As we move through the winter, the spring competition season is right around the corner. That means it is time to fire up the kettles, clean out the bottles, and start thinking about helping out at your local competition. Here are the major competitions coming up in the next couple of months:
AHA Club-Only Competition - Send in your English Brown Ales - Entries Due Feb 16th, Judging Feb 20th
Cascade Brewers Cup - Get ready for the Exbeerience! - Entries Due March 3rd, Judging March 6th
McChord Brewfest - Homebrew Comp and Festival - Entries Due March 16th, Judging March 20th
National Homebrew Competition First Round - Big comp, big chance! - Entries Due April 1st, Judging April 10th
Puget Sound Pro-Am - Get your beer brewed professionally! - Entries Due April 20th, Judging April 24th
Here are some details about these competitions (more details can be found on the competition websites and through the BJCP site - www.bjcp.org).
AHA Club-Only Competition - English Brown Ales
This competition is right around the corner. This is one of the AHA Club-Only competitions held locally by the Alers this year. Basically, each club can send one entry in from the BCJP category 11 (English Mild, Southern and Northern English Brown). These competitions earn points for the AHA Club of the Year (which in turn earns points for the Washington Club of the Year). Tim Hayner is looking for judge to come to Larry's Brewing Supply to help select the winners so contact Tim if you can help on the 20th.
This competition is right around the corner. This is one of the AHA Club-Only competitions held locally by the Alers this year. Basically, each club can send one entry in from the BCJP category 11 (English Mild, Southern and Northern English Brown). These competitions earn points for the AHA Club of the Year (which in turn earns points for the Washington Club of the Year). Tim Hayner is looking for judge to come to Larry's Brewing Supply to help select the winners so contact Tim if you can help on the 20th.
Details:
Comp Website: Click Here
Entries Due: February 16th
Entry Fee: $7
# of bottles: 2
Judging: February 20th, Kent
Contact: Tim Hayner
Cascade Brewers Cup
The Cascade Brewers Cup is one of the longest running competitions in Washington run by the Cascade Brewers Guild. The competition culminates at the "Exbeerience" currently scheduled to be held on March 13th which will be a beer festival held at the Redhook Brewery featuring CBC awards announcments, beers from all over the Sound, local clubs, exhibits/clinics, WAHA 2009 Awards Announcements, and a chance to meet your fellow homebrewers. Details for the event will be posted on the competition website. As with all of these competitions, Mike Brown will be looking for judges on the 6th so get your entries ready and come on down to judge! This is the first 2010 WHOTY point qualifier so start racking up points!
Details:
Comp Website: http://www.cascadebrewersclub.org/
WHOTY Qualifier
Entries Due: March 3rd
Entry Fee: $6
# of bottles: 3
Judging: March 6th, Seattle
Contact: Mike Brown
McChord Brewfest
The McChord Brewfest was the Puget Sound's first covert gateway into a homebrew festival being held on McChord Air Force Base and is now back in as a WHOTY point qualifier. After the judging, competitors and judges are welcome to come to McChord on March 26th for the awards announcement to bring some homebrew to share at a mini-homebrew / craft brew festival. Entries are limited to the categories of American Pale Ale (10A), India Pale Ale (14), Stout (13), Porter (12), and Lagers (1-5). If you are interested in judging or want some more info, please contact Josh Boisvert.
Details:
Comp Website: http://www.mcchordafb.us/brew_fest.html
WHOTY Qualifier
Entries Due: March 16th
Entry Fee: $7 for the first entry, $5 for each additional
# of bottles: 2
Judging: March 20th, McChord AFB
Contact: Josh Boisvert
National Homebrew Competition
Seattle is playing host to the Northwest Regionals of the first round of the National Homebrew Competition. This is the largest beer competition in the world and the Northwest geographically is the largest US region in the competition. Since we are the hosts, we want Washington to bring it strong! In order to advance to the final round of the competition you must place in the top three in the category you are entering. Placing in the second round is one of the top honors that a homebrew can ever attain. So get brewing and bring your A-game beers. Please check the competition website for all of the details and rules.
WE NEED EVERYONE WHO CAN JUDGE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS COMPETITION!!! Seriously here, we will have a ton of entries to judge! If all of our great BJCP judges as well as non-BJCP brewers who know their beer and want to get some more experience judging can show up on April 10th at Pyramid Brewery to help judge, we will be able to process all of these entries quickly and show the AHA that Washington judges are a force to be recognized. This in turn will help us bring the National Homebrewers Conference to Seattle in the future. Lunch will be provided, we'll have a raffle, and we are working on "after-judging" plans. We are expecting out of state/area judges to come in as well so if you need a place to stay or are willing to offer someone a place to crash, please contact Tim Hayner (please contact Tim as well if you are interested in judging and stewarding). This is a great chance to get exposed to some fantastic beers and judges from around the region.
WE NEED EVERYONE WHO CAN JUDGE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS COMPETITION!!! Seriously here, we will have a ton of entries to judge! If all of our great BJCP judges as well as non-BJCP brewers who know their beer and want to get some more experience judging can show up on April 10th at Pyramid Brewery to help judge, we will be able to process all of these entries quickly and show the AHA that Washington judges are a force to be recognized. This in turn will help us bring the National Homebrewers Conference to Seattle in the future. Lunch will be provided, we'll have a raffle, and we are working on "after-judging" plans. We are expecting out of state/area judges to come in as well so if you need a place to stay or are willing to offer someone a place to crash, please contact Tim Hayner (please contact Tim as well if you are interested in judging and stewarding). This is a great chance to get exposed to some fantastic beers and judges from around the region.
Details:
Comp Website: Click Here
Entries Due: April 1st
Entry Fee: $9 for AHA member, $14 for non-members
# of bottles: 1
Judging: April 10th, Seattle
Contact: Tim Hayner
Puget Sound Pro-Am
The last early competition of the year is Washington's largest homebrewing competition, the Puget Sound Pro-Am. This BJCP competition and WHOTY qualifier features up to 15 local breweries who will be coming in to pick homebrew recipes to scale up and brew on their systems. Most of the breweries will be submitting their selected beers to the Great American Beer Festival's Pro-Am competition which we won back in 2008. All throughout the summer you'll see Pro-Am beers popping up throughout the area followed by an AHA Membership Rally where we try to bring in as many of the beers as possible for you to taste before the GABF. Enter for your chance to be one of those brewers! Entries will be due April 20th and anyone interested in judging / stewarding should contact Mark Emiley or register on the website (you get $1 off each of your entries too!)
Details:
Comp Website: http://www.bewbc.org/pro-am
WHOTY Qualifier
Entries Due: April 20th
Entry Fee: $6 per entry
# of bottles: 3
Judging: April 24th, Kent
Contact: Mark Emiley