Your Favorite Holiday Just Went Global
There’s something special about the homebrew community. It’s a community with love and passion for the craft and for each other. It’s a community that is always willing to help, no matter what. And it’s also a community that’s considerably larger than most people realize.
This past Sunday, May 7, was National Homebrew Day, and rounding out the weekend was the American Homebrew Association’s (AHA) Big Brew day on May 6. It was a great weekend to get together with friends and brew your favorite beer. And now with technology, the homebrew community can share these experiences with each other.
In 1988, when the AHA declared in front of U.S. Congress that May 7 would be National Homebrew Day, there was no social media. There was no email. If you took photographs or recorded film, then you also waited for the film to be developed before physically mailing the final product to friends and family. If you wanted to brew together you had to call your friends from a landline or leave a message on an answering machine. 1988 was more insular. At the time, it made sense for the AHA to declare May 7th National Homebrew Day.
Fast forward to 2017. The phone in your pocket is stronger than the computer that landed Apollo 11 on the moon, and as a result, it’s infinitely easier to connect and collaborate with likeminded individuals. That means it’s much easier to connect and collaborate with the homebrewing community. And as you can imagine, the homebrew community is not just American. It’s international. National Homebrew Day really should be International Homebrew Day.
In honor of National Homebrew Day, our team at Ornery Ales Productions took to social media and asked our followers to send videos of their homebrew equipment, their latest brew, and their locations. Most of our followers are outside the U.S., so we asked the community to conclude their films with a wish for a “Happy International Homebrew Day.”
The response was amazing. Take a few minutes and watch for yourself the international outpouring—no pun intended— in Ornery Ales Productions’ “International Homebrew Day Video Montage.”
This film taught us that in the age of information, the value of social media is in the community. The value is in connecting and collaborating with like-minded individuals. The value is in capturing and sharing the love and passion for the craft, and for each other.
"I love this hobby and I love everyone involved in this hobby,” said famed homebrewer Drew Beechum in the Ornery Ales film. “There are so many of us doing this, not only in the U.S., but worldwide!"
Your favorite holiday just went global. Happy International Homebrew Day!
Final 2017 Video:
