Wow, we've done a lot this last month! I'm going to try and squeeze this all into one article, looking back on what's happened, and a heads up on what's coming up.
Breaking News: Club-Only Competition Program Cancelled.
It's with mixed emotion that I share with the club the AHA's recent announcement that with conclusion of the 2012-2013 season, the Club-Only Competitions will discontinue. Citing multiple reasons, and a new direction for club awards, the AHA made this announcement just this last week. Clubs will still be recognized as "Homebrew Club of the Year" by the AHA at the National Homebrewers Conference, however points towards this honor will be solely based on brewers placing in the NHC competitions.
I have been discussing this with the OBC board, been in touch with other clubs, and have opened discussions on the AHA forums soliciting interest in continuing this competition in a new format, however all of this is very new, and we're going to have to see where things go over the summer.
Heart of Cascadia Wrapped Up.
Thank you to everyone who entered and volunteered to make this new little competition such a success. We had 70 entries, with 13 advanced to Best of Show (BOS). BOS judges Danny Connors, John Foyston, and Abram Goldman-Armstrong narrowed it down to two excellent entries, and then selected Daniel LeVievre of Beaverton as the winner. Daniel will be working with Danny Connors of Buckman Brewery to spin up 15bbl that we can enjoy this summer. Congratulations to OBC member Bruce Prior for a great showing as runner-up.
We are still looking for pubs to carry the CDA. Please help your club by talking to your favorite watering holes to see if they'd like to carry a keg of this very special beer. Contact
competition@oregonbrewcrew.org for more details. Release will be in June.
Recent wins:
Congratulations to recent OBC members for placing in the 2013 Oregon Garden Classic:
- Tim Gazdziak: 1st in English Pale, 1st in American Ale, 2nd in Specialty
- Jason Barker: 1st in Amber Hybrid, 1st in Specialty
- Ted Assur: 3rd in IPA
OBC v. BEERS Update:
Although the Eight Seconds of Froth date is May 11, the organizers set aside May 4th as our special IPA judging day. The competition received 40 IPA entries, including 12 from each club. Expect results to be available on the 11th for round 1, the IPA challenge. I wanted to share this little bit with you form the competition organizers:
"Our IPA judging session lineup looks more like a BOS judging round at NHC---all our 4 Wyoming BJCP judges and a few other senior judges from Nebraska and northern Colorado are expected to be at our special IPA judging session tomorrow afternoon--our IPA session already has one G Master, 2 Master, a National, 3 Certified judges, one professional brewer judge and an equal number less experienced/Novice judges."
Keep in mind this brew-off has two rounds. The style for the second round has been selected, and we are looking for OBC members to sign up to brew one of the more challenging styles: Pilsner. Please contact competition@oregonbrewcrew.org or just talk to me at the meeting if you're interested.
Style Competition Program:
Please be sure to bring your IPA to May's meeting for sharing and/or judging. June SCP will be the Weissbier and Wiezen. Now (early May) is a great time to be brewing these, and they are really good summer beers. The Style Competition Program will continue in July with Session Beers (OG < 1.040), extending our theme of great summer quaffs. Remember that if you (like me) haven't yet made a Belgian Strong with the yeast from the April meeting, these need some time to mature, I would get on that (hint hint, self).
When To Brew:
If you're looking for other ideas on what to be brewing, frankly I am, too: The CoC cancellation rather changes things up. We had some great ideas come up at our last board meeting around entering a few different competitions as a club. Ideas included: Entering an Alaskan competition (save on shipping costs by entering all together), entering a particular style competition (e.g., 2013 German Fest Stein Challenge). If you have some ideas you'd like us to consider, please shoot me a note at competition@oregonbrewcrew.org.
2013 OBC Fall Classic:
Last but not least, this year's OBC Fall Classic will be held Saturday, October 26th. I'm still looking at locations to host the event, and welcome your suggestions. More importantly, if you're interested in joining the volunteer team this year, please make sure to get in touch with me: we're starting to work on the event now, and could certainly use a few folks to join in for a few hours a week.
Cheers!
Ted Assur
OBC Competition Chair