Papazian crafts plan to exit Brewers Association

BOULDER — Charlie Papazian, founder of the Boulder-based Brewers Association, is leaving the nonprofit promoter of small and independent craft brewers this year, the association announced Tuesday.

Papazian, who turned 70 on Jan. 23, has spent 40 years building the craft brewing community and inspiring brewers and beer lovers around the world.

In the 1970s, Papazian set the stage for homebrewing. His expertise and friendly tone assured people that making good beer was possible at home. He stressed his catchphrase of “Relax. Don’t worry. Have a homebrew” in his first book, “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing” and inspired millions to pick up the hobby of homebrewing.

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Papazian, along with Charlie Matzen, formed the American Homebrewers Association in 1978, which later merged with the Brewers’ Association of America to form the Brewers Association. He also started the Great American Beer Festival in 1982.

“We are all here today because of Charlie Papazian,” said Bob Pease, president and chief executive of the Brewers Association, in a prepared statement. “His influence on the homebrewing and craft-brewing community is immeasurable. Who could have predicted that a simple wooden spoon, ingenuity and passion would spawn a community of more than one million homebrewers and 6,000 small and independent U.S. craft breweries.”

Papazian turned the administrative leadership reins of the organization over to Pease in November 2017 and took the title of founder and past president. He has spent the last few months focusing on Brewers Association stewardship, beer-community relations and serving as an ambassador within the brewing community.

Before exiting the association, Papazian will complete several projects, including the creation of an archive of craft-brewing history. The archive will house 40 years of craft-beer history in the form of more than 100,000 publications, photographs, audiotapes, films, videos and documents — including 140 video interviews of the pioneers of American craft brewing — that will be accessible to researchers via the association.

Papazian will deliver the keynote address at the AHA’s 40th annual National Homebrew Conference on June 28 in Portland.

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