Happy New Year!

Here is a quick update on some of the happenings of your club. Please note that we’ll be emailing a survey shortly to get your feedback on the direction of NABA.

• Breweriana Collector magazine: We are excited to be bringing you the 200^th issue of NABA’s magazine, marking 50 years of continuous publication. At 88 pages, it is a bit bigger than our usual 80-page quarterly, and has some great feature articles, including in-depth examinations of the once nationally famous Stroh and Ballantine breweries. More than 100 NABA members contributed to the magazine, which was delivered to the printer on January 10 and should arrive in your mailbox in early February. Why not until February? Our printer is experiencing “back-up” and also is changing over into new production equipment. We are in discussions with them about avoiding these kinds of delays in the future.
• Annual Auction: Our online auction is our most important fundraiser for the club’s increased operating expenses and it enables us to keep dues at just $35/$90 for 3 years. We want to ignore inflation and keep dues unchanged. We are fortunate to have Morean Auctions as our partner for our auction on July 30, 2023. Please consider consigning items you may want to sell that have a minimum value of $250. Please email Auction Chair Matthew Olszewski at Mattski323@gmail.com to arrange your consignments. Matt will be collecting consignments at the Blue & Gray Show at the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport from February 16-19 and the Spring Thaw Show in Harrisburg PA from March 30-April 1.
• 2023 Convention in Chicago, Aug 1-5: We have some amazing plans for what will be yet another record-breaker in attendance. Our host hotel, the Hyatt Regency in Schaumburg, IL, is sold out of rooms at the NABA rate. Because of incredible demand, we sold 40% more room nights than our previous all-time high in Pittsburgh in 2022. Rooms may still be available at the Hyatt Place hotel, which is next door to the Hyatt Regency. NABA does not have a contract with the Hyatt Place, but at last check, a AAA rate of $123 was available. If you’d like to get on the waitlist for the Hyatt Regency, please email Convention Chair Mike Michalik at therunningwaiter@yahoo.com. Please also email Mike if for any reason you must cancel an existing Hyatt Regency reservation, so that we can get in others from our waitlist.
• Convention Brewmaster’s dinner: NABA is proud to announce that this year's Brewmaster's Dinner at the Convention is on Wednesday evening, Aug 2^nd and will be hosted by Marty Nachel, the nationally-known beer expert and author of such books as "Beer for Dummies" and "Homebrewing for Dummies." Marty is also a professional beer judge and The Great American Beer Festival, The Festival of Barrel Aged Beers and The World Beer Cup are among the major competitions that he's judged. Marty has been teaching on the subject of beer for over 30 years.
• Convention Registration Form will be emailed to you as a PDF soon and in a separate communication. Those who register by April 30 will receive a FREE tin-over-cardboard sign commemorating the convention. More to come about this soon!
• Membership Survey is coming to you via email in the next week or so. Your opinions are critical toward determining the direction of the club, so please watch for the survey in your email and complete it right away.
• Membership in NABA continues to grow! We are on the march to 1500 members and have more members now than at any time in our 50+ year history. Importantly, we now have 53 local chapters and counting. Many thanks to Membership Chair Charlie Smith and all of you who serve as ambassadors for our organization!

Happy Collecting!

Your NABA Board of Directors