[narcout]

I just want to say what an awesome time I had at the NHC.  I can’t believe I was thinking about not going.

A lot of people must have worked very hard to make it happen, and they did a fantastic job. 

It was inspiring to try so many great homebrews, and it was a sincere pleasure to meet all of you (especially, but in no way limited to, the crew I was out with Friday afternoon).

To me, this weekend reinforced everything that is positive about homebrewing.  I hope everyone else had as much fun as I did and that I’ll see you all next year and beyond.

[denny]

Glad ya made it to the party!  Great to meet you.

[hopfenundmalz]

It was a very good conf, my 10th, you know understand why some keep going to it.

[udubdawg]

Couldn't be helped this year, but I'm reminded that I said previously I'd never fly out early morning the day after conference. I am on waaaay to little sleep to put up with hours of airport delays! Just stay an extra day! 

[flbrewer]

I was there in spirit. I kept a watchful eye on the forums. Next year is east coast and I will have to make it.

[S. cerevisiae]

I am stuck in Denver. My flight was late leaving SD. I missed my connecting flight.  Other than that minor hiccup, NHC 2015 was a blast.

[mchrispen]

Mark - it was very nice meeting you. And thanks for passing along your yeast knowledge. Seriously - write a book someday. I will buy it!

I got such a kick out of meeting everyone. Except for Marshall, Denny and Drew - nobody looked like I expected! Hopefully - the beginning of some long standing friendships.

[jeffy]

Very nice meeting y'all!
It may take a couple days to recover.
Some impressions:
1) seminars seemed generally less scientific and more basic this year.  Did anyone else feel this way?
2) Need to make sure there's enough light the next time the Reception and Club Night are outside.
3) I love San Diego and even though it is pretty old, I love the Town and Country, too.
4) The conference app was great.

[hopfenundmalz]

Very nice meeting y'all!
It may take a couple days to recover.
Some impressions:
1) seminars seemed generally less scientific and more basic this year.  Did anyone else feel this way?
2) Need to make sure there's enough light the next time the Reception and Club Night are outside.
3) I love San Diego and even though it is pretty old, I love the Town and Country, too.
4) The conference app was great.

1 yes
2 yes, or placed so that they don't shine in your eyes when reading the beer lists.
3 yes, worked better with the whole hotel dedicated to the NHC.
4 The App, the App, the App! I didn't use the program.

[klickitat jim]

Mark - it was very nice meeting you. And thanks for passing along your yeast knowledge. Seriously - write a book someday. I will buy it!

I got such a kick out of meeting everyone. Except for Marshall, Denny and Drew - nobody looked like I expected! Hopefully - the beginning of some long standing friendships.

So you're saying the rest were handsome athletic and well behaved?

[mchrispen]

Handsome... Maybe with the beer goggles. I'll defer to the lovely AmandaK. Athletic... If drinking were a sport or hauling around my beer belly or 30#s of books to get signed. Well behaved... I plead the fifth.

[toby]

Couldn't be helped this year, but I'm reminded that I said previously I'd never fly out early morning the day after conference. I am on waaaay to little sleep to put up with hours of airport delays! Just stay an extra day! 

Yeah, I did that last year (5:55am Sunday flight) and swore I'd never do that again.

Very nice meeting y'all!
It may take a couple days to recover.
Some impressions:
1) seminars seemed generally less scientific and more basic this year.  Did anyone else feel this way?
2) Need to make sure there's enough light the next time the Reception and Club Night are outside.
3) I love San Diego and even though it is pretty old, I love the Town and Country, too.
4) The conference app was great.

1) Depended.  I would definitely like to see some more visual seminars (like a yeast management seminar with actual pictures or video of the process).  The only one I really disliked was Ray Daniels Hands-on Activities seminar.  He spent almost half the seminar on introductory talk when I was expecting either actual activities or at least some ideas for activities.

[S. cerevisiae]

Mark - it was very nice meeting you. And thanks for passing along your yeast knowledge. Seriously - write a book someday. I will buy it!

It was nice meeting you and everyone from the forum. 

As much as I would like to have at least one major publication to my name before I join the land of the permanently horizontal, I fear that I may be too introverted for the kind of attention that an author has to endure.  Plus, how does one top "Yeast?"

[yso191]

Mark - it was very nice meeting you. And thanks for passing along your yeast knowledge. Seriously - write a book someday. I will buy it!

  Plus, how does one top "Yeast?"

Well that is easy.  Write one that is a fraction of the size.  Just focus on quick how's and whys. 

The Yeast book is intimidating and has way too much peripheral info for the guy who just wants to make good beer.  I'll bet a book like that would outsell Yeast. 

[yso191]

I'll chime in on my impressions of NHC too.

1. My biggest impression was how well organized it was.  That takes a lot of thinking and work.
2. San Diego was a great place for it.
3. As mentioned above, having essentially the whole place was great.
4. The best part of the motel was all the flowers, plants, etc.,
5. The worst part of the motel was maintenance.  My wife and I seriously discussed moving to another motel.  The bed was total crap.
6. I too thought the seminars were too basic.  Some I learned nothing, most I learned one to two factoids
7. This was my first NHC.  Everything was very clear as to what was going on except for the final night Social Club.  That sounded awful to me.  I almost didn't go.  If I had known that they would be serving the competition beers I would have taken it easier at dinner (which by the ways was surprisingly excellent).  I ended up quite plowed because the beers served at the Social Club were freakin awesome!  Seriously the best beer of the week.

In sum, if future NHCs are in driving distance I'll definitely go, but maybe not otherwise.  It was very nice meeting forum members though.