Greetings once again from Indianapolis! If summer brings breweriana conventions, then with fall arrives a host of great shows. Along with attending our annual Convention in Cincinnati, I made a pilgrimage to Albuquerque for the BCCA CANvention. Congratulations to Paula Fatura, the new BCCA president. I am now looking forward to some of the Midwest chapter shows to take in the fall foliage and raise a glass with many of my fellow NABA members.

Regarding our own Convention…it was truly one for the ages in one of the most classic American beer towns, Cincinnati. We surpassed our record attendance in Madison last year and there were so many highlights – just read Tim Holian’s fine recap of the event in this issue.

NABA Notes: • The Convention’s annual Friday night banquet was packed with great announcements, including records set by NABA. Through much personal effort and donated time, the board and membership committee volunteers have grown our club by an amazing +225 members in just two years – that’s more than 33%. Our count is 900+ members with a goal of 1000 by year-end 2020. We have also added 8 chapters nationwide over the past year, and want to welcome 3 additional chapters since my last letter: Simon Pure and 12 Horse chapters from western NY; and the Cornhuskers of NE. NABA recognizes that the local chapters are the lifeblood of our hobby and we are happy to support them in any way: We warmly welcome you all to the NABA fold.

• Banquet guests heard of the official renaming of our coveted Founder’s Award after Herb Haydock and it was awarded to the very deserving John Stanley, our irreplaceable executive secretary. And our number two recipient of the Bob Kay Writer’s Award was, very appropriately, Larry Moter, who has authored two fine contributions to this issue.
• At the Convention, new Board member Joe Gula from Indianapolis was formally elected to fill outgoing Board member Kent Newton’s seat.

• Our magazine’s quality speaks for itself and we are very thankful for the efforts of Lee Chichester, Ken Quaas, and all the volunteer member writers who bring this outstanding publication to you. A hearty welcome to first-time writer Greg Theberge, who shares his truly amazing collection of Narragansett breweriana in this issue.
• Finally, our Convention T-shirts were a huge hit and sold out. Designed by Barry Travis and Beer Dave, we are producing a second batch by popular demand. Please email me at Fergkate@ comcast.net or order online at https://nababrew.com/naba-store/as soon as possible if you’d like to order one.

A Debt of Gratitude: I want to sincerely thank Beer Dave Gausepohl for a spectacular job as Convention chair, and the team of Scott Bristol, Dave Reed, Tom Waller, and Carey Williams, who helped pull everything at the 2019 Cincy Convention together.

2020: Pittsburgh is where NABA heads next for our annual gathering. Mike Michalik and Chris Watt have already done an amazing job putting together some very special activities for this event—you’ll be hearing much more as the year unfolds. Many thanks to Iron City and the Pittsburgh Brewing Co. for signing on as our official beer sponsor. Please make your reservations early—this one will be another record-breaker as our East Coast membership has soared!

2021 is a special year for NABA, as it will be our 50th Anniversary. We are now forming an Anniversary Committee to help plan and organize this once-in-a-lifetime celebration, and we are exploring the Milwaukee area for the gathering. Please let me know if you are interested in helping— we’d love to have you. It is an exciting time to be a NABA member! Happy collecting,

John Ferguson, President

Fergkate@comcast.net