Celebrator 10th Anniversary Party

by Lisa Gros

Slide Show

The Celebrator Beer News put on a party at the end of February to celebrate their 10th Anniversary. For $20, a special club rate, you received a commemorative glass, appetizers, and all the beer you can drink--some of it you wanted seconds, others well....

The breweries pouring represented the breweries who were around when the first issue of the Celebrator was published:

• Anchor
• Sierra Nevada
• Anderson Valley
• Triple Rock
• San Francisco
• Buffalo Bills
• Mendocino
• Tied House
• St. STans
• Santa Cruz
• Widmer
• Rogue
• Deshutes
• Full Sail
• Humbolt
• Pyramid
• Grants
• Red Hook
• Golden Pacific

The party was held at the Pyramid Brewery in Berkeley. Motor and Mike just happened to be first in line and snagged a great table right next to the hot appetizer buffet featuring heaps of ribs as well as sausages and chicken wings. What better way to celebrate good beer than at a brewery. There was plenty of room between the fermenters and the bottling line, with an open space in the back (future expansion?). Music was provided by a big brass band early on, followed by the all star brewers band with Tom Dalldorf leading the way.

What a 10 years its been on the beer scene since the first issue of the Celebrator came out. Over the course of these years, we have seen the hobby of homebrewing go from bathtubs to RIMS, from infection to perfection. With that, a resurgence in the whole craft brew industry. An explosion, if you will, in the number of brewpubs and microbreweries, as well as the availability of a multitude of bottled beers.

So what of the Party? The party was supposed to be a celebration of how far brewing has come in the last ten years and the pivotal role that the Celebrator has played in it. Ironically, it was, for me at least, a time to think about the future of brewing and homebrewing in particular.

The brewing industry is going through major consolidation. For every brewery that opens now, there is one that closes. Big breweries are buying up the small craft breweries and the goal has become less about brewing good beer and more about making fancy bottle labels. (Interestingly, this is the exact comment made by someone from Anderson Valley regarding recent management changes there). Homebrewing is also seeing a slow-down. With the amount of variety and high quality of beers available, there seems to be less of a need to brew your own. This trend is echoed by the brewing supply shop owners that I've talked to. The future does not look bright and indeed even Dalldorf, in his most recent issue, talks about the number of brewing publications that have folded. While the past ten years were very successful, the next ten years holds a lot of uncertainty and it seems to me that the Celebrator will need to continue to walk the fine line between advertising dollars and quality brewing content.