As 2023 draws to a close this year’s World Beer Meeting (WBM) in Austria and the Czech Republic is currently being held. What better time to take a step back and reflect on what a year this has been.
I think it’s safe to say we have finally cracked the code. Are there little tweaks to be made or personal preferences we can adjust? Always. But the foundational code—yeah, we finally got it.
It’s funny to think that this all started back in 2014, 10 years ago in February, as a dream to one day maybe be here in this place of beer nirvana. I’m not going to lie, this has probably been the most painful and selfish thing I have done in my life to date. I have literally spent thousands of hours (including lots of sleepless nights) and performed tireless experiments to get here. I’ve also pissed off many people along the way (but hey, they fully deserved it). Was it worth it? If your goal is to sit down at night with a glass of beer that rivals the best in the world, then undoubtedly yes.
We still continue to walk people through the ins and outs of it all. Membership has its ebbs and flows, but has remained pretty steady. We have a core of great guys—true friends—and bullshitting with them is always the highlight of my day. We have had a number of in-person WBM’s, in places like Chicago, Munich, the Czech Republic, and Austria. And we’ve enjoyed a number of private tours from the brewmasters who produce some of the best examples of our favorite styles in the world. It’s all pretty amazing, actually.
Our private yeast bank collection sits at nine strains. We see members ordering on a regular basis, and have had awesome results with the strains.
The Discord has taken over as the active form of daily communication, but we still hold the forums as a repository for all of our most detailed information.
This year has brought one member his Ph.D in Brewing Science, and seen one professor leave his career and move to Germany to become a Brewmaster at TUM!
And we’re still having just as much fun as day one! How can you not when you’re producing world class beers at home?
As we look ahead to 2024 and the many things we want to accomplish, we may as well end the year in review with some cool photos and memories.
The underbelly of Budvar, with brewmaster Petr Sozin
Q&A with Petr in the company meeting room.
Fun at Ottakringer
Couldn’t end without some of this years beer photos.
Prost!