NABA NEWS
Latest Articles and Information

NABA is collaborating with Pittsburgh's preeminent craft brewer, Dancing Gnome, on a special beer for our 51st Convention. NABA's Creative Director, Barry Travis, designed a label that was based on a Fort Pitt brand from the 1930's & Dancing Gnome's current label. 4-packs of the 16oz cans will be available at the convention.

NABA has created two new membership ads for use in our chapters’ newsletters. One is in standard full-page size and one is a half-page. Please feel free to download them for use in your local chapter newsletter!

NABA Half Page.pdf

NABA Full Page.pdf

Your NABA Board of Directors would like to wish our members and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2021 was a very momentous year for our organization:

• We had record membership growth and now have 1200 members across 44 states, equaling our highest membership levels since the late 1990s. Our Membership Committee has done an outstanding job, with representation from coast to coast.

• We celebrated our 50th Convention in Milwaukee with a record attendance. Our next Convention in Pittsburgh from August 2-6, 2022, already has more total room reservations than Milwaukee finished with, so attendance will shatter the Milwaukee record. And we have some exciting new events, including a Speakeasy featuring classic cocktails and a live jazz pianist, and member John Bain’s famed “The Back Bar” display and contest of lighted back bar signs.

• We produced five consecutive 80-page issues of the Breweriana Collector magazine in celebration of our 50th Convention.

• We introduced a promotional video about our club to help attract new members.

• We formed an exciting partnership with member Chris Moore’s “The Mill”, a multi-function $100-million entertainment complex under construction in Vicksburg, Michigan. This massive facility will include a brewery, distillery and The Cone Top Brewery Museum, with 16,000 square feet devoted to breweriana, which NABA members can help populate and curate with ongoing rotations of their collections. The museum will provide tremendous public exposure for NABA.

• We created a partnership with members Mark Rogers and Peter Bayer to help them build a visual, online database, “Trayman2.0,” that has the mission of providing a record of every beer tray ever produced in the Americas.

• We have continually revamped and updated our own website at www.nababrew.com, thanks to the efforts of our great webmaster, Dan Bora. Check it out and log in as a member to see all that it has to offer – and there’s even more in development that will be exclusive to NABA members.

There is much more in store in 2022 for NABA, and it is all made possible by you, our loyal and generous members. We are grateful for your on-going support for our club, magazine and events, and sincerely wish you a happy and healthy 2022!

Hello Fellow NABA Members:

This is my first column as your newly elected NABA president. It is truly an honor for me to lead this great organization and follow in the footsteps of past presidents and valued friends, John Ferguson, George Baley, Larry Moter, and the late Norm Jay.

It also is an honor to serve with the terrific group of people we have on our NABA Board and Membership Committee. Check out their names on the list of the first page of this magazine. One look at that list and you will see some of the absolute best people in the world of breweriana. They all are really nice people and great hobbyists who are volunteering their time and talents and working hard for NABA and you.

This first column as president is the only time that I will talk about me. Even though I am lucky enough to know hundreds of you, I don’t know you all, and appreciate the opportunity to briefly introduce myself.

I joined NABA at the age of 20 and have been a member for decades. I started collecting as a teenager in the 1970s. A modest beer can collection grew into a fascination with breweriana. This might sound a lot like your story.

I grew up in northern New Jersey, just outside of New York City and lived in Manhattan for many years. I’ve always been fascinated with “The Big Apple.” That’s why I collect New York City breweriana.

When my wife and I became empty nesters after our three children went off to college, I had more time to devote to “the hobby.” I always enjoyed NABA and its magazine, so I felt like I needed to give back. I like to write and I did a lot of it in my career. I have a background in journalism and am an ex-advertising exec. for 20 years, I have had my own marketing research and communications consulting business.

My business career seemed to be a good fit with things I might do for NABA. First, I got involved writing for this magazine. Then I became a Board member. This led to becoming vice president and when Lee Chichester retired, I also assumed the role of editorial director of the magazine. Now I’m president. And this all happened in the span of 7 years.

I tell you this story because you can have a similar story, or you can write your own chapter with NABA. We encourage member participation and welcome your help. I may be president, but it takes dozens of people to run NABA, this magazine, our projects, and our conventions.

The volunteerism in our organization is tremendous, but we still need you. As you’ll read in these pages, we have a dynamic organization with many ground breaking projects and partnerships in the works. My dad always said, “Many hands make light work,” and that has become a credo of mine.

There were many hands—more than 100 pair, actually—that contributed to the creation of this issue of the magazine. Many hands are the reason that NABA has grown its membership by +77% in the past five years. Many hands are why NABA has been able to increase the size of this magazine from 48 to 64 pages during recent years and for the past five issues, even produced “bonus-sized” 80-page issues. Many hands are what made our 50th convention in Milwaukee this summer a spectacular event, attended by more people—by far—than any previous NABA convention.

The more I have gotten involved with NABA, the more rewarding it has been for me. That sounds like a cliché, but it is true. The rich friendships and quality mentoring that have come through my involvement with NABA never ceases to amaze me.

Thank you for being a member of NABA. I hope that you will think about becoming one of the “many hands” that help guide NABA into the future.

If you have a story idea for this magazine, we make producing it easy. If you have an interest in helping NABA in any capacity, please contact me at ken@consumertruth.com. I know you will be glad you did.

Happy collecting!

  Ken@consumertruth.com

Those of you who were at the convention in Milwaukee saw camera crews wandering the halls and some of you participated in video interviews. The NABA Board of Directors wanted to make a video celebrating NABA, its 50^th convention and a new and dynamic partnership with the Mill / Cone Top Museum. The video would be for both the enjoyment of you, our members, and also for use as a recruiting tool for our rapidly-growing organization.

The resulting video production  (see video link below) was completely and incredibly generously underwritten by NABA member Chris Moore, who is the man behind “The Mill” project in Vicksburg, Michigan (near Kalamazoo). He is transforming an old, abandoned paper mill into a major entertainment complex featuring a hotel, restaurants, a music venue, a brewery, a distillery, and more.  

Importantly for NABA, as we announced at the convention in Milwaukee, it will include the Cone Top Breweriana Museum. This museum is in partnership with NABA and will showcase Chris Moore’s outstanding and extensive collection, in addition to providing NABA members with an opportunity to put on displays of their own on a rotating basis. And what’s more, because Chris is the developer and owner of this complex, there will be no expenditure required of NABA to fund the museum.

The partnership with The Mill / Cone Top Museum presents an amazing new chapter for NABA and one that we are certain will accelerate the growth and vitality of our venerable organization. As he mentions in the video, Chris hopes to see the Cone Top Museum become “NABA’s front door.”  We are very excited to have the museum provide that kind of presence, visibility and opportunity for our organization!

Please stay tuned for more news in the Breweriana Collector magazine as this exciting new partnership evolves.

Your NABA Board of Directors

After seven years of service as NABA president, John Ferguson (Indianapolis, IN) is retiring. At the conclu-sion of NABA’s 50th Anniversary convention (July 28-31) in Milwaukee, current vice president Ken Quaas (Las Vegas, NV) will succeed John as president. Ken has been leading NABA’s membership growth efforts and is the Editorial Director of the Breweriana Collector magazine, NABA’s most important asset to its members.

Mike Michalik (Frederick, MD) will take over the Vice President’s role. Mike also has been integral to the huge membership increases NABA has experienced in the past few years and oversees NABA’s convention efforts. NABA’s long-time Treasurer, Jim Kaiser (Washington, MI), will remain in that role but will be assist-ed by one of the Board of Directors, Joe Gula (Indianapolis, IN), who also is this year’s Convention Chair.

Lisa Allen (Thomasville, PA) has been unanimously nominated to the Board. She brings great enthusiasm as both leader of our Membership Committee and in directing NABA’s revamped convention auction this year, our first in partnership with Morean Auctions.

Goals accomplished!

During John Ferguson’s presidency, NABA has accomplished or exceeded the annual goals set forth by the Board of Directors. These include:

Growing membership by more than 60% in the past 5 years.

Increasing the number of local chapter affiliates from 22 to 47 in the same time span.

Improving and expanding the Breweriana Collector magazine from 48 to 64 pages (and four consecutive 80-pagers to celebrate our 50th)!

Revamping the website and adding a tremendous amount of current and historical content to make it a true asset to the membership. This could not have been accomplished without NABA’s outstanding webmaster, Dan Bora (Chesterfield, MI).

Three consecutive conventions of record-setting attendance (including the 50th in Milwaukee this year).

NABA also has retained many members for 20+ years

NABA continues to experience tremendous growth not only in the Midwest, but also the Northeast and West. The goals of the club are to continue to support and build the breweriana collecting hobby, especially at the local chapter level.

The 2022 Convention will be held from Aug 3-7 in Pittsburgh. If you are not already a NABA member, we would love to have you join!
Click Here to find out how.

NABA proudly announces our newest local chapter partnership, joining with the A-1 Chapter of Arizona, our 46th chapter. Welcome to the A-1 Chapter!

NABA proudly announces our newest local chapter partnership, joining with the Big Sky Chapter of Montana. There are many great collectors in that beautiful neck of the woods. A big welcome to Big Sky as NABA's 45th chapter!

The challenging year of 2020 is finally over, and we have a new, and I am hoping, brighter year ahead. Many of us have missed the good times and camaraderie that come with seeing each other and sharing stories at our “beer show” gatherings. Happily, there were a few outdoor events that were safely held this Fall. It is my strong hope that we will be able to resume a more normal schedule, and, importantly, hold our NABA 50th Convention in Milwaukee, from July 28th-31st!

NABA Bats 1000

Now for some good news about 2020. We reached our membership goal by exceeding 1000 members! This is truly a revitalized organization with a talented and energetic Board of Directors who are focused on accomplishment. For perspective, we are now back at the membership levels we hit during our “heyday” 20+ years ago and have increased by +48% in the past 5 years.

The Handsome Waiter in the Heartland is joined by a host of breweriana collectors at the IBC Chapter show in Indianapolis, IN on October 31, 2020. From left: Jim TenEyck, Greg Gerke, Todd Morton, Don Hardy (BCCA VP), Beer Dave Gausepohl, Clayton Emery, Rick Natter, NABA and IBC Chapter President John Ferguson, Carey Williams, and Doug Groth.

This Magazine

There is no doubt that a big part of our club’s vitality is this magazine, where our members can contribute. And I am happy to say that you have been, in droves. In the Fall, we did a special 80-page issue, up from our usual 64-page publication, which itself had been increased from 48 pages as of Spring, 2019. Your tremendous contributions to this Winter issue quite literally forced us to make the investment to again extend this issue to 80 pages.

Amazingly once again, more than 100 members were involved in creating this issue and the interest and enthusiasm for this publication continues to grow. As usual, we have first-time authors, like Rusty Long, Ken Jones, Ben Kadow, and Allen Kirgan, as well as many members who have contributed again and again. Got an idea for an article? Just reach out to our Editorial Director, Ken Quaas, at Ken@consumertruth.com. We make the whole process easy!

NABA 2021 Convention

The 2021 Convention marks our 50th, and we will be celebrating where it all began — in Milwaukee. Our meeting will be at the recently renovated Ingleside Hotel in Pewaukee/ Waukesha, which has an ideal set-up and where we successfully held two prior conventions (1996 and 2004). We sent out an email blast to the membership in the Fall about registering for the convention and the response has been terrific. Eighty percent of the rooms we reserved are already taken and we are requesting more as we expect a sellout. Please see the info on page 55 and make your reservations today. This 50th Convention is truly an event you won’t want to miss, so mark your calendars now for July 28th-31st.

Local chapters

Our 44 chapters—and we will be adding more in 2021—are the vitality of this organization and our hobby. I realize this, being very involved in the IBC Chapter here in Indiana. NABA’s aim is to support our chapters wherever and whenever we can. We will list your shows in the events page of this magazine, promote them on our highly active Facebook page, and feature you on our revamped website—all at no cost. Please reach out to me or our Chapter Liaison, Darla Long at bluffcitybrews9@gmail.com when we can help your chapter.

I hope you stay in good health, and to once again see you at a show in 2021.

Cheers!

Fergkate@comcast.net

The Handsome Waiter out West, at the Western Regional Show in Oakland, CA on November 14, 2020. Pictured, safely masked are from left, NABA Board Member Mike Michalik, NABA Vice President Ken Quaas, and NABA members Keith Kerschner (BCCA Presi ent), Charlie Smith, and Ken Harootunian, who did a tremendous job organizing the show’s events.