About The Home Wine & Beer Trade Association

The Home Wine & Beer Trade Association's (HWBTA) first organizational conference was April 23-25, 1976 at the Arlington Park Hilton, Chicago, Il.

At that time Norman Gibat and Kathleen Howard were publishing their Beverage Communicator. They sensed the industry was young but if it was to grow there was a need for communication and direction. They contacted everyone they knew in the trade and invited them to attend.

That very weekend, we met, drafted by-laws and elected our first slate of officers in the span of three days and never looked back. C. J. J. Berry was present and said it was the most impressive meeting he had ever attended. We had accomplished in one weekend what our British counterparts had spent two years arguing over.

The HWBTA's original name was Home Beverage Retailers of North America. The following year the name on the program read Home Wine Merchants Association. At the 1978 conference in Oakland, CA. it was offfically changed and the 1979 conference program read Home Wine and Beer Trade Association.

Of all the names of attendees at the first conference, the following are the only ones still active: Charles Martin, Ed & Joan Basham, Pat Baker and Des Lundy.

The association is a non-profit, informational and educational association whose purpose is to promote, develop and encourage the responsible growth and expansion of home brewing, home wine making and associated trades. The HWBTA also acts as an advocate to deal with government agencies concerning brewing laws.  See our By-Laws.

Since 1976, the association has expanded to a total membership of 434 retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, British West Indies, Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Scotland, Sweden, Italy and Australia.

The association hosts a yearly conference so that members may share ideas, learn new techniques and examine new products.