Charles N. Papazian (born January 23 ) is an American nuclear engineer,

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, ...

and author. He founded the Association of Brewers and the Great American Beer Festival, and wrote ''The Complete Joy of Home Brewing'' (1984). He is the longtime former president (1979–2016) of the Brewers Association. He is also the creator of the National Pie Day, a celebration of pies which is celebrated on January 23, Papazian's birthday.

Early life and career

Papazian, an American of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

descent, was born in 1949 and raised in Warren Township, New Jersey. His father was a chemical engineer who managed a manufacturing plant. He attended the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, graduating in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering.Matthew Shaer
"The Schoolteacher who Sparked America's Craft Brew Revolution,"
'' Smithsonian'', June 2020. In 1970, while in Charlottesville, Papazian was introduced to an older man who had learned to brew beer during

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

. Papazian, who was working part time as a janitor at a daycare facility, began brewing in the daycare's kitchen during off-hours. As people began to show interest in his beer, Papazian wrote up a two-page set of instructions and began distributing it by hand. After college, he moved to

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 ...

where he eventually landed a job as an elementary school teacher, a position he held for ten years. During that period, Papazian began offering weekly home brewing classes in his kitchen. One of his earliest students was Jeff Lebesch, co-founder of New Belgium Brewing Company.

Brewing associations

In 1978 U.S. President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

signed a

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

reopening the beer market to small craft brewers, also permitting homebrewing. In 1979 Papazian founded the Association of Brewers, and remained president of that organization until 2005, when the Association of Brewers merged with the 63-year-old Brewers Association of America, and Papazian was named president of the combined organization. Papazian also founded the American Homebrewers Association in 1978, a group that is also now under the umbrella of the Brewers Association. Other organizations and annual events subsequently founded by Papazian include the ''Institute for Brewing Studies'', Brewers Publications, the Great American Beer Festival, the World Beer Cup, and '' Zymurgy'' magazine. 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 AHA was founded in 1978 by Papazian. The AHA runs the world's largest homebrew competition and also 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 ...

. Gary Glass is the current director. The AHA publishes the magazine ''Zymurgy'' six times per year to its 47,000 members. Every year the AHA hosts events like National Homebrew Competition, the Homebrew Con (previously known as the National Homebrewers Conference) which includes the finals of the National Homebrew Competition, held the third week in June, the Big Brew, held the first Saturday in May, Mead Day, held the first Saturday in August and Learn to Homebrew Day, held the first Saturday in November. American Homebrewers Association gives the Ninkasi Award, a prize given 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.

''Complete Joy of Home Brewing''

In 1984 Papazian published his first book on the subject of homebrewing, titled ''The Complete Joy of Home Brewing''. The book contained a

foreword A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between th ...

by influential British beer writer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

. As of August 2005, ''The Complete Joy of Home Brewing'' had seen 25 reprintings, 3 editions, and has sold over 900,000 copies. A fourth edition was released in September 2014. As the first American (and, for over a decade, the only) mass-market book to provide in-depth information on subject of how to brew beer in the home, ''The Complete Joy of Home Brewing'' was very often the sole source of home brewing information for novice home brewers in America. Consequently, the book has gained iconic status among America's home brewing community, who have referred to it as the "home brewer's bible." Throughout ''The Complete Joy of Home Brewing'', Papazian reminds the novice brewer to "Relax. Don't worry. And have a homebrew." Papazian has since written five more books.

National Pie Day

Papazian also began National Pie Day, a celebration of pies. It is celebrated on January 23, Papazian's birthday. after he declared his own birthday, January 23, to be National Pie Day. Since 1986, National Pie Day is sponsored by the American Pie Council. In 2014, the American Pie Council partnered with

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

in promoting the romantic thriller film ''

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

'' in conjunction with National Pie Day. (A pie-making scene features prominently in the film, and the film's general release was within a few days of National Pie Day.)

Books

*''Joy of Brewing, Copyright 1976, Log Boom Brewing, Boulder Colorado *''The Complete Joy of Homebrewing (4th Edition)'', *''The Homebrewer's Companion'', *''Brewing Mead: Wassail! In Mazers of Mead'' (co-authored with Robert Gayre), *''Home Brewer's Gold: Prize-Winning Recipes from the 1996 World Beer Cup Competition'' (compiled by Charlie Papazian, currently out-of-print), *''Zymurgy For The Homebrewer And Beer Lover: Best Articles and Advice From America's #1 Homebrewing Magazine'' (edited by Charlie Papazian, currently out-of-print), *''Microbrewed Adventures: A Lupulin Filled Journey to the Heart and Flavor of the World's Greatest Craft Beers'',

Personal life

Papazian lives in the Boulder, Colorado area with his wife Sandra. The couple have a daughter, Carla.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Papazian, Charlie Homebrewing American people of Armenian descent American brewers American nuclear engineers University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Living people Beer writers Year of birth missing (living people)