Big Ole Lumberjack Festival Homebrew Competition

Big Ole Lumberjack Festival Homebrew Competition
June 26-27

Here are the early details of the Big Ole Lumberjack Festival Homebrew Competition. I will be updating this as the rest of the details are worked out. Just thought I'd post this now to get the word out. This is going to be held mid to late June.

Who is eligible to participate

The competition is open to any homebrewer from within the United States. Affiliation of entrants with AHA is NOT a requirement. Contestants will be considered as an individual entrant on the basis of person's name appearing on the registration form. Combinations of brewers should appear in the same order on all entries. Applicable entry fees and entry limitations shall apply.

Homebrewers may not use homebrewing facilities other than their own, unless brewed with the help of the owner of other homebrewing facilities. Furthermore, in this case, the beer must be entered under the name of all brewers who helped. Beers brewed in commercially licensed facilities, brew on premise, whether for commercial research or production, or for any other purpose, are ineligible.

Beer entries will be judged in 5-7 different categories. Categories may be altered at the head judges discretion.

How and what to enter

Entry Fees: Entry fees for this competition are $5.00 per entry. The registration form can be accessed from this web page beginning 05/25/2009. All checks should be made payable to the Bay de Noc Brewers and sent with your entries and your registration form to Big Ole Festival Homebrewing Competition c/o Josh Marenger, 1430 Stephenson Ave #2, Escanaba, MI 49829. Judges and Stewards can volunteer by calling Jeremy Drury at 906-555-5555 or by sending an e-mail to events@baydenocbrewers.org

Entry Requirements: Bottles must be 10 to 16 ounce glass or plastic of ANY style and clean and free of any labels (inked, paper, or otherwise). Entrants are encouraged to use brown, long-neck bottles for maximum protection from light and breakage. Use a rubber band to attach bottle label form to each bottle. The use of tape or glue to attach forms is not acceptable. For the competition, homebrewing competitors must enter two bottles for each entry. Soft drink or other printed crowned caps are acceptable; however, they need to be blacked-out with a black marking pen to assure anonymity in all judging situations. There is no limit on how many beers you can submit per category.

All entry fees, names of competitor, address, phone number, Category entered must accompany entries when submitted. No entries will be returned whether received late or otherwise. All entries become property of the Bay de Noc Brewers Competition Committee.

Use official registration forms (or copies) that can be found here when possible though other registration forms such as ProMash will be accepted.

Beers will be disqualified for entry requirements infractions. These entries may still be judged (unless a shipping infraction has occured) but will be ineligible for awards or prizes. You will still receive your score sheets.

Where and when to enter

Drop your entries early to arrive between 06/??/2009 and 06/??/2009 at Hereford & Hops. Entries will be refrigerated upon receipt, thus helping to preserve the quality that we receive them in. No entries will be accepted after 06/??/2009. Sorry, we cannot make any exceptions.

Out-of-State Entries: Please send deliveries to Big Ole Festival Homebrew Competition, c/o Josh Marenger, 1430 Stephenson Ave #2, Escanaba, MI 49829. It is legal to ship your entries via UPS, FedEx Ground or air freight. The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the Internal Revenue Service says it's legal. Usually you will be asked the contents of the package; your reply should be: "Bottles, but they are double-boxed and padded well." DO NOT send entries via US Postal Services. It is illegal to ship via USPS and your entry will not be judged.

PACK YOUR ENTRIES WELL: Line the inside of your carton with a plastic trash bag. Partition and pack each bottle with adequate packaging material. Clearly state "GLASS-FRAGILE. THIS SIDE UP" on the package. Your package of NON-PERISHABLE FOOD should weigh less than 40 pounds. It is not necessary to state specific contents of your package of non-perishable food. Send entries as soon as possible. No late entries will be accepted.

Drop-Off Points:
Hereford & Hops Restaurant and Brewery
Ludington St.
Escanaba, MI 49829

Judging

Judging will be done in open sessions from 06/DD though 06/DD, as needed. In the first round, the judges will judge each category, selecting the best three. The second round consists of all the 1st place beers selected in the first round. The winner will be named best of show. More than one judge will evaluate every first round entry. Entries will be chilled and stored properly and appropriately. All decisions of the judges and competition organizer are final. Winners will be announced at Big Ole Festival 06/26/2009. All winners will be notified and every reasonable effort will be made to return score sheets and judges' comments to all entrants. Results will also be found on this website.

If you would like to judge, you can register by clicking the "Volunteer, Judge or Steward" button on this page or may register by sending an e-mail to events@baydenocbrewers.org

Awards and Prizes

There will be ribbons awarded for first, second, and third place in all catagories. BOS will have their name added to the Big Ole Axe Trophy that will be displayed at Hereford and Hops. The winner will also receive (whatever prizes donated from sponsors). A minimum of 25 points must be obtained to receive a ribbon. Other prizes will be awarded, hopefully something in all categories for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, Best of Show. In case of a tie, tie breaks will be determined at the discretion of the competition coordinator.

Contest Sponsors:

Finally corked the Flanders Red! Whoo Hoo!

Well, I finally got around to corking up this beer (or beers I should say since it is actually a blend of two different Flanders Reds). In short, I brewed Jamil's Flanders Red recipe a couple years ago and I also brewed a La Folie clone that I came across in a BYO 150 Clone recipes magazine. While pulling samples of these beers I like to blend some of the samples together just for the hell of it and I found that a 50/50 blend of these two beers benefited the flavor of both beers. They were both o.k. in their own right but I liked the blend a little better so I just decided I'd blend them and have 10 gallons of a nice beer. All of the corked bottles are the Belgian bottles with the big fat heads on them like the Chimay or Unibroue 750mL bottles. Both Morebeer.com and Northernbrewer.com carry the right sized corks and wire cages for these bottles now. He are some pics from the day.

Teriyaki Steak with Onions, Green Pepper and Pineapple

I had a few NY Strip steaks sitting in a Teriyaki marinade for a few days and I decided to cook them up in my heavy ol' cast iron skillet for a harty lunch and leftovers for a few days. Almost every time I cook a steak there are onions, green peppers, & mushrooms cooked right along side of them to put on top of the steak. Since I had in a teriyaki marinade I decided to do onions, green pepper, and pineapple. But....I did the pineapple separately and I cooked them in some flanders red, my Undead Sour Red to be exact. After I cooked up the steak, onions and green pepper I deglazed the skillet with the beer and then added the pineapple and cooked it until the beer cooked down a bit and thickened up a bit. I then drizzled the sauce over the steak and added the pineapple to the veggies. Oi La.

Use your favorite Teriyaki marinade. Mine is just Orange Juice, Brown Sugar, Soy Sauce, Garlic & Ginger

De Proef, Bell's to collaborate!!!

De Proef, Bell’s to collaborate

A bit of American-Belgian brewing news from SBS Imports in Seattle:

“(SBS) is pleased to announce that Bell’s Brewery has agreed to be the 2009 partner for the latest brew in the De Proef Brewmaster’s Collaboration Series. The yet to be designed beer will be brewed in March at De Proef in Lochristi, Belgium and released to the USA market in September 2009.

WHOLE STORE HERE

Beer Geek Brunch Weasel...

Straight out of an email I just reveived from Mikkeller.dk

"Beer Geek Brunch Weasel. This is an imperial Oatmeal stout brewed with one of the world's most expensive coffees Cà Phê Chòn, made from droppings of weasel-like civet cats. The fussy Southeast Asian animals only eat the best and ripest coffee berries. Enzymes in their digestive system help to break down the bean. Workers collect the bean-containing droppings for Civet or Weasel Coffee. The beer will be available from the beginning of 2009."

I Shit You Not

None the less, I will try it.

Busy, busy, busy

I don't know about you but I found that it is extremely hard to find time to brew during the holiday season. Any free time goes to shopping, get togethers, and spending time with the kids. Not of these things are bad mind you, but it definitely makes it hard to keep up with brewing. So I've dumped two neglected yeast starters in the past few weeks and I hope I can get back on track here. I really want to get my Flanders Reds bottled and corked up here on New Years Eve. I have two different batches of Sour Red that I have been playing around with as far as blending is concerned. I've tried blending them many different ways with each other and it just so turns out that my favorite mix of the two is a 50/50 blend. This works out perfect because all I have to do is rack both of them into a big vessel and bottle from there rather than try to make sure I have my ratio right were it something weird like 55/35 or something. And no it's not some deep down lazy part of my psyche telling me that the 50/50 blend tastes best because it is the easiest way to do it. Although I think that's they way my mind works alot of the time. I'm excited to use my new corker that I bought and I look forward to popping open some of this beer with some friends. Nothing beats popping a cork off of a hefty belgian style bottle of beer. I'll take pics of the corking process, maybe even some video (or the wife will I should say) and post them on here soon. I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year.

Cheers,

Brew more in '09!
Brian

Parlez-Brew Francais?: Bières de France hits the U.S.

(Original Article)By Ernest Barteldes

France is well known around the world for its champagne, fine wines and cheese (among other delicacies), but somehow the beer produced there has never really gotten much publicity Stateside. That has happened mostly due to the popularity of Belgian, German and Dutch brews, which have pretty much dominated the market of imports on this side of the pond in spite of the fact that France is one of the leading nations in the production of brewing barley in the entire planet.

That is poised to change, as many small producers in that country have come together to promote their own craft beers in the US with the support of The French Embassy’s trade agency. Last October, several of them showcased their product during an event at New York’s House of Brews and also in Boston aimed to attract distributors, tastemakers and members of the press to their product.

“We have noticed increased sales for craft beers, imported beers and microbrews over the years—it’s a niche which is growing considerably in the US,” says Jean-Jacques Giard of Brasserie Duyck. “However, French beer hasn’t got the image it deserves, as roughly ninety percent of French beers are in the hands of big international groups like Heineken and so forth.”

“We have about twelve-to-fifteen small craft breweries who are trying to improve the image of French beer, and it’s quite a hard job because France is considered as a country that produces champagne, wine and so on,” explains Giard. “When it comes to beer, people think about Belgium, Germany, The UK or the US. However, the fact is that we are working very hard to produce great beer.”

At the New York event, several small producers—many of whom have yet to score distribution deals in the US—conducted a tasting of more than eighty varieties of beer, going from simple blonde brews to ambers, stouts and even a handful of sweet, flavored beers like Verte du Mont Blanc, an apple-green-shaded beer made from glacial waters off the slopes the mountain of the same name.

“The feedback has been very good, and people really liked it,” Giard says. “Americans are very nice people, and they said that the beers were fantastic. Here in France we are working towards moving things forward a bit faster in that market.”

“We are definitely keen on working on the main markets even though it’s difficult,” he continues. “That makes the breweries to realize that they have to work together to create a better image of French beer—so far that image is very poor, and nobody knows what we are producing, except maybe for some beer connoisseurs—otherwise, no.”

Asked about what characteristic differentiates French beer from its other European counterparts, Giard told us about Biere de Garde, which is produced in the northern part of the country. Often sold in a corked champagne bottle (the region is conveniently located a mere fifty miles from the winemaking region, so those vessels are plentiful there), the name translates as ‘”beer to be kept.”

“Fifty years ago, we had 2,000 breweries in northern France that were produced during winter because they didn’t have the equipment for cold fermentation, so during winter they could control the process, and we used to sell it in summer, when it was hot,” he recalls.

“So we used to brew the beer and keep it for weeks in kegs, and we have kept that tradition—it’s beer that is kept after fermentation for at least four weeks,” he explains. “Beer, as you know, is not like wine—nothing happens after fermentation, but still we realized that if we keep it for a while it gets better. There is no scientific explanation for that, but somehow it just tastes better, and that is what makes French beer different from German, Belgian or English beer.”

One of the favorites at the tasting was Jenlain Amber, a delicious 7.5% brew that can be found at Brasserie Jo, 59 West Hubbard, (312)595-0800 and also at West Lakeview Liquors, 2156 West Addison, (773)525-1916.