Competition Corner – February, 2013
The entry window for the AHA Nationals opens at NOON (PST) on Tuesday February 26th this year. I point out the exact time, because last year, the entire competition was filled with entries after about 36 hours. Many worthy entrants got shut out last year by the sudden surge in the registration rate. So make sure you are ready to jump on-line when the window opens.
There are a couple of significant changed to the rules this year. Most notably is that TWO bottles are needed for each entry. Another is that they have raised the entry fee to $12 for AHA members and $17 for non-members. Details of the competition can be found here:
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/competitions/national-homebrew-competition/competition-information
The on-line link for registration will appear magically once registration is open, so please check back on the homebrewersassociation website. (I’ll try to update this blog entry with the link, but please don’t wait for me!)
You can drop off the physical entries at the Culver City shop assuming they are going to San Diego, by March 18th. If you are entering bottles to any other location (which several people did last year), you must ship them off yourself. You can select any regional site you want, so if San Diego is full, go ahead and enter wherever space is available.
Coming up in April are two more events. First up is the annual Mayfaire competition hosted by the Maltose Falcons. On line registration will be available March 30th and your entries must be received no later than April 18th. Also sign up for judging on Sat, April 27th. Details can be found at http://maltosefalcons.com/comps/2013mayfaire . This competition uses the Maltose Falcons guidelines, so check the style listings before entering. We might also do a preliminary judging round on the westside, so check back here for details.
Also coming up in April is the next Club-only competition. The April selection is all extract beers. Entries must be brewed with at least 50% extract. All styles are eligible. Bring your entries to the April 18th meeting. Please fill out the entry form here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/0326/entry_recipe.pdf. The club picks up the entry fee for this competition, so there is no cost to you. All entries must have the official rubber band label, which you can down load here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/0325/bottleid.pdf If you can’t make it to the April meeting, drop your beers off at the shop and drop me a line at Competitions@PacificGravity.com.
Looking more into the 2013 schedule, we will stick with the same seven main competitions we had in 2012 as well as the six upcoming COCs. Of these, the three used by Anchor Brewing are the California State Fair, Mayfair and the California State Homebrew Competition. If you have a limited amount of beer to enter, try hitting these three. The winter season is a good time to get those beers going with clean-fermenting cool weather.
Like in past years, we have tried to align the monthly club styles with the COC competitions. An updated schedule can be found at: http://pacificgravity.org/monthly-stylesclub-only-comps/. All styles are welcome at any club meeting. However, the best beer in the listed styles is eligible for the best beer of the evening award, which comes with a $25 gift certificate to Culver City Home Brewing Supply Co. We are also looking for folks to lead the monthly style tasting for the club meetings. If you are interested, drop Dean Sussman a line at Styles@PacificGravity.com.
2013 Brewer of the Year Competition Schedule
February 26th – AHA Nationals (registration opens at NOON) Physical entries due by March 18th.
April 18th – Mayfaire
April 18th – COC Extract Beers(All BJCP Cats)
May 3rd California State Fair
July Los Angeles County Fair
July COC – Porter BJCP, Cat #12
August COC – Style TBD
September Pacific Brewers Cup
September COC – Amber lagers, BJCP Cat 3
October California State Homebrew Competition
October COC– Style TBD
