First a little history, starting back in early 1996 a few homebrewers were sitting around a campfire with a vision to start up a homebrewing competition, locally, where the brewers from the area could come and spend a day sampling the various varieties and flavors of  hand crafted beverages. Founders Steve Ainsworth, then owner of Fermentation Station in Meredith (still with the Jamboree), Dave Page of Ashland’s Brewer’s Market, and brewers Steve Devoid and Dave Herlicka then toasted to start putting together this event. It was first held at Davidson’s Countryside Campground in New Hampton, NH with great success. The event had been deemed to be non-profit, with all monies collected to go back into a ‘kitty’ to help make future jamborees more successful. Then named “The New Hampshire Homebrewer’s Jamboree”, it grew in size after a few years, and had to be relocated to the Branch Brook Campground in Campton, NH. where it remained for quite a few years.

Time went on and the Jamboree grew even more. Eventually the organizers had enough money to start buying medals for the winners and trinkets for the kids for prizes. Sack races, kids games and a horseshoe tournament were also added. They were able to build makeshift tents for the sampling of the competition entries. The campground was gracious enough to lend us spare picnic tables to sit on under the tent. The event organizers thought since the event was growing more and more successful that they would able to start sharing some of the proceeds with a charity, and chose the “Make a Wish Foundation on New Hampshire to donate to (which still benefits from the Jamboree’s success today). In 2006, when celebrating its’ tenth anniversary, and popularity of the event grew the event was renamed “The New England Homebrewer’s Jamboree.

Other brew clubs and organizations started raising an eyebrow to this event. The organizers welcomed them to participate. What originally started with four people sitting around a campfire was turning into a multi-state event, a destination for what the best brewers the New England area had to offer every Saturday after Labor Day. Currently we have at least fifteen brew clubs attending the Jamboree and countless independent homebrewers that come to share their creations with each other. Last year there were over 170 entries in the competition held on site, consisting of beer, wine, cider, mead and other specialty beverages. In 2011, after Hurricane Irene, the event was forced to move to its current spot at the Tamworth Family Campground in Tamworth, NH. This site has allowed the Jamboree to blossom, providing tons more camping and a 60ft covered pavilion for the judging area. We are all looking forward to see where this event goes next. In 2012 several new things were added to the event: a root beer competition for the kids, expanded live music and a Brewers BBQ held on Friday night to give the brewers and chance to get together and catch up over some fine BBQ and even finer beverages.

Brew Clubs sponsoring this event are the Southern Main Homebrewers, the Winnipesaukee Area Brew Crew and the Concord Area Homebrewers. These three clubs work together to organize the event and do all the leg work leading up to the big weekend. While the commitment of these the clubs has helped grow the event it could not be done without the participation of the many New England Clubs that come up every year and share their great wisdom on brewing and of course their great beers. From the Knights of the Mashing Fork out of CT to the members of F.O.A.M and South Shore Brewers from MA to other great New Hampshire clubs like Brew Free or Die and Seacoast Homebrewers, everyone plays a critical role in making this event a success and we thank you.