Competition Corner – August 2010
Lift up you taster cup and raise a toast to Craig Corley, Best of Show winner for the 2010 Los Angeles County Fair Homebrew competition!. His Saison took top honors. Also honoring the club was Carl Townsend, whose English Porter pulled in the second runner-up best of show. Altogether, ten different Pacific Gravity brewers pulled in 27 awards, nearly half of the total. In the process, we swept no fewer than eight of the categories. The top “broom” goes to Neil Saund, who single-handedly swept both categories 1 and 2, American and European Pale Lagers. Complete results can be found at http://www.maltosefalcons.com/comps/2010-los-angeles-county-fair. Way to go folks!
The next Club-Only competition is upon us. The theme for this is Sour Beers, BJCP category 17, including American Wild Ales and Specialty Wild Ales. Entries for this are due at the Culver City shop by Sunday, August 29th. If you have any one of these three bring three 12 oz. bottles and make sure you let Carl know they are there. 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.
Looking ahead to September is the 14th Annual Pacific Brewers Cup, which is run by Long Beach Homebrewers this year. This is another competition where we need to have a strong showing, both in entries and judging representation. On-line entry is now up and running at http://www.pacificbrewerscup.com/ for both entry registration and judging registration. Entries are due between September 1st and September 12th at the Culver City shop. The entry fee is $6.00 for each entry. Make checks payable to Long Beach Homebrewers. The competition uses the BJCP style guidelines. Judging for the event will be September 25, 2010 at Rock Bottom Brewery, One Pine Ave Long Beach, CA 90802, starting at 9:00 AM. This is right at the southern end of the Blue line for you transit-savvy beer judges.
Factoring in the results of the County Fair shows that we have a tight race for Brewer of the Year. Jeff Koehler has a 1 point lead over last year’s winner Chris Simental. Neil Saund and Craig Corley tie for 3rd and 4th, and both have a 1 point lead over Carl Townsend. Congrats also to Audrey Hill-Lindsey and Timothy Golden, who have both picked up their first ribbons and Bob Henderson, who picked up two from the State Fair. This brings the race up to a total of 16 brewers, and with 2 major competitions still to go it is still not too late to join the race.
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.
2010-11 Competition Schedule
August 29 COC – Sour Ales, BJCP Cat #17
September 12 Pacific Brewers Cup
October 8 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 9 California State Homebrew Competition
October 21 COC – Strong Ales, BJCP Cat #19
January, 2011 COC – English Pale Ales, BJCP Cat #8
March, 2011 COC – Bock BJCP Category #5
April 2011 COC – Wood-Aged Beers, BJCP Cat #22c
Brewer of the Year Point Totals as of 8/22/2010 CORRECTED
| Brewer | Points | Ribbons |
| Jeff Koehler | 16 | 8 |
| Chris Simental | 15 | 9 |
| Neil Saund | 14 | 5 |
| Craig Corley | 14 | 6 |
| Carl Townsend | 13 | 7 |
| Heath Haynes | 6 | 2 |
| James Bardeen | 6 | 2 |
| Larry Caldwell | 5 | 2 |
| Bob Henderson | 4 | 2 |
| Thomas Lee/Andrew Bakofsky | 4 | 2 |
| Josh Jensen | 4 | 2 |
| Nick Springer | 2 | 0 |
| Greg Nylen, Dave Chapman | 2 | 1 |
| Audrey Hill-Lindsey | 1 | 1 |
| Rick Matthew | 1 | 1 |
| Timothy Golden | 1 | 1 |
