“What’s Brewing in My Kitchen” with Charlie Papazian

The History Colorado Museum is hosting a 3 beer talks, tying it in with their “Beer Here!” exhibit, and Jesse and I were able to come up and see the first one.

Note: This was the first in a series of talks, and although it’s too late to attend this one, there’s still two more left.

• December 9th 2019 – “The Women Who’ve Been Here” with Lady Justice Brewing – Which discuses women in brewing with a Colorado Focus
• February 24th, 2020 – “Ale Throughout History” with Travis Rupp, beer Archeologist at Avery Brewing Company

Let me just say, that I’m not much of a fan boy, but when I found out about this talk, I had to go. I’ve been reading Charlie Papazian’s books, magazines, and articles about him for a very long time, and I couldn’t miss the chance to see him in person.

My only regrets are that I didn’t bring up my copy of “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing” to get signed, and that there was a lot of snow forecasted (we still had to drive all the way back down to Colorado Springs). Not wanting to get stuck in a ditch on the way back, we didn’t think it was wise to stick around long after the talk to chat.

Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew.

Charlie papazian

When I first read “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing” I have to admit, I thought Charlie’s catch phrase “Relax, don’t worry and have a homebrew”, not to mention the photographs in the book, were a bit cheesy. I kept in mind that it was written in the 80’s and eventually warmed up to both the photos, and the deeper meaning of the catch phrase.

There’s a great interview that Basic Brewing Video did with Charlie Papazian, I’ll embed it below, and in the interview (6:22) he mentions the background of the origin of the phrase “Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew”, and how it’s become a bit of a philosophy that applies not only to brewing, but to life in general. “Worry is like paying a debt that you may never have owed”.

This view was reinforced in his talk, and my impression is that people just needed to know how to go about homebrewing, and to realize how relatively simplistic it is to make beer, they just didn’t have the information. It’s not a task that’s new, or even all that complicated unless you want to make it so. After all, mankind has been making beer since the dawn of time. That’s where he came in.

Charlie Papazian is really an interesting guy, known as the Godfather of homebrewing, he was responsible for not only the creation of the American Homebrewer’s Association, but the Brewer’s Association, Zymurgy Magazine, and The Great American Beer Festival. The list really goes on and on, but he’s been credited with not only popularizing homebrewing and making it accessible, but also in helping to teach many of the pioneers of the craft beer movement in America.

Charlie stepped down from the American Homebrewer’s association in January of this year, on his 70th birthday, and seems to be stepping back from the limelight a bit, which I think is well deserved.

My favorite beer style is whatever beer is currently in my hand.

Charlie Papazian

To hear Charlie tell it, all of the organizations, the popularity of homebrewing, and the success of his endeavors, were all just a bunch of crazy ideas, probably spawned from drinking his homebrew, and they just so happened to work out.

One of the surprising facts that I learned recently is that Charlie has a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Virginia, but wasn’t able to find a career in that field. I’m sure that was pretty stressful at the time, but it ended up being really lucky for the rest of us.

If you’ve ever seen any interviews with him, he really comes off as a super good natured guy, just as friendly as he can be, who just so happens to love his homebrew and beer.

Thanks for bearing with me as I let my fan boy side come out a little bit here. Attending the talk was a really neat experience, and I’m glad that I was able to attend. I’m looking forward to the next two sessions, and really am happy that I was able to see Charlie Papazian in person. Cheers Charlie!

[Jesse]
When Mike told me about the series of talks that the History Colorado Museum were hosting, I was very interested in attending the “Ale Throughout History” talk, but since a discount was offered for the purchase of all three talks, I thought what the heck, how often will I have the chance to see Charlie Papazian talk? So I made the trek to Denver with Mike. I’m quite glad I did.

The talk was Charlie explaining why he started homebrewing as a college student, how he did it in an age when it was illegal and without any guidance other than passed on knowledge (there was no internet, remember) and trial and error. He also spoke of how he, and others, not only practiced the art/science of homebrewing, but taught others about it, thereby starting the homebrewing/craft beer phenomenon that we often take for granted today. Not surprisingly, he had several amusing anecdotes and trivium.

One theme throughout the evening that I believe both Mike and I keyed in on was how Charlie really cherishes and fosters the idea of is that the homebrew (and now craft brewing) is truly a community of like-mined individuals. He made several references to how people would gather and sample each others homebrews and do so as much for the camaraderie as to drink beer.

I’m not going into any detail about what he spoke about because I simply could not do the stories any justice. But I highly recommend attending one of these event if you have the chance. It always makes for an interesting evening listening to someone talk about something they are passionate about.

One thing that was mentioned that I found fascinating was that the National Museum of American History contacted Charlie and added a several items of his to an exhibit in the museum. In fact, he spent that afternoon brewing up a stout with a photographer from the magazine Smithsonian for an upcoming article. So, if you happen to find yourself in Washington DC, swing by the NMAH and have a look at the wooden spoon Charlie used to not only brew up thousands of batches of beer, but also teach a generation the joy of homebrewing.