AHA Membership?

[DeGarre]

Alan Partridge came to mind

Steve Coogan is a genious for sure but these guys are almost as funny, La Pensee moaning how they sacked him from CAMRA's What's Brewing for "lack of originality"...

[darkonnis]

Is CBA still going? The website looks... well, what can only be described as desolate. If this is a group that actually wants to be all it says it is (the National UK homebrewers club) then it needs to atleast look like its staying current. I'm not criticising, even though it probably sounds like it. (Alright maybe I am a bit, but I mean it in a constructive way not a ranty rant way)

Homebrewing in the UK is leaps and bounds behind the US market, hell, the entire beer market is leaps and bounds behind. I personally have found Jims, homebrewtalk and northernbrewer (all free forums) have the most up to date articles, most help and advice and certainly the most new and fresh ideas. Which to me is what any club should be, and if you pay for it, competitions etc (which I know CBA does)

Compare this to the AHA and all they've done is wrapped up the userbases ideas, thoughts and work and written about it, taken a few photos and distributed it nationwide. Nothing wrong with that, the fact they make a profit, nothing wrong with that either, they atleast appear to be up to date.

Hell maybe I'm wrong about CBA, maybe they're right up there and up to date with whats going on/happening, but if I have to pay to be a member to find out... I'd rather bet on a sure thing, and I know that is likely the case with others too.

[Martin G]

I agree, it's hard to imagine an association offering more than this forum, the only benefit I can think of is a well written magazine, but I read this site a bit like a magazine and I get to chip in or ask questions, brilliant.

[DeGarre]

The main benefit is the journal archive going back to mid 90's. Topics are from recipes to chemistry to brewing days to trip reports to DIY to hop market analysis to reminiscences of the old Booths kit days. 20 quid well spent just to get the PDFs.

[jimp2003]

Hell maybe I'm wrong about CBA, maybe they're right up there and up to date with whats going on/happening, but if I have to pay to be a member to find out... I'd rather bet on a sure thing, and I know that is likely the case with others too.

I hope you are wrong about the CBA. I paid for a year's subs by Paypal, filled in all the relevant info about myself and waited for my membership to be activated. After about a week of no communication I went on holiday for a fortnight thinking that all would be ready when I got back today.....What I have now found is an email sent by their membership secretary asking me to fill in a form with the information I thought I had already supplied so he can finalise my application!

I know that the CBA is run by volunteers so I am still giving them the benefit of the doubt. I just hope the resources will be worth it....

[darkonnis]

Jimp, heard anything back?

[jimp2003]

Jimp, heard anything back?

You just reminded me to finish filling out the form and signing it.....

Will do that now and email it back to them and see how quickly it is turned around...

[lancsSteve]

Homebrewing in the UK is leaps and bounds behind the US market, hell, the entire beer market is leaps and bounds behind. I personally have found Jims, homebrewtalk and northernbrewer (all free forums) have the most up to date articles, most help and advice and certainly the most new and fresh ideas. Which to me is what any club should be, and if you pay for it, competitions etc (which I know CBA does)

Hell maybe I'm wrong about CBA, maybe they're right up there and up to date with whats going on/happening, but if I have to pay to be a member to find out... I'd rather bet on a sure thing, and I know that is likely the case with others too.

You mean we have history, traditions and both respect for and use of those? That we're not faddishly in love with the "latest thing" (I rest my case here for that from AHA magazine right here. Nor are we keen to take something good and simple (like say rugby) and make it shit by throwing huge amounts of pointless equipment at it in the name of "improvement" to create something totally and ridiculously crap and expensive (like American Football)? That we'd rather take a little while to learn how to catch with our hands and take 5 days getting pissed to enjoy the resulting game rather than develop a massive bucket glove thing so we can build an industry and brand around the pointless appendage and rush over the silliness that ensues? Or that we understand the idea that styles evolve and change and that skill and experience are important in assessing those and can't be reduced to numbers and points and ranks? Or that we'd rather get together and have a chat and a joke and get pissed rather than competing as an end in itself? Or that we understand that the rich history of beers are linked to local ingredients, trade and history not just chucking in one extra ingredient and pronouncing it a new style (American pale Ale + chocolate malt = Amercain Brown Ale, but all British Bitter's are the same with no regional variation - oh and there's only one place in the whole of the UK with the "right" water)?

Why thank you for the vote for some good-old British values and traditions not the ahistorical-pursuit of progress for its own sake.

Steve (BJCP "Recognised" judge and AHA member, and CBA member and occasional contributor)

PS. British members of the forum will be aware of what "taking the piss" means, any offense taken by those alien to that vital concept intended and entirely appropriate.

PPS. The ranty bit of this is of course predicated on an assumption that "Cleveland" is "Ohio" not "Teesside"

PPPS. Not to say the CBA is great - but it's quite nice in a sort of trainspotting society way, reassuringly British in it's vague maybe we'll get round to something sort of way - I think they only added the A when they realised people weren't using CB radios as much as they used to and had apparently replaced them with something called "twitter".

[Aleman]

Jimp, heard anything back?

You just reminded me to finish filling out the form and signing it.....

Will do that now and email it back to them and see how quickly it is turned around...

Normally Pretty quickly . . . I keep saying it's time to drag the CBA into the last century and integrate everything, but while we have empty committee seats and lack of regional 'CBA' organisers then it's difficult to find the time.

I will honestly look at creating a editable PDF (With the correct address on ) and get that on the website . . .in the next decade

[alix101]

If more people joined the CBA then I'm sure it would help grow the organisation into something people would find more appealing.

[Aleman]

If more people joined the CBA then I'm sure it would help grow the organisation into something people would find more appealing.

Certainly would . . . The work the guys on THBF put into organising The Spring Thing just shows what happens when you get a group of dynamic enthusiastic people all working together to achieve something.

[darkonnis]

PPS. The ranty bit of this is of course predicated on an assumption that "Cleveland" is "Ohio" not "Teesside"

Then I suggest you readdress your rant.

You do and don't have a point. Unfortunately the world is a smaller place than it once was, the times are changing and whilst the great expanse of water that separates us and has shielded us from the speed at which things have progressed in the states, we ultimately are not immune. The history of beers and local ingredients are a nice idea, but they're also the reason we have seen such slow creation of new ideas and recipes and why some categories such as the "best bitter" have so many beers that are ultimately a bit unimaginative and near clones of the ones that came before them on the guest taps.

Progress for progress sake isn't a bad thing, you need only look at the ever increasing popularity of the IPA and its double, triple and black counterparts to see how progress for its own sake really has opened up the market and how more and more people are slowly turning to craft ale. Look at space travel, we didn't need to go to the moon, nor did we need to go to mars. That is the biggest example of progress for the sake of progress that I can think of, yet we are better for knowing what is there, and you need only look at all the innovation and technology which has been produced simply to make such things possible to see the how that technology has slowly fit its way into every day life. (think sat nav).

Not to say that you create something completely new by dropping a single ingredient but every beer is ultimately a variation on a theme and there are many styles which are different only because of that "extra" ingredient or even a larger quantitiy of existing ingredients(if you want to look at it that broadly).

Having spent a week or two in the states last year I can honestly say that their beer industry is miles ahead of ours in terms of the sheer range that is available and the quality isn't hampered by the "history" of how things are done.

None of this is a slight to english brewers (I would like to be one), nor english styles(I do like them), but creativity and progress are things to be embraced and more and more brewers are doing so on this side of the pond. They are lead by our american friends, there is no doubting that, but it is new for us at the very least. I would also point out that for a country which isn't "in love with the latest thing" there seems to be a hell of a lot of IPA's all of a sudden just as there was in the states, eventually the market will move on and sours, or some other such beer will surface as the current "fad". You may not be interested in them, but the market speaks with its wallet and the sheer volume of different breweries doing these styles and their apparent availability shows that the "latest fad" is something that is bought in to.

Back on topic however, I stand by what I said, when it comes to money, I know myself and many other people feel better paying for a sure thing than a "maybe we'll get round to it" hopefully though the CBA will be worth it Jimp

[lancsSteve]

I like playing devils advocate to myself, easy to tell you;re a Brit though - you spotted and understood that I was taking the piss, then engaged in the discussion in a sensible way anyway

[koomber]

If more people joined the CBA then I'm sure it would help grow the organisation into something people would find more appealing.

More likely that if more people joined it would validate continuing with the way things are right now.

My issue with things which are 'Quaintly British' is that it's really a way of saying 'a bit shit, but at least they tried.'

I'll agree that there does appear to be a bit of gimmick aspect to American Homebrewing though. This isn't meant as a criticism, mind just an obeservation. There tends to be trends that will sweep through and suddenly everyone will start to do the same thing, Hefe's with fruit seem to be pretty popular with American Homebrewer in the way that IPA's used to be.

The problem (historically at least) with UK homebrewing is that there tends to be a reverence for the past and a desire to make clones of beers. I think this might have something to do with people just wanting to be make a cheap beer and also not wanting to make something that is vile.

However, it is changing. You just need to read through the forums here and you'll see people who are doing great things and making exciting beers, building bigger and better equipment and pushing at what has been possible in a homebrewing setup.

[DeGarre]

Besides, if you opt for an AHA membership instead of CBA you'll never find out pedantic facts like that around 2004-2005 Golden Promise had a price premium of £80/tonne over Optic.