Competition Corner – July 2010
The summer months are here and if you’ve planned ahead, you have your cool weather ales in the cellar and your lagers in the fridge. Perhaps you even have a wheat beer or a Belgian style in the fermenter. Well, get them ready, because a couple of competitions are upon us.
First up is the next club-only competition; this time for meads, BJCP Category 24, 25 and 26. We will judge these at the club meeting on Thursday, July 15th. If you have any one of these three bring three 12 oz. bottles to the meeting and make sure you let Carl know they are here. If possible, please also fill out an entry form, which you can download from http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/0326/entry_recipe.pdf. The club picks up the entry fee, so it is free to you. If your entry is selected, we’ll ship off the two remaining bottles to the national judging site. If you lose, you can take back the two extra bottles. Or if you prefer, you can pop them open to console your losses.
Entries for the Los Angeles County Fair are due at the Culver City Homebrew Supply Co on Saturday, July 17th. The folks at the Fair prefer it if you send the entry forms and fees to the following address, but should get there no later than Friday, July 16th:
L.A. County Fair
Attn: Home-Brew Competition
1101 W. McKinley Ave.
Pomona, CA 91768
If you are not sure you sent your forms on time go ahead and attach them with your entries. This competition uses the Falcons’ style guide. Entry forms can be downloaded here: http://www.lacountyfair.com/2010/entertainment/documents/LACF_2010_Beer_Bookrev1forweb.pdf
Looking ahead to August, we have another COC. The theme for this is Sour Beers, BJCP category 17, including American Wild Ales and Specialty Wild Ales. Judging for this event is still TBD. Then in September is the 14th Annual Pacific Brewers Cup, which is run by Long Beach Homebrewers this year.
On the award announcement side of things, major congratulations go to Heath Haynes, whose Kölsch took a blue ribbon at the AHA National Homebrew Competition Finals. Heath pulled off an accomplishment not equaled since Harrison Gibbs took a first place with his Hazmat Lambic, back at the 2001 finals. With this win, including a first place in the first round, Heath captures six points the Brewer of the Year Award and has vaulted into second place. Tied with him is James Bardeen, who took 2 first place ribbons in the regional competition. Chris Simental kept up the good work with 2 second place ribbons as did Jeff Koehler who had a second of his own. Combined with earlier wins, Jeff’s ribbon puts him in the Brewer of the Year lead with 7 points.
Get those brewkettles going and don’t stop until the 2010 Brewer of the Year has been announced. If you need still more competitions, you can find the whole list at http://www.bjcp.org/apps/comp_schedule/competition_schedule.php.
2010 Competition Schedule
July 15th COC – Meads, BJCP Cat #24-26
July 16th Los Angeles County Fair
August COC – Sour Ales, BJCP Cat #17
September Pacific Brewers Cup
October 9th California State Homebrew Competition – Must be packaged for shipping
October Queen of Beer (open to ladies only) NOTE: Based on the recent Brewer of the Year vote, this will NOT be counted toward the point tally.)
October COC – Strong Ales, BJCP Cat #19
December COC – English Pale Ales, BJCP Cat #8
