Cultivating an Equitable Homebrew Culture through Competitions and Events

Join trailblazers from both the homebrew community and craft beer industry in a conversation on why tapping into underrepresented communities is vital for the longevity of your homebrew club and competitions. This panel includes an exploration of real-life experiences and strategies that have propagated a diverse evolution of homebrewing communities.

Learning Objectives

• Learn how to create and maintain welcoming communities for all, through homebrew competitions and events
• Discuss how competitions serve as an opportunity for education, skills development, personal growth, and advancement of brewing techniques
• Cultivate opportunities to “bridge the gap” for female-identifying and marginalized individuals in the fermentation industry through homebrewing

About the Speakers

Annie Johnson is a well-known research and development brewer with extensive experience in the food and beverage and consumer goods industries, and as a software development and information technologies (IT) specialist in state government.

Elizabeth “Beth” Zangari is a long time homebrewer, and co-founder of the first women’s only homebrew competition, The Queen of Beer. She is also a Grand Master II in the Beer Judge Certification Program, and a member of the Pink Boots Society, Sacramento Chapter. Beth lives in Placerville, California with her spouse of 35 years, and many cats.

Debbie Cerda was introduced to homebrewing over thirty years ago. She’s an award-winning homebrewer, having competed and judged in several local and regional competitions in the Lone Star Circuit, as well as the Queen of Beer competition and the Texas Craft Brewers Guild’s Texas Beer Cup. She championed for an American Homebrewers Association (AHA) regional judging site in Texas over a decade, helping fellow club members to launch the inaugural Austin site in 2014. She was also the organizer of the 2017 Austin Homebrew Festival to celebrate the best of Austin’s homebrewed beers, meads, ciders, and kombuchas.

Kim Prezbindowski is the President of Southern Nevada Ale Fermenters Union (SNAFU), a homebrew club based in the Las Vegas area. A year after relocating from Hawaii to Henderson, Nevada in 2014, she and her husband discovered SNAFU. She goes by Aloha Kim since she’s from Hawaii. Shortly after joining SNAFU, Aloha Kim became the club’s competition coordinator. She remained the competition coordinator for four years, building relationships with other homebrewers, as well as breweries.

Sylvie Van Zandycke studied biochemical engineering and fermentation in Belgium and completed her degree in 1996. She then obtained her Ph.D. in Saccharomyces cerevisiae in 2000 from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom and stayed for a four-year postdoc. In 2004 she accepted a post with Lallemand and moved to Montreal, Canada as a project manager for their genetic identification laboratory. In 2007 she moved to the U.S. and became the Technical Sales Manager for Lallemand Brewing looking after dry yeast and nutrition products on a global basis. At the end of 2011, she joined DSM Food Specialties, focusing on brewing enzymes for the next five years.

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Wellness & Inclusion Resources

Together with the Brewers Association, the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) provides resources to encourage mental well-being and foster Diversity, Equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the homebrewing community.

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