Winter is here. The 2011 competition season has drawn to a close and the prime winter brewing season is upon us. Time to enjoy the nice cold ground water for chilling and also take advantage of naturally cool fermentation temperatures and ferment some lagers.
While you are getting brewing, we want you to keep in mind a few upcoming events so you are ready for 2012, a very big year for Washington!
The Washington Homebrewers Association would like to invite all homebrewers and beer lovers to hear the seventh edition of the WAHA's Educational Speaker Program - legendary brewer, Gordon Strong. Gordon is the only three time winner of the Ninkasi Award and is also the president of the BJCP. He recently wrote the book "Brewing Better Beer: Master Lessons for Advanced Homebrewers." Gordon will share his knowledge of homebrewing, answer your questions, and be available to sign some books.
So come to Big Al Brewing on Thursday, December 29th at 7:00 pm to learn about brewing better from the world's only Grand Master Level 5 BJCP judge.
Admission is free and the event is open to all homebrewers and beer lovers. We ask that people RSVP in advance athttp://tinyurl.com/waha-gordon-strong
We encourage people to come early, grab a few pints and support our host. All throughout the night you will be able to buy Big Al's great beers at the bar. If you home some around, please bring a few bottles of homebrew for our guests as a token of our thanks!
Event Details: Date: Thursday, December 29th, 2011 Time: 7:00 pm Location: Big Al Brewery 9832 14th Ave SW Seattle, WA 98106 (206) 453-4487
With the 2012 National Homebrewers Conference in Bellevue next June, the Washington Homebrewers Association is looking for a special beer that Sasquatch (the honorary conference organizer) can be proud to serve to conference goers. We're looking to Washington homebrew club members to come up with they consider to be the embodiment of a "Sasquatch Ale" capture a special, Northwest, "Sasquatchian" flavor.
But what is a "Sasquatch Ale?" Ask yourself, "What Would Sasquatch Brew?" We are looking to Washington homebrew club members to come up with they consider to be the embodiment of a "Sasquatch Ale." Is it malty? Hoppy? Dark? Light? Hairy? Mysterious? Spiced? Smoky? Mossy? Woody? Who knows? But we want you to help us discover this style by entering the "Sasquatch Ale Homebrew Competition."
The "Sasquatch Ale Homebrew Competition" is open to any Washington resident who is also in a WAHA registered club. (Not in a WAHA registered club? Join one today! You can find a local club at www.wahomebrewers.org/clubs.) Beer submitted to the competition will be evaluated by a panel of judges and fellow homebrewers to determine the beer that most accurately embodies the spirit of a "Sasquatch Ale." The winner will get to have their beer will be scaled up and brewed on a 1 barrel system. Throughout the National Homebrewers Conference, Sasquatch himself will serve the beer to conference attendees. The winner will be recognized at the conference as the originator of the "Sasquatchian Ale" style and have the honor of serving their beer to renowned members of the American Homebrewers Association!
What do you need to do to enter? First, design and brew a beer that you feel embodies a "Sasquatchian Ale." Then bottle up 3 12 oz bottles and register your entry online at www.wahomebrewers.org/sasquatch. You will enter your beer as Category 23 – Specialty beer. The registration tool will allow you to enter your recipe so make sure to enter it completely. ENTRIES WITHOUT RECIPES WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED. In the "Special Ingredients" section of the entry form, please enter a 3-5 sentence description of why this beer embodies a "Sasquatchian Ale." After registering, you will print out your recipe entry form and bottle IDs to attach to your bottles with a rubber band. Please black out any bottle cap markings. For each entry you submit, please include a $5 entry fee (cash or check made out to "Larry's Brewing Supply"). Finally, either drop off or mail your entry to Larry's Brewing Supply by Wednesday, February 8th. Entries will be evaluated over the next week and we'll post the winner as soon as possible afterwards.
There are a few things to keep in mind while designing your beer. It will need to be something that can be feasibly replicated on a 1-1.5 barrel system. Please, no completely crazy ingredients or processes. It also needs to be brewable and consumable within around a 3 month timeframe.
So get brewing today and let your inner Sasquatch come out! Good luck!
Important Information:
Entry Fee: $5 per entry (3 12 oz. bottles per entry) – ENTRANTS MUST BE A MEMBER OF A WAHA REGISTERED CLUB – JOIN ONE TODAY!
Registration Website: www.wahomebrewers.org/sasquatch Entries Window: January 20th – February 8th Mail to/Drop Off: Larry's Brewing Supply c/o Sasquatch 7405 S. 212th St. #103 Kent, WA 98032 (253)-872-6846
On Feb 4th, at the Bailfire in Everett, all the entries will be evaluated on BJCP guidelines. The top beers will then be placed in one of 4 brackets (American IPA 14a, European IPA 14b Imperial IPA 14c, and Experimental IPA 23a.) and will be evaluated in a head-to-head fashion. The winner(s) of each bracket will advance to a final Best of Show round, and the best beer will be crowned the winner. This is a BJCP certified competition as well as Washington Homebrewer of the Year qualifier.
Participants are encouraged to enter as many different IPA beers as they wish. Discount for more than one entry. Please don't enter the same beer twice. For more information go to: www.gebl.org.
We will be live again this year. At the beginning of the second round all participants will be emailed their entry number. With the numbers brewers will be able to follow their beer on a webcast as it advances through the bracket.
Drop off locations are Homebrew Heaven, Mountain Homebrew, The Cellar, and Larry's. Mail-in only is Lazyboy Brewing.
The purpose of the Golden Mash Paddle is to recognize individuals who work to significantly advance homebrewing in Washington. The nominees and recipients of this award go above and beyond the call of duty to help serve their fellow homebrewers.
Do you know someone who went out of their way to help some new homebrewers get started? How about the organizer of a competition? Maybe a judge who provided outstanding feedback? Even your friendly homebrew store employees are eligible. Anyone can submit a nomination and any Washington resident can be nominated. You can nominate more than one individual if you feel it is appropriate.
All you have to do is go to the Golden Mash Paddle Nomination page (coming soon) which you can find at http://www.wahomebrewers.org/awards, or contact your WAHA club representativebetween now and January 14th. At a minimum you need to provide the nominee's name, some contact information for the nominee (e-mail, phone, club, etc.), and either a basic or detailed description of the individual's contributions. You can nominate someone anonymously but if you leave some contact information, we can get a hold of you if we have some questions. After the 14th, we will contact the nominee and allow them to submit more details about their accomplishments (so don't worry if you don't know everything they have done). In February, the WAHA Club Representatives will review the nominations and select the Golden Mash Paddle Recipient (which will be announced in March or April). More details are available on the website.
So please, take a second and think about the individuals who have helped make homebrewing in Washington a better hobby and nominate someone today. Even if a nominee does not end up winning the award, they will be notified of their nomination and get confirmation that their efforts made a difference to their fellow homebrewers. Let's all raise a pint and a nomination for those who help make Washington homebrewing better!
By now you should have heard the news, the next National Homebrewers Conference will be hosted in Washington state. If you or your members haven’t attended a conference in the past, prepare to be overwhelmed by the camaraderie, information, and pure fun that occurs when over 1400 homebrewers get together. Our co-organizers, Mark Emiley and Tom Schmidlin have worked tirelessly (including changing state laws) to bring the conference to Washington and the Northwest. Now, we need the rest of the Northwest homebrew community to help us awe the rest of the country.
If you need a little background on the conference, you can read this article about the 2010 National Homebrewers Conference held in Cincinnati.
Here are some of the ways you can get involved and be a part of the event:
-Attend the conference! You will get very few chances to attend a conference this close to home, so take advantage of the prime (at least to us) location. The full conference package was $230 (plus the cost of your hotel room) this year, and should be similarly priced. That includes 3 days of lectures, access to the hospitality suite, Pro Brewers Night, Club Night and the Banquet. The conference will sell out, so be prepared to purchase your tickets early. Trust us, you will regret not attending a conference in your own backyard and it will be a while before it returns to the Northwest. There are cheaper packages available which include mainly social functions but the whole conference experience is something not to miss and is a great chance to expand your brewing knowledge.
-Participate in Club Night! Club Night is a beer festival where all the beer is made and poured by homebrewers. This year there were almost 50 different clubs (including 3 from Washington) pouring over 500 different beers. Booths vary from a very simple set-up (jockey box/bottles and sign) to incredible themed setups. Here are photos showing the BREW and GEBL themed booths:
Have your club prepared to serve at least 7-10 beers. The more, the merrier! Embrace your creativity and bring whatever off the wall projects you might have going on – what makes club night so great is the ideas you can gather from someone’s prickly pear mead, or double vanilla peanut butter stout. For smaller clubs, we can arrange a shared booth. The WAHA booth will also serve as a home for clubless brewers that want to share their homebrew. Be creative and show off your skills! Mark and Alison Joy will be managing clubs for club night so you can get in touch with them with any questions, thoughts, or to let them know that your club is in! (
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-Host a shift in the Hospitality Suite with your club! The hospitality suite is open to mingle with other homebrewers, visit sponsors booths, and quench your thirst with some homebrew. Hospitality shifts are assigned in 2-2.5 hour blocks to volunteer clubs. You’ll “own” the bar and get a chance to slake the thirst of the crowd and show off your brewing prowess. If you are planning on hosting a shift, plan on kegs above and beyond ones brought for club night. This year WAHA poured over 60 gallons of beer in about 2 hours at our Thursday afternoon hospitality shift. For smaller clubs, we can arrange combined shifts with others in the area. Mark Tanner will be helping to manage the Hospitality Suite so you can get in touch with him with any questions or to request a slot for your club. (
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-Volunteer! In addition to the club areas, we’ll need people to take time from their conference experience to help out in various areas:
o Pouring beer during lectures
o Answering questions and providing directions to attendees
o Transporting beer from the cellar
o Acting as beer ambassadors on various tours
o And many other critical jobs that help the conference function smoothly
We will be asking for volunteers as we get closer to the conference and need everyone to step up with just a little bit of their time.
-Get brewing for homefield advantage in the National Homebrew Competition. This is your best opportunity to excel in the Second Round of the National Homebrew Competition because you won’t have to ship your beer across the country and will have the advantage of more “West Coast” palates who know and love your brewing style. Have your club members start practice brewing today or get working on those long term beers. Work on a brewing schedule as you get closer to the first round in April and have those beers in peak condition to rock the first round and blow away the second round competition!
We can’t emphasize enough how enjoyable the conference experience is and encourage you to read more about it if you’re not already convinced. Some of our experienced conference-goers can also provide more detail and could possibly be available to speak at one of your meetings. Clubs can help split up the load and make a great conference showing by forming a “NHC preparation” committee to work on a theme, coordinate beers, and come up with great ideas to represent your club and the Northwest at the conference.
We look forward to seeing you all at the conference. Once again, this is an event not to miss. Start planning early and get ready for a week of homebrewing fun!
