The (BA) is the trade association of craft brewers in the United States. It was formed in 2005 by the merger of the Association of Brewers (AOB), which originated in 1983 in Boulder, Colorado (where the BA is still headquartered), and the Brewers Association of America, a grouping of regional brewers that started during World War II to ensure that small brewers got their fair share of war-rationed raw materials like grain and tin. The BA brought together the brewers of America’s craft brewing revolution and the heritage brewers who had weathered the consolidation of America’s brewing industry after Prohibition. See prohibition. From its inception and as of 2011, the president of the BA is Charlie Papazian, founder of the AOB and author of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. See papazian, charles. The BA, a not-for-profit organization, is governed by a 15-member board that in 2010 included 9 packaging brewers, 4 pub brewers, and 2 homebrewers. The board members are elected by their respective memberships. As of 2010, the BA membership includes 452 packaging breweries, 655 brewpubs, 261 allied trade members, 161 wholesaler members, and 17,113 homebrewer members; membership is international. The homebrewers are all members of the American Homebrewers Association, a division of the BA. In addition to its professional division and homebrewing division, the BA represents craft brewers in the national political arena and runs the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, the annual Craft Brewers Convention, and the World Beer Cup competition. See great american beer festival. It also runs other special events and publishes statistics, magazines, and books, while acting as a central source on beer-related topics for the national press. The mission statement of the BA is “to promote and protect small and independent American brewers, their craft beers and the community of brewing enthusiasts.”
