Siciliano's AHA Big Brew Update: Location Secured

Photo from Wikipedia

By Steve Siciliano

I am pleased to announce that the Calder Plaza in downtown Grand Rapids has been selected as the location for Siciliano’s Market’s first ever sponsorship of an American Homebrewers Association Big Brew. This annual, country-wide event is scheduled for Saturday, May 4th and gives homebrewers the opportunity to gather at registered AHA sites to brew, promote the enriching hobby of homebrewing and join in a simultaneous celebration of National Homebrew Day. With the AHA convention coming to Grand Rapids in 2014, we feel that a huge Big Brew day event at a highly visible, downtown location will be a great way of showing the area, the state and the country that a vibrant homebrewing community exists in West Michigan.

As the sponsor for this event, Siciliano’s Market will be donating and providing the following:

• The ingredients for forty-eight all-grain batches of “Beer City IPA.”
• Bottled water for brewing.
• A chilling station capable of simultaneously chilling six kettles of wort.
• Platform handcarts for moving brewing equipment to and from vehicles and for transporting kettles of hot wort to the chilling station. 

Brewers will be responsible for furnishing their own mash/lauter tuns, propane burners, kettles, fermentation vessels, hydrometers, thermometers, and any other hardware they typically employ.

In the next few weeks we will be posting additional information, both online and at the store, as to how you may sign up to participate in this event either as a brewer or volunteer helper. You do not have to be a Siciliano’s customer or a member of the AHA to participate.