Seattle - NHC 2012

If you haven't been to the national homebrewers conference, it's really hard to describe. We started with a planned brewery tour of Pyramid, Schooner Exact, and Georgetown. All were fantastic, which was a far cry from the lack of quality in Vancouver.
Then, it was on to the conference. Talks in the morning, then pro and club night. Club night is where all of the local homebrew clubs show off their stuff; it is kind of the pinnacle of the conference. To put it in perspective, there were over 40 clubs, each with a lot of different beer - one club brought 150 kegs. People dress up, dress their booths, and supply really creative beer (e.g. garlic chili hefeweizen). And the people! When I get back, I'm going to put up a few posts of "the people of festivals." I'll include one below of Ashley and one such individual.

The photos:
1) A club decided to go with a monk theme for the booth. All the men shaved the top of their heads. Dedication.
2) Us at a pre-conference party.
3) Interesting guy - more like these to come.
4) A booth had a stage/rock band theme. It included a VIP area "backstage" that required a special pass.
5) Guys dressed as ghostbusters. Their proton packs dispensed beers.
6) This was clever. A group of Boeing workers have a club, and their booth had a "mile high club" theme. They also played the movie Airplane on a loop.
7) Recreating a picture from 5 years ago when I was in Seattle for an astronomy conference. We went to a great seafood place and had a great drink called a rum beautiful.