Brewer’s Cup in the Works

So much work goes on behind the scenes of the Brewer’s Cup. Commercial and homebrew alike, there were a ridiculous amount of entries to process for this event. We happened to snag some photos of the process this year. Good luck to all who entered!

 

UpCup 2013 Revisited

UpCup 2013 was a blast this year. Beer Is My Passion had four entries including an American Barleywine (Kyle Alder), an English IPA Spruce Beer (Michael Mustin), a Wood Aged Old Ale (Erik Howell), and a Southern English Brown (Jenn Myers). Upland really knows how to host an awesome homebrewing event. This is by far my favorite competition of the year. We all enjoyed Upland beer on tap, good conversation with  brewers from around the state, and awesome food catered by Upland. This year’s UpCup winner was homebrewer and beer judge Thomas Wallbank of the Indianapolis Foam Blowers with a Berliner Weisse. He’ll have his name added on the UpCup trophy with the other winners, and he’ll get to keep it until next year’s competition. Second place went to Ron Smith’s Saison, also a Foam Blower and beer judge. I’m very happy to announce that our own Jenn Myers ended up taking third place with her 221b Baker St. Southern English Brown this year 🙂 If you happen to bump into her make sure to congratulate her. We’re all super proud of her!

IMG_0620Here’s Jenn just after they announced she had taken third place.

IMG_0624

Jenn received a free case of any Upland beer of her choice out of Upland’s massive beer cave. Rad Red? Don’t mind if I do 🙂

We all had an awesome time, and as you can see from some of the pictures there may have even been some kung fu fighting in the parking lot 🙂 BIMP later took the party to The Tap for some celebratory brews.

Upland Announces the 2013 UpCup Homebrew Competition

It looks like Upland Brewing has slated June 8th, 2013 as the date for this year’s celebrated homebrew competition. Entries are judged in accordance with BJCP Style Guidelines by certified beer judges. Upland has been very inviting to homebrewers that aspire to be something more. Each year the winner of this competition wins a trophy, and gets to brew a batch of their winning beer with Caleb Staton using Upland Brewing’s equipment. The beer is then served at their location in Bloomington, and also their location at the Tasting Room in Indianapolis. The UpCup was my first homebrew competition, and remains as my favorite to date. Don’t miss out on this awesome event. Upland’s website does not currently have any specific details on the event yet, but they will come soon. My advice is to start brewing your batches now. You only get one entry, so make it your best!

Good luck to all participants!

2013 AHA National Homebrew Competition

AHA National Homebrew Competition - GoldIt’s time to start thinking about what you are going to brew for the American Homebrewer’s Association National Homebrew Competition this year. Which of your favorite beers take the longest to mature? What styles do you currently have conditioning? What beers can you have ready in one month’s time? These are all good questions to ask, but the most important thing you can do now is GET STARTED! Online registration for the AHA National Homebrew Competition begins Tuesday February 26th. All entries are due between March 18th and March 27th. First Round Competitions begin March 29th and come to a close on April 21st. If you haven’t submitted a homebrew to a competition in the past, this is an excellent way to improve your brewing skills! A BJCP certified judge will rate your brew according to style on appearance, aroma, flavor, mouthfeel, and overall impression. This is a valuable tool that I’ve found can break a brewer’s ego, while at the same time help guide brewers toward honing their craft. I’ll post more information as it is available, but you can always stay up to date on this competition at the AHA website.

Online Registration 1 p.m. MST, Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Entries Due March 18-March 27, 2013
First Round Competitions March 29-April 21, 2013

Stout Bout Homebrew Competition Revisited

Thanks to all that made the Stout Bout Homebrew Competition at Great Fermentations such an awesome time! There were 10 great beers served, several of which beat out Hoppin’ Frog’s BORIS The Crusher Oatmeal Imperial Stout (a 2-time gold medalist at the Great American Beer Festival that I snuck in for kicks) in our blind tasting. Our top three homebrews selected this go-round were Josh and Ashley Jenkins’ Milk Stout, Doug Dixon’s American Stout, and Michael Catlin’s Breakfast Russian Imperial Stout. Great work guys! The entries were pretty spread out (we had entries for 5 of the 6 recognized BJCP stout categories), with two Russian Imperial Stouts (one was aged for 2 years), 3 Oatmeal Stouts, 2 Milk/Sweet Stouts, a Dry Stout, and an American Stout. Thanks again to Great Fermentations for lending us their classroom, and also to cosIT Photography for the outstanding camerawork. More photos can be found in a set on cosIT’s Flicker Photostream. Cheers!

1 Week Until Stout Bout

Great Fermentations on November 17th
From 12-5pm

There are still seats available at our Stout Bout Homebrew Competition at Great Fermentations next week. You can submit your entry using the form below. Cheers!

• All entries need to fall within Category 13 – Stout Ale BJCP Guidelines for style.
• The first 15 people to register their brews using the Homebrew Competition Form are guaranteed a seat in the competition.
• 2 bombers of homebrew are required per entry. 1 bomber goes towards the tasting, and one is set aside for “the pot.” You can also enter four 12oz bottles, but 2 will go to the pot.
• We’ll label your entry at the start of the tasting (I’ll have plenty of sheets available when we start), but please make sure your brew is refrigerated.
• This tasting is blind, and each person who enters also gets to taste/judge each entry. The winner at the end of the tasting gets to take home the pot plus prizes!
What makes this event unique is that each participant is also a judge! All beers will be served randomly, and rated on a scale of 1-10. The entry with the highest average score receives a gift card to Great Fermentations, a special blog post on BIMP, and takes home one of every homebrew entered.

Erik Howell – Oatmeal Stout
Jenn Myers – S’more Sweet Stout
Hunter White – Udder Cream Russian Imperial Stout
Richard Meyer – Substitution Dry Stout
Mike Catlin – Breakfast Stout Russian Imperial Stout
Doug Dixon – American ExPat Grab Bag American Stout
Justin Kloer – Brown Sugar Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Beer Name’ type=’text’/][contact-field label=’Beer Style’ type=’select’ required=’1′ options=’13A. Dry Stout,13B. Sweet Stout,13C. Oatmeal Stout,13D. Foreign Export Stout,13E. American Stout,13F. Russian Imperial Stout’/][/contact-form]

Stout Bout Homebrew Competition

Great Fermentations on November 17th
From 12-5pm

• All entries need to fall within Category 13 – Stout Ale BJCP Guidelines for style.
• The first 15 people to register their brews using the Homebrew Competition Form are guaranteed a seat in the competition.
• 2 bombers of homebrew are required per entry. 1 bomber goes towards the tasting, and one is set aside for “the pot.” You can also enter four 12oz bottles, but 2 will go to the pot.
• We’ll label your entry at the start of the tasting (I’ll have plenty of sheets available when we start), but please make sure your brew is refrigerated.
• This tasting is blind, and each person who enters also gets to taste/judge each entry. The winner at the end of the tasting gets to take home the pot plus prizes!
What makes this event unique is that each participant is also a judge! All beers will be served randomly, and rated on a scale of 1-10. The entry with the highest average score receives a gift card to Great Fermentations, a special blog post on BIMP, and takes home one of every homebrew entered.

Erik Howell – Oatmeal Stout
Jenn Myers – S’more Sweet Stout
Hunter White – Udder Cream Russian Imperial Stout
Richard Meyer – Substitution Dry Stout
Mike Catlin – Breakfast Stout Russian Imperial Stout
Doug Dixon – American ExPat Grab Bag American Stout
Justin Kloer – Brown Sugar Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Beer Name’ type=’text’/][contact-field label=’Beer Style’ type=’select’ required=’1′ options=’13A. Dry Stout,13B. Sweet Stout,13C. Oatmeal Stout,13D. Foreign Export Stout,13E. American Stout,13F. Russian Imperial Stout’/][/contact-form]

Last Call For Battle of the Belgians

There’s still time to enter your brew for BIMP’s first all homebrew competition at Great Fermentations! Be a part of an all homebrew blind tasting where the winner receives a $25 gift card to GF, one of every beer entered, and a special blog post on BIMP. Please reserve your spot for this tasting on the Homebrew Competitions tab. All entries must adhere to Category 16 – Belgian and French Ale BJCP Guidelines for style. All entrants are also judges. Bombers will be need to be labeled (click here for label sheet), refrigerated, and brought to Great Fermentations by July 28th at 11am for checkin. We start at 12:00pm. Here’s the current list of brewers entered:

Ommegang Belgian Pale Ale – Erik Howell (sample)
Brabo’s Tripel – Michael Mustin
Saison (To Be Named) – Steve Kent
Il Faited Belgian Pale Ale – Erik Howell
DA Trippel – Mike Trueblood
Noel Xmas Ale – Deron “Dabbo” and Robert David Hale
Mikey’s Summer Saison – Michael Mustin
Belgian Witbier (to be named) – Dustin Edwards

Any beer not used in the competition will be returned it’s rightful owners 🙂

Behind The Scenes at the Brewer’s Cup

[slideshow]

I got the opportunity to help sort out all of the entries for The Brewer’s Cup Competition today! What a great experience. I had no idea how much work went into making this event happen. Literally hundreds, if not thousands of beers were submitted to Sun King Brewery. Each entry was numbered and entered into an Excel spreadsheet to keep them all straight. The stewards had cases of beer lined up like the opening text sequence in Star Wars. As a matter of fact, the beer you see in these pictures was really just the tip of the iceberg. Judging will take place at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on July 6-7, 2012. See you there 🙂