Sustainable Water Challenge 2014

RESULTS

1st Place Best-of Show $150 prize: Ted Assur - Vox Max Belgian Special Beer

2nd Place $100 prize: Jeremie Landers - Meine Eine German Pilsner

3rd place $100 prize: Mike March - Single Grain Saison

4th place $100 prize: Nick Dahl - Schill Malt Ale Kolsch

Thank you to all who entered and even more thank you to all the judges and volunteers and donors that made this event happen.

Score sheets and money for ingredient reimbursement will go in the mail soon.  Prize money will be awarded once we take possession of your keg of beer.  Watch your email for details on getting your keg to us.  The kegs are being shipped to New Orleans in refrigeration to keep the final product as fresh as possible.

The Oregon Brew Crew was represented very well at the judging event with several media outlets present including OPB, Hillsboro Argus, The Oregonian and others.

A big shout-out to OBC members Bill Schneller, Joel Sherman, and Tim Gazdziak for being our BJCP leaders helping all the newbie judges.  This event ran smoothly due to their efforts, I'm proud to have them in our club. 

Art Larrance also judged and acted as a gracious media darling to the throngs of reporters who flocked to him once they learned who he was.  (Throngs=4)

I will post any media on the event on the OBC Facebook page.

Many of the newbie judges expressed their gratitude in having an opportunity to judge beer in this lower-pressure environment alongside BJCP judges.  This was my plan from the beginning and I think we used club resources to educate our membership wisely.  Thanks again!

Jason Barker

The Clean Water Services (CWS) agency in Washington County is partnering with the OBC for a demonstration of their new sustainable water technology program. The winner(s) beer will be featured at a gala tasting event hosted by the Water Reuse Foundation at the world’s largest water exposition in New Orleans this October 2014. This highly-publicized event will bolster Oregon’s reputation as a brewing nirvana where innovators are solving challenging environmental issues with sustainable business practices.

CWS will provide you with brewing water from their treatment plant in Forest Grove that has been treated to safer-than-drinking-water standards.

Competition Details:

Prizes: Similar to our Collaborator competitions with Widmer, there can be multiple winners based on the quality of the beer deemed by the judges. Each winner will receive a $100 cash prize from CWS once they provide their keg of beer. An additional $50 cash prize goes to the Best-in-Show winner.

What entrants are committing to: You must use the water provided to you. Winners must donate 5 gallons of their winning beer in their own Corny keg to CWS for them to transport to New Orleans. You will get your keg back in the same condition a few weeks later, albeit empty.
How to enter: You must pre-register by emailing Jason Barker. There are only 20 entry spots available.  Each entrant will be reimbursed $20 towards the cost of their ingredients once the competition is complete.

Water: The special water is now available for you to pick up at FH Steinbart.  After you've registered with Jason Barker, get two 5-gallon pails of the water.  This water is ultra-purified so it will benefit from some adjustments on your part to make the best beer.

Here is the water report, figures in parts per million (mg/L)

Sodium: 0.83

Magnesium: 0.016

Calcium: 0.081

Sulfate: N/A

Chloride: N/A

Hardness as Calcium Carbonate: 0.268

I told you this water was pure!

Maximum Entries: There are only 20 entry spots available. Each entrant will enter one beer. We may allow multiple entries per brewer if the 20 slots are not filled quickly.

Deadline: Bottles must be submitted to Main Brew, or FH Steinbart by 5pm Friday, September 5th. This is a short brewing window so plan ahead!

Entry Info: Three (3) glass bottles required. Attach this entry form to each bottle with a rubber band only.  You’ll need to provide your name and contact info, name and style of your beer, the yeast you used, and any water adjustments you made.
Cost to enter: None!

Beer styles accepted: Since this competition is all about the water, we need to show that excellent beer can be made with sustainable water. So we’re looking for lower gravity beers that can only be made with great water. This isn’t a strict BJCP style competition so you have freedom to make what you like. However, as a guideline, the following BJCP styles are examples of what CWS is looking for: Light lager, Pilsner, Light Hybrid, Amber Hybrid, English Pale Ale, American Pale and Amber Ale, IPA (generally not Imperial IPAs), Belgian and French Ale.

Judging: Judging will be by a rag tag group of volunteers and judges from OBC non-entrants. Judging will take place on Saturday, September 6th at ABV Public House in Hillsboro (next to Main Brew). Judges will get free lunch and a beer for their efforts so please volunteer!  The only qualification is that you like to taste beer.  To register as a judge please email Jason.