Competition Corner – March 2012
Well, I hope you all were quick to respond to the call for entries for the 2012 National Homebrew Competition. On-line registration went live on March 1st and the entire competition was sold out by March 4th! In addition to making good beer, you needed to be quick to win this competition. Assuming you got your beers registered for the San Diego drop-off site, now is the time to get your beers ready. Drop off your entries at the Culver City shop by the Club Meeting on March 15th, and we will hand carry them safely to their destination. Note that if you are registered at any other site, (or you miss the club meeting) you are on your own to ship them off. You only need to send one bottle per entry for the first round. If your beer advances to the finals, you will need to send in three more. Complete details can be found at http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/competitions/national-homebrew-competition.
Looking to next month on the competition scene, the registration site for the Maltose Falcons Mayfaire is now up at: http://www.maltosefalcons.com/comps/2012Mayfaire/ Entries are due at the Culver City shop by Wednesday, April 11th. As an added incentive this year, the Best of Show winner will have their beer brewed by the Ladyface Ale Company and entered in the Great American Beer Festival Pro/Am competition! The style guidelines for this competition will be the 2012 Maltose Falcons Style Guidelines. The Falcons can use a hand with judging this competition, which will be held on April 28th. Sign up for judging at the above web link.
Also coming up in April (date still TBD) is the entry deadline for the California State Fair. Entry info can be found at http://www.calbrewers.com/state.htm. These entries must be packaged for shipment up to the Sacramento area. Or, if anyone is up for a road trip, the club will cover your gasoline if you drive them up for us. Contact Carl at Competitions@PacificGravity.com if you are up for this.
Finally, due at the April meeting is the next club-only competition for Scottish and Irish Red Ales, BJCP category 9. If you have any one of these (or more than one) 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.
Results for America’s Finest City competition have now been released. Congratulations to Chris Simenthal who picked up the gold for his Elusive ESB, and a silver for his October 1st Lager. Kristofor Barnes picked up the gold for one of the longest beer names I’ve ever seen: Aged Dark Belgian Abbey Xmas w/oatmeal, coriander, vanilla, cassia, anise, black pepper, cacao, curaçao, orange blossom Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer. Finally, some bronze awards go to Matt Timmer’s Berliner Weise, and Tim Golden’s Rockpile Stout. With these wins, Chris takes the early lead in the 2012 Pacific Gravity Brewer of the Year award.
Our local winner in the recent club-only contest “Stout it Out Loud!” was Luke McGuir. His oatmeal stout beat out a field of four other entrants. His beer is now in transit to Colorado for the finals judging.
Looking ahead a bit further, the thick part of the competition season is upon us. Get those brew kettles going now for the LA County fair. And, don’t forget Pacific Brewer’s Cup in September and the California Homebrew competition in October.
2012 Brewer of the Year Competition Schedule
March 15th AHA Nationals due at the shop
April 11th Mayfaire
April 19th COC Scottish and Irish Ale, BJCP Cat #9
April (soon) California State Fair
July Los Angeles County Fair
July COC – Porter BJCP, Cat #12
August COC – Light Hybrid BJCP, Cat #6
September Pacific Brewers Cup
October California State Homebrew Competition
October COC– Old Ale BJCP, Cat #19
