As the Ides of March approach, it is time to check up on the homebrew competition schedule.    If you have entries for the American Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Competition, here are the submission instructions.

For the San Diego region ONLY, you may drop off your entries at the Culver City shop no later than Friday, March 14th. .  (Note new address:  4234 Sepulveda Blvd, next to Dominoes Pizza.)  Mike Patterson has volunteered to hand-carry them to San Diego.   For any other region, you will need to ship your entries.  The regional addresses can be found here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/competitions/national-homebrew-competition/competition-information/.  All entries must arrive by March 17^th, regardless of site.   Also, if anyone is interested in judging in San Diego, I’ll be driving down for the Friday and Saturday sessions on April 4^th and 5^th.

Results are now out for America’s Finest City homebrew competition, hosted by QUAFF.  Congratulations are in order for Mike Patterson  for Flanders Red (3^rd place) Kingsley Toby and Brian Holter for their Sled Dog Imperial Stout (3^rd place) and Carl Townsend for his Earthquakes are Common (2^nd place).  Full results can be found  at http://www.quaff.org/AFC-2014/.

Looking into April, registration is now open for Mayfaire hosted by the Maltose Falcons.  Entries are eue April 10^th at the Culver City Shop.  On-line registration is up and running at http://www.maltosefalcons.com/comps/2014Mayfaire.  Please sign up to judge and steward too; they will need our help.   Judging will take place on Saturday April 26, 2013 9:00 AM at St Martins in the Fields Church 7136 Winnetka Ave Winnetka CA, 91306 (click for map).

Also due in late April is the California State Fair.  We are looking for a road trip volunteer to deliver these entries, so if you are interested, please contact me at Competitions@PacificGravity.com.

Looking ahead we will be tallying wins in the same set of competitions as last year, though please note the AHA “club-only” series has been discontinued.   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/.

2014 Pacific Gravity Brewer of the Year Competition Schedule

March 14^th:         AHA Nationals entries due at the Culver City shop for San Diego ONLY.
March 17^th:         AHA Nationals entries due by shipping by all other sites.
April 10^th:             Mayfaire entries due at the Culver City shop
April Date TBD   California State Fair
July                        Los Angeles County Fair
September         Pacific Brewers Cup
October               California State Homebrew Competition

Pacific Gravity is holding our Kick-Off meeting for the 2014 Pacific Brewers Cup this Thursday, January 30^th at 7:30 PM.  Although it seems like Pacific Brewers Cup is a long ways off, you’ll hear a lot about it in the upcoming months because this year, we are running it!    The last two years Strand Brewers Club and Long Beach Homebrewers did a bang-up job and have set the bar high.  This is one of the best competitions we have going.

Everybody is welcome to attend.  We will be meeting at Kingsley Toby’s place at 11169 Braddock Ave in Culver City.  We are soliciting help from folks who can help out with the organization.

We need help with several of the key positions, including soliciting sponsorships, steward coordination, publicity, finance and a host of other details.   As we go forward, we will be asking for help in the bottle organizing session, and help day-of with judging, stewarding and clean-up.   And or course, you need to brew and enter!

If you can attend, please RSVP to Kingsley at VicePresident@PacificGravity.com and me at competitions@pacificgravity.com.

Thanks, and hope to see you there.

Carl

Entries are due no later than Friday, October 4^th for the last competition of the brewing year, the California State Homebrew Competition.  Registration is up and running at http://www.nchfinfo.org/state-comp .    This year we need to ship the entries up to the bay area, so all entries must be packed for shipping.  Make sure the boxes you use are free of alcohol labeling so they don’t get rejected by UPS.  And, of course, use plenty of bubble wrap so they don’t break in transit.  Since the Culver City shop is still out of commission, you can drop of entries at my place:  3621 Redwood Ave LA 90066.  Anytime between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM works for me.

Cost is $8.00 per entry and 3 bottles are required.  This is one of the big competitions used to determine the Anchor Club of the Year Award, with the big prize being a banquet dinner at Anchor Brewing for the winning club. Read more →

As July comes to an end and the hangover from the summer party fades from view, we have two more judging opportunities in rapid succession.   We will be holding a small local judging session for the Los Angeles County Fair Homebrew Competition this Wednesday, July 31 at 7:00 PM.  Because the Culver City shop is closing, fellow brewer Steve Cook will be hosting at his residence on 11730 Iowa Ave Apt #6 in Santa Monica. (On the corner of Iowa and Stoner, second floor).  If you can make it drop both Steve and me an e-mail. Steve is at scook4208@msn.com

Also please register for the main County Fair judging session at the Woodland Hills shop on Saturday, August 3rd at 9:00 AM.  Read more →