tasted quite a few beers that have.
o I don’t have a lot of answers, but I know who to ask (and I share the answers)
o I don’t have anywhere near the homebrewing experience as most, but I’m making up for lost time.
o I can promise that if you find any value in my online media and events, I will do everything I can to encourage AHA to do it even better.
Please consider me for one of your AHA GC votes if you don’t have someone you know that’s running:
Doug, I have a question for you (and any other candidate that cares to answer)…what do you think is the biggest issue facing homebrewers and what would you suggest the GC recommend doing about it?
Denny,
Great question and I’m smart enough to admit; that I’m not in a position to answer the question with any accuracy. Maybe, I’ll have the opportunity to learn more if the GC opportunity works out
However, if you’ll allow me to reference my own personal experience, I think one of the biggest problems is poor first experiences. Newbies like me, THINK that if they can cook dinner, SURELY they can brew beer. After all, they’re professionals, watched a Youtube or two, read the directions, and stayed at a Holiday Inn Express
If anyone knew an easy solution to this, it would be you; but I’m confident we can do more than we’re doing as an industry. COVID’s forced validation of virtual education has provided AHA with a whole new way to reach homebrewers and now on a worldwide scale! I’ve personally experienced how online education can make a difference in my own brewing skills. I believe in virtual training and would appreciate the opportunity to help the AHA do more of it.
I know this has nearly been a life mission for you and your books are fantastic. Maybe we can adapt your books as a basis for AHA virtual training (if you would allow it)!
Maybe one day I’ll be cool enough to throw my hat in the ring but I have been enjoying your content for a while. My friend, The SC Beer Fairy, recommended your stuff to me early on and I love to check in every now and then. Keep it up!
Allen, don’t wait till you’re cool …clearly you can see that I didn’t
Ashley (SC Beer Fairy) helped me get my start! She was so patient showing me the ropes and continues to this day. She also helps me find beers around SC which is a task in itself.
Thank you for the kind words. The events are somewhat self-serving. I’m a lifelong learner and I found talking to people like Ashley (SC Beer Fairy) was more helpful than books, the internet, or magazines. The events allow us all to have a shared learning experience with some of the most experienced experts in the industry. Thanks for watching.
My first target would be cross state boarder beer shipping. Especially by the USPS. I would like to enter more competitions but itis hard to ship beer and I traveling to them all may be fun for me but not my wife. I spent so much of my early years traveling, I only travel now if she can go with me.
I, for one, appreciate the Gourmet Brewing Crowdcasts you have organized.
I like the approach of inviting real brewing stars. This opens everyone’s horizons.
Hope we can close this artificial gap between home brewing and pro brewing that has been created in the past few years.
And do please get Eric Toft to do the Crowdcast. Tobias was wonderful and Eric will be too.
Ron, I would agree, but I zero expertise in cross-state shipping. Do you know anyone who does have this expertise? it’s a great topic and would be interesting to know what the AHA has done with this. I’m working on an event with Julia Herz, I’m sure that would be a fantastic question for you to ask her.
lupulus, Eric had a super serious family emergency. I’m not even sure how things ended up. I’ve not pestered him. I know he was excited about presenting, but he had to bow out due to an extreme situation.
Thank you for the encouraging words on the Gourmet Brewing Events. I’ve learned so much from the people I’ve interviewed. It’s been a wonderful labor of love and the best way I’ve been able to learn about brewing.
If you’re undecided, I’m Doug Piper of https://www.gourmetbrewing.com and I’m happy to answer any questions you may have. I’m running for one of the three seats.
o I’m not a great homebrewer, but I enjoy trying.
o I’ve never won a homebrewing award, but I’ve tasted quite a few beers that have.
o I don’t have a lot of answers, but I know who to ask (and I share the answers)
o I don’t have anywhere near the homebrewing experience as most, but I’m making up for lost time.
o I can promise that if you find any value in my online media and events, I will do everything I can to encourage AHA to do it even better.
Well, Doug Piper, I have no idea who you are, but you seem to be sincere, and I just saw your name mentioned on the Shut Up About Barclay Perkins blog that you were down in Brazil judging beers, so obviously you are independently wealthy as well as sincere, so you can focus more on solving the problem of interstate shipping of homebrew, which has vexed Mr. Conn for lo these many years (and believe me, I have pestered Denny and know he has tried hard), that you can be assured that you have won my vote.
Now, if you would have posted something along the lines of:
“I know homebrewers…we have wonderful, wonderful homebrewers. The best homebrewers in the world! And all those homebrewers love me, believe me”…well, then, I probably would be looking for another candidate.
