Competition Corner – February 2016
OK folks, the thick of the competition season is upon us. I hope your finest is ready to go. First up is America’s Finest City competition. Registration is open at http://quaff.org/AFC-2016/. President Lloyd has graciously offered to haul the entries down to San Diego. So you can drop off your entries at the Culver City shop no later than the close of business on Tuesday, February 23rd. To avoid any entry confusion with other upcoming events, put a tag on your six-pack holders or box saying “AFC”. This is a great warm-up event for the AHA Nationals.
Speaking of which, I hope you got your entry registration reminders from AHA for the National Homebrew Competition. The pre-registration deadline has passed, but there could be some last minute slots that open up if any registrations go unfilled. As of this writing, we are still looking for a volunteer to take entries down to San Diego sometime between February 29th and March 9th, 2016. Drop-off is at Ballast Point Home Brew Mart at 5401 Linda Vista Road, Suite 406. The club will pitch in up to $50 for gas money if you can make the trip. Please drop me a line at competitions@PacificGravity.com if you want to volunteer. Please note that if your entries are slated for any of the other regional locations, you are on your own to ship them off. The NHC is looking for judges for the event as well. The San Diego site will be judging on April 8th and 9th.
Close behind the AHA NHC is the second Annual Belgian Brew Challenge. Registration is available at http://belgianbrewchallenge.com/ and will be open through March 12th. Winner of this esteemed competition will have their beer brewed at Monkish Brewing, to be commercially available as “Triumphus”. Make sure you look over the list of styles accepted for this limited-category event. Also note the 150 entry cap for the competition. Sign up now or you might get shut out. Entries can be dropped off at the Culver City shop. Please put a prominent tag saying “LABBC” on the boxes. Judging will be at Neil’s Duplex in Marina Del Rey on Saturday, March 26th. We still need more judges and stewards for the day. Please register at http://comp.belgianbrewchallenge.com/.
We have another early competition you might want to enter, though this one is not part of the Pacific Gravity Brewer of the Year cycle. Stand Brewers Club are hosting the first Jeff Sanders Memorial Homebrew Competition. This is another limited category competition, focusing on eighteen of Jeff’s favorite styles. Check out all the rules and register at http://jeffsandersmemorial.com/bcoem/. Entries are due by noon, February 27th and must be dropped off at the South Bay Brewing Supply 1311 Post Ave, Torrance, CA 90501. Judging will be on March 12th, 8:30 AM at Ryan Penrod’s Garage in Lawndale. Please sign up to judge or steward, so both this competition and LABBC go quickly and smoothly.
Looking ahead, we have Mayfaire entries due in April the California State Fair in May. The whole list is below.
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/.
2016 Pacific Gravity Brewer of the Year Competition Schedule
February 23: America’s Finest City, entries due at Culver City shop
February 29: AHA Nationals entry window starts
March 12: Los Angeles Belgian Beer Challenge entries due at Culver City shop
April: Mayfaire
May: California State Fair
July: Los Angeles County Fair
September : Pacific Brewers Cup
October: California State Homebrew Competition
