These photos were taken Saturday evening at Four Points by Sheraton at LAX, where about 150 members, along with their significant others, gathered to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Maltose Falcons Homebrew Club. Established in 1974, The Maltose Falcons are America’s oldest homebrew club.

The event featured a dinner, with Hors d’oeuvres and cake, a couple videos recalling The Falcons history, a panel discussing the days of lore, a silent auction, and live music provided by the Maltose Falcons Band. Oh, and beer. There was lots of beer.

Several weeks ago I told a friend that I would be photographing the Maltose Falcons anniversary party, and was immediately met with, “You mean Maltese Falcons?” Obviously I did not mean Maltese, but there is a little to the name that I discovered with a little research, and asking a few questions.

First off, Maltose Falcons is definitely a play on the 1941 movie, The Maltese Falcon starring Humphrey Bogart. This is evidenced by the use of “Bogart” when naming some of their home brews. I was sure there had to be more to it than a similar name, and sure enough. Maltose is also known as maltobiose or malt sugar; in other words it is a product used in the brewing process; I am guessing primarily in Belgian beers. I could be wrong, but I think I got it.

Being a 50 year old homebrew club is pretty impressive in of itself, but when you look at their pedigree which includes such members as Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada Brewing, and Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing, you have to be a little impressed.

As I mentioned above, there was a panel that spoke about the early days of The Falcons which was pretty entertaining. The panel consisted of Jerry Macala, Gerry Stoker, Maribeth Raines, and Marty Velas, with Drew Beechum acting as the moderator.

The group photos on page seven include the past and new members of The Maltose Falcons Board, and my attempt at getting 150 people into one photos. Yes, I apparently need a new flash unit and Christmas is coming up, so if you are so inclined, please and thank you in advance.

I have to say, this was a fun event, a style of event I haven’t photographed in a while but hopefully it came across okay. Congratulations to The Maltose Falcons on 50 years, you kind of set the bar for the other homebrew clubs around the country.

If you are a home brewer, you should probably consider at least visiting some of your local homebrew clubs. The Maltose Falcons are always looking for new members, and it appears they have lots of events going on regularly, so check them out.

In the meantime, judge beer not people and cheers!

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