Chapter 1 - Host & Toast is born
Back in May, the Airbnb family of homebrewers decided to do a test homebrew batch using our in-house kitchen space. The result was Host & Toast, a club for beer enthusiasts to share, learn, and create beer-centered experiences together. In less than a year, we've some brewing, some designs, some tap takeovers, had some guests, and launched a trip on the new platform! See our journey below.
Our inaugural beer, dubbed the Maiden Voyage IPA, was a partial mash of classic American hops: Chinook, Summit, Cascade, and Zythos with a healthy dose of of dry hopping. Our small band of enthusiasts concocted this on a Friday night while the kitchen staff fixed up some leftover lasagna for us - a first night of many more to come.
Chapter 2 - Flagships and Lineup
Labels showcasing the first round of experiemental beers and our kitchen rotating taps (the French Revolution being my own inspired recipe tapped during Bastile Day). Launch tastings, brewery events, company-wide announcements, happy hour giveaways, were only some of the many events we hosted in the past few months.
Maiden Voyage is ready for the world. - Trishula Oswald, Director of Inebriation at Airbnb
This couldn't have been possible without our Airbnb colleagues who helped design, market, coordinate, and volunteer to make this successful. Collaboration has always been a core element in the initiatives that spawn from this incredible company.
Chapter 3 - Partners Join the Fray
We've been lucky to have amazing partners along the way. One of our inaugural events was with Rogue Brewery (Portland, OR) who came out to showcase a few of their beer lineups and educate folks about the agriculture of hops, barley, and other strange vegetables/ fruits they utilize in their adventurous offerings.
There's a lot more to come from classes, workshops, brewery tours, and even *spoiler alert* our own Airbnb-inspired commercial beer, courtesy to our friends at Barebottle Brewing.
Chapter 4 - The Homebrewer - A Local Experience
Alas, my very own adventure. This is a side project I've been working on for the past year in conjunction with the official launch of Airbnb Trips. Feel free to read more about Trips on TechCrunch or.NYTimes.
In summary, my Homebrewer experience will allow guests to spend time brewing their own batch of beers, learn more about commercial-scale brewing, beer tasting/ evaluating, and end with an incredibly pop-up dinner with beer pairings. Can't wait for this to get started!
