Competition Corner – January 2020
As a new year dawns upon us, now is the time to brew! We have a bunch of competitions front-loaded this year.
First of all, there is a series of BJCP Mead series of three judging classes starting Wednesday, January 8th, 3 classes Wednesday nights (7PM) lead by John Kaufman of the Maltose Falcons. Classes will be at the Woodland Hills shop. The class will lead up to BJCP Mead judging exam on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. Contact John at [email protected] if you are interested.
Last year, Craig Corley walked away with the coveted Pacific Gravity Homebrewer of the Year award. Who will win this year? Here is a rundown of the competitions eligible for point awards in 2020:
Our first competition of the year First up is America’s Finest City, run by QUAFF in San Diego. Registration is now open at https://quaff.org/AFC-2020/ . Beers need to be dropped-off any time up through January 31, 9:00 PM at AleSmith Brewing Company, 9990 AleSmith Ct, San Diego, CA 92126. If anyone is interested in making the trip to drop off entries, please let me know and the club can reimburse you with gas money.
Next up is first round of the AHA Nationals. You must be an AHA member to enter by January 14th. Then, the AHA will send you instructions on how to apply for entries the week of January 15th through the 22nd. Placement announcements and payment must be made by February 14. Entry drop-off then runs from February 20th through March 5th. Judging will begin on March 13th.
The third competition is the California State Fair. This one has been moving earlier in the season each of the last several years. Registration is already open at http://home.castatefair.beer/. You can drop off entries at South Bay or Eagle Rock shops, but they must be packed for shipping. Local drop-off is February 3 – February7, 2020.
Next up is the Los Angeles Belgian Brew Challenge. As in past years, this is a competition limited to Belgian styles and will be held at Los Angeles Ale Works. Entries will be due in early March, with judging probably on Sunday March 15th. Since this is one of our own competitions, we will need help in planning, bottle organizing and judging.
April will include the Jeff Sanders Memorial Competition, run by Strand Brewers club. This is another limited-style competition focusing on the styles Jeff liked most.
Also in April will be the Maltose Falcons Mayfaire Competition.
Rounding out the competition year are the following:
July – Los Angeles County Fair
September – Pacific Brewers Cup. Pacific Gravity will be running the competition this year.
October – California State Homebrew Competition
Although not part of the Pacific Gravity Homebrewer of the year cycle, here are a couple of additional competitions you might want to enter:
- The Doug King Memorial competition hosted by the Maltose Falcons. Registration is open at https://competitions.maltosefalcons.com/2020DKM/ . The entry deadline is January 17th. You can drop off entries at Eagle Rock, Steinfillers or Woodland Hills. Judging will be at MacLeod Brewery Jan 26th, 9AM, at 14741 Calvert St, Van Nuys, CA.
- The Romancing the Beer Competition, held by the Thousand Oaked Homebrewers. Registration is open now at http://www.romancingthebeer.com/ . Entries are due February 15th, and can be dropped off at the Eagle Rock, Woodland Hills or Steinfillers brewshops. They need judges on Feb 29th, at Tarantula Hills Brewing Company 244 Thousand Oaks Blvd, Thousand Oaks, CA91360.
If you are hard-core competition junkie, there are a bazillion other contests to enter. The AHA has their master list at http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/competitions/aha-bjcp-sanctioned-competition/.
