HAMS Homebrewers Ball 2007

The HAMS Homebrewers Ball was a great success in its first year. On Saturday, December 1, 2007, 130 Guests joined 15 Brewers and Actors for a very civilized evening of celebrating the arts of beer and theater. The Thunder River Theater Company in Carbondale CO, a non-profit professional theater company, http://www.thunderrivertheatre.com/ is renowned for their superb presentations of many famous playrights. The Roaring Fork HAMS Homebrew Club partnered with the Theater Company for a private fundraising party to benefit their non-profit, in hopes that we could hold this event every year, to also benefit other community non-profit organizations.

The Guests appeared to be unanimous in their hearty approval of this new partnership, and they partook with enthusiasm the twelve taps of distinctly custom-brewed beers, the fine graphic "labels" we used to describe each beer, and especially the inspiring, even hilarious, beer history and trivia. researched and performed by Lon & Valerie. There was even a "beer prayer".

There was more. Imagine their surprise to find a 5-gallon keg of fresh-brewed root beer, hiding out among the grown-up beers. Following the signs to the "Bottle Lounge" in the basement, yielded a limited supply of nearly two-dozen more homebrewed beers, brought by lots of other local brewers, to share with everyone. There in the Bottle Lounge, we saw a few Guests working feverishly with crayons, pens and paper, while sipping samples of our brews, to complete their entries to the "Guest Label Contest" upstairs.

The Label competition was pretty stiff, with 12 entires by 10 artists. When the voting deadline had passed, we learned that 58 people had voted, and 22 of them had selected Brent and Jen Moss' "YUMPI" Ale (Young Urban Mountain Professionals"), this years Guest Label Winner. The Moss family will win a case of 12-oz. bottles, each containing an "Extra Special Bitter" (ESB) Ale, to be brewed by MT in January. This ESB will be dressed in their "YUMPI Ale" winning label, of course.

The Guests voted Jeremy West's "Shellabration Stout" as best homebrew. We all liked his label, also.

We have lots of people to thank for the successful start of what we hope will be an annual tradition, something for all the HAMS, and a growing number of community members, to be proud of:
Lon Winston & Valerie Haughan, theater co-directors;
Ken Jones, Glenwood Canyon BrewPub master brewer, sponsor of the RF HAMS Homebrew Club;
Wes MacCachran, tap station builder, organizer, brewer of the "Bock" and the "Weizenbock";
Jeremy West, R.F. HAMS President, organizer, brewer of the "Sweet Stout" and the "Root Beer";
Cody O'Niel, organizer, "rang the bell" in August to start making this party happen, brewer of the "Cathedral ESB";
Landon Anderson, organizer and brewer of the "Whiteout Belgian White";
Mike Wieczorek, organizer and brewer of the "Brown Ale";

Jeff Dahl, kegging organizer, logo art setup, brewer of the "IPA";
Paul Stoffel, brewer of the "Honey Raspberry Wheat";
Charles Englebert, responsible for many of you being here, and brewer of the "Amber Ale";
Todd Malloy, brewer of the "Pilsener";
Amy Capron and Justin Barrow, "rookies" of the year, and brewers of the "Oktoberfest";
MT, meself, for stating the challenge you all rose to meet, and for brewing the "Belgian Saison Ale";
Roy Toma, photographer, for shooting the party, and our Homebrewers Ball Guests, for their enthusiasm and civilized appreciation of fine arts;
And finally, Ken Peterson, Chief of Investigations, CO Div. of Liquor Enforcement for showing us the way to bring homebrew to you;