In less than two weeks, homebrewers and professional brewers from around the country will converge on Seattle to be a part of the 2012 National Homebrewers Conference. Though the conference sold out in less than 2 days, there are still ways to be a part of the festivities.
The Washington Homebrewers Association is organizing Pre-Conference Bus Tours running Tuesday and Wednesday, June 19th – 20th, around the Puget Sound. These bus tours go as far North as Bellingham and all the way down to Olympia. These tours are open to the public (you don’t have to have a conference pass) so all beer lovers are welcome. They cost between $40-45, stop at three breweries, and include lunch. It is a great chance to mingle with brewers from all over the country. For those interested in wine, there is even a wine and food pairing event right around the corner from the hotel on Friday, June 22nd. You can find out more about the tours at http://www.ahaconference.org/events/pre-conference-events/
All you have to do is buy a ticket, show up at the conference hotel (the Bellevue Regency Hyatt), and get ready for a great trip. (For free parking you can park at the Bellevue Square Mall).
Ticket sales will end June 17th so get your tickets ASAP! We look forward to seeing a ton of homebrewers and beer aficionados very soon!
Cheers,
Mark Emiley
NHC Co-Organizer

Both of these tours feature breweries that have appeared on the Session and CYBI

Fish Brewery is the parent brewery of Leavenworth, makers of several GABF winning beers including CYBI's Leavenworth Alt. Harmon also did a spot on the Session a couple years ago.

Chuckanut just won GABF's Small Brewpub of the year 2009 and National Small Brewery of the Year 2011 and was interviewed by Justin just a few weeks ago.

All of the breweries on both open tours are excellent and you'll have a great time if you go on these trips.

For those lucky few who got onto the Rogue/Snoqualmie/Black Raven Tour-
You are in for a treat- Rogue's Issaquah Brewhouse is top notch, (it's where I teach my BJCP classes) and they have won a multitude of World Beer Cup and GABF awards. Black Raven is a relatively new (4 or 5 yrs now) who have won a bunch of medals at GABF, and Snoqualmie is the home of my brew club (we meet there once a month). They have a rock-solid lineup of beers, my favorite being their Oatmeal Stout (only available in the pub - always on nitro).
Hope to see you there!

Today is the last day for NHC pre-conference tour sales. If you want to be a part of any pre-conference events, you need to buy your ticket today. There will be no on-site sales.
http://www.ahaconference.org/events/pre-conference-events/