The Brewers Association is an American trade group of over 5,400

brewer Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

s, breweries in planning, suppliers, distributors, craft beer retailers, and individuals particularly concerned with the promotion of craft beer and homebrewing. Two of the largest programs supported by the Brewers Association are the American Homebrewers Association and the annual Great American Beer Festival. On January 27, 2025, the American Homebrewers Association announced it is incorporating to become an independent organization from the Brewers Association. As of this edit, this process is ongoing. The current president and CEO is Bart Watson. The American Homebrewers Association was founded by past Brewers Association president Charlie Papazian.

American Homebrewers Association

The Brewers Association was established in 2005 through a merger of the Association of Brewers headed by brewer Charlie Papazian and the Brewers' Association of America, intending to "promote and protect small and independent American brewers, their craft beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts." The American Homebrewers Association is a division of the Brewers Association focused on homebrewers of

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the Fermented drink, fermented Apple juice, juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and Ireland. The United Kingdom has the world's highest ...

, and

mead Mead (), also called honey wine, and hydromel (particularly when low in alcohol content), is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alco ...

. The American Homebrewers Association was founded in 1978 by Charlie Papazian in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

. It runs the world's largest homebrew competition and organizes several homebrew events in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Julia Herz is the current executive director. The American Homebrewers Association publishes the magazine ''Zymurgy'' six times per year to its 37,000 members. The American Homebrewers Association hosts the following events annually: * National Homebrew Competition * Homebrew Con (previously known as the National Homebrewers Conference) which includes the finals of the National Homebrew Competition * Big Brew, held the first Saturday in May * Home Fermentation Day, held the first Saturday in August * Learn to Homebrew Day, held the first Saturday in November

Ninkasi Award

The Ninkasi Award is the prize given by American Homebrewers Association for the brewer who gains the most points in the final round of the National Homebrew Competition, judged at the National Homebrewers Conference. Points are gained from the brewer's winning entries in the 23 categories of

and several categories of

and

. At least 2 points (1 bronze placement) must come from a beer entry. The Ninkasi Award is named in honor of

Ninkasi Ninkasi was the Mesopotamian goddess of beer and brewing. It is possible that in the first millennium BC she was known under the variant name Kurunnītu, derived from a term referring to a type of high quality beer. She was associated with both ...

, the Sumerian goddess of beer.

Past winners

The winners since the introduction of the Ninkasi Award in 1992:

Brewers publications

Brewers Publications was started in 1986 and is under the umbrella of the Brewers Association organization. The first book Brewers Publications published was ''Brewing Lager Beer: The Most Comprehensive Book for Home- and Microbreweries'' by Greg Noonan.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.brewersassociation.org/ 2005 establishments in Colorado Beer awards Beer in the United States Beer organizations Companies based in Boulder, Colorado Homebrewing Organizations based in Colorado Trade associations based in the United States