Friday, January 20, 2006

 

Upper Mississippi Mash-Out, Day 1

Judging was held at the Klub Haus, a private banquet hall a few blocks north of the capitol building in St. Paul, MN. One nice feature about this venue that I haven't seen at other competitions is a separate room downstairs—so general chit-chat, war stories, etc. don't distract the judges.

Judges (and stewards, I think) received a commemorative pint glass printed with the logo for this year's event ("Five Years of Pour Decisions") when we signed in. When we turn in our competition evaluation forms, we'll get a 22-oz bottle of last year's Best of Show winner (not left over from last year; brewed for the event).

My first flight was at 1:00 PM, judging specialty ciders. My first entry to judge was a watermelon cider. Fortunately, it went uphill from there. :-)

The second flight, specialty beers, started at 5:00 PM. After judging herb, spice, and vegetable beers at the St. Louis Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition, I swore off of pumpkin spiced ales. However, one entrant here decided to enter a "roasted pumpkin, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger" (yes, twice) ale in the specialty beers category. Looks like I need to start listing this category as one I'd rather not judge....

The third flight (yes, three the first day, and there's more to come the second day) was Scottish lights, Irish reds, and Scotch strong ales. Finally, a category I can get into. :-)

Between flights and during dinner, various homebrews were available on tap; I tasted a very nice Pilsner, but the doppelbock ran out before I could get a sample. After the last flight of the night, the Minnesota Craft Brewers Association hosted a "virtual pub crawl": growlers from five area brewpubs and breweries. Unfortunately, by then I was just about falling asleep on the couch (very comfortable furniture in the waiting room, BTW).

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

 

Barry Fitzgerald wins Honorable Mention

Barry Fitzgerald has received Honorable Mention in Brew Your Own's 10th Annual Label Contest for his artwork for "Speaking in Tongues Tripple". Barry tells me that this makes 10 years running that he's placed in the finalists. His label, as well as the other winners, can be viewed at http://www.byo.com/feature/1338.html.

Congratulations, Barry!

Thursday, June 16, 2005

 

Too many blogs

If you thought you saw another entry from me here, it's because I have too many #!$@#$ blogs in blogger and it was supposed to go in another place.

rob

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

 

Andy Booth wins Silver

Andy Booth's Weizenbock won praise at the 9th Annual Brewer's East End Revival (B.E.E.R.) Homebrew Competition in New York in May. It placed second out of 8 beers in the German Wheat and Rye category.

Congratulations, Andy!

 

Shane Lynn wins Best of Show

Shane Lynn's lemongrass rye took Best of Show at the Beers of Summer competition in Appleton, WI. His prize is the chance to brew a batch at the Stone Cellar Brewery in Appleton.

Congratulations, Shane!