I received information via an answering machine message that my scores are in for the BJCP. I have not received my test results yet and will not for a while. But I did learn that I am officially BJCP Recognized and on my way to becoming Certified. More info to follow as I receive it.
Saturday, June 17, 2006 was the 4th Annual Fool Circle Beer Tasting. Originally, it was to be held the following Saturday on the 24th, but because of circumstances two people would not have been able to attend. So, with about 48 hours notice, some how we pulled it off so all could be there, thank you Inner Circle.
Click Here to See ALL the Pictures
So all the regular crowd was there, Dave, Karen, Richard, Robert, Todd and myself. This year we would be playing for the prestigious Fool Circle Grand Pooh-Bah Cup, an AHA baseball cap (donated by Richard), a growler of Twin Lakes Brewery’s Greenville Pale Ale and two Twin Lakes Pint Glasses (limited edition, first running). We had a total of 12 beers we were going to taste this year that counted toward being the ‘winner’ and 10 more other beers we were going to taste just for fun.
This year I decided to switch things up a bit. So all could play and all was fair, I decided to make it a totally blind comparison tasting. In previous years, someone would pour the beers away from everyone else and bring each beer out for all to sample. Each person had a score card where you could mark which beer you thought was which. The pourer could never ‘win’ for they always new which beer was which. So, this year I placed each beer into a brown bag, brought all the beers out at once, and let the others “cut-the-deck” just to be sure there is no way anyone could know which beer was which. And then, just to change things some more, I decided that instead of one beer at a time, this year we’d drink all 12 at once so we could compare and contrast the beers as we went, sort of set-up like a brewpub sampler.
This year included: Pliny the Elder Clone, Thunderclp Wit, Red Card Ale 2, the Enigma Stout, Fool’s Initiation, Harvest Moon Brown Ale, Albino Pale Ale, Honey Pale Ale 2, Red Card Ale 3, Peated MacRae Strong Scotch Ale, Indian Brown Ale Clone, and the Hoppy Session Ale. For me, certain beers stood out like sore thumbs – the Thunderclap, the Enigma, and the MacRae while others were tricky like the 2 different Red Card Ales. Anyway, I personally liked the blind comparison tasting. I think it flowed better, maybe a little faster, the comparison part was very helpful and the anticipation at the end was great. In the long run one person guessed zero correctly and one person guessed ten correctly, and everyone else fell in between. But, the spoils go to the victor, and this year that title goes to me, Brian – the Fool Circle Grand Pooh-Bah of the 2006 Beer Tasting!
After the official tasting, we began the tasting of the other 10. These included a mix of vintage Fool Circle beers, Garrett Sever Brews, and Twin Lake Brewery beers. We had, in no particular order, FC Red Card Ale 1, FC Honey Pale Ale 1, FC MacRae 04, FC Double Dubbel, FC Union, Sever’s Black Honey Ale, Sever’s Strong Dark Ale, Sever’s Imperial Stout, Twin Lake’s Pale Ale and Twin Lake’s Stout. We drank these knowing what they were and without having them ‘count’ for anything more than the pleasure of drinking them. Garrett got mad props from the crew, most wanting to try more, and Karen and Robert giving him credit on several other beers they’ve tried of his, in particularly the Oaked Vanilla Porter. Twin Lakes also got decent reviews with the Stout being the obvious popular favorite. The Fool Circle vintage brews were all over the place. The RCA1 was OK, the HPA1 was not too good but better then the HPA2, the MacRae was surprisingly sweet, the DD still needed more time and the Union came in under expectations with a too sweet kind of feel too.
After all the beers had been tasted, we got our grub on and then chilled-out. This year the menu was stream-lined to grilled chicken sandwiches with potato salad and green salad with assorted muchies. The cooler was well stocked with Fool Circle brews, especially the Indian Brown Ale Clone and the Hoppy Session Ale. Some people left early, some people stayed for a bit, no one stayed for too long. It was a great tasting and a nice time hanging out. Honestly, I can’t wait until next year – I really need to get brewing!!!
Quotes from the evening:
* You’re guaranteed ass sex
* I hope there’s no black people playing golf
* I almost parked a pickle through my nose
* Saran Wrap & Crisco
* Pass me one of those bitches
* Would you quit playing with your balls and take your beer – Karen
* One I appreciate is good head
* Double Dubbel – It’s a f**ker of a beer
* Beery Necter Goodness
* I’m smellin’ Todd’s balls
* Honey from wherever-the-f**k-Karen’s-mom bought it
* Garret Sever made my ear hurt
If you’re interested, revisit the 2nd Tasting and the 3rd Tasting here!
https://www.foolcircle.net/deScavengerHunt/
See everything at the above link. Or, click on the DE Digital Scavenger Hunt logo in the upper right hand corner of the page. There are some thoughts, the idea of the whole project, some pictures, some comments, and of course the list of things to acquire. Check it out, it was a great time! Now you’ll know how much fun you missed when it comes around again next year.
Yesterday I spent the day over my fellow homebrewer’s house and we brewed a 10 gallon batch of a DFH Indian Brown Ale Clone. We found the recipe in Brew Your Own Magazine and Garrett doctored it on Pro-mash, a brewing software program. The day went well, only a few minor clitches which were easy to take care of. The brew looked and smelt great. Even if it doesn’t come out exactly as a clone, I still think it’s going to be a great beer. I wound up staying the rest of the day and we hung out, ate, bull-shitted and of course drank lots of good beer. Can’t wait to blow-up the all-grain thing.
It’s been a while since my last post . . .
Anyway, last Monday, February 13th, I took the BJCP exam. This was followed by seven weeks of classes. The classes were OK, a little boring, but I suppose they helped make me feel that I wasn’t under prepared for the exam. The exam itself was very tough. It is a three hour long test with ten essay questions and four beers to evaluate. Each answer to the essays should be at least a page long. My answers were fourteen pages plus two pages of tasting notes – long. I think I did OK though. We won’t get the results to our exams back for about three months.
On Saturday the 18th was the 11th Annual War of the Worts. Of course I entered, but because I have taken the exam, I can now judge too! Since this was my first competition judging and because I am not officially recognized as a BJCP judge, I was paired with an experienced judge. Actually I was paired with the most experienced judge at the competition, and I think in the top three most experienced in the country. His name is David Houseman, he’s actually one of the guys who wrote the Style Guidlines for the BJCP, pretty cool. I was afraid this was going to make things worse, but I suppose they made them better.
In the morning we judged American Pale Ales. I felt very good about this for I feel I have a real grap on the style and could give valuable feedback on the brewer’s beer we were evaluating. We had twelve beers in our morning flight which lasted about two and a half hours. We then broke for lunch curtisy of Iron Hill Brewery, and then began the afternoon flight. In the afternoon we judges Russian Imperial Stouts, Foreign Extra Stouts, and Baltic Porter. I felt a lot less confident going into these categories. I had to repeatedly reference the Style Guidlines and felt as if my feedback was much more uniform and generic then specific. These are just styles that I can appreciate and know what I like, but unfortunetly have not had the skill to be able to brew to 100% of my liking. Things looked like they were going to wrap up in a timely manner some where in the 4:30 – 5:30 ballpark, but somehow they didn’t. By the time the Best of Show round was judged, the winners announced and the awards/prizes handed out, it was already 7:30. What a way to turn a long day longer.
Of course I also entered beer into the competition too. I entered four beers into five categories with one beer getting a third. I entered the Harvest Moon Brown Ale into the Specialty Category. The Honey Pale Ale 2 into the Specialty Category and the Mead-Braggot category. Also the Pliny the Elder clone into the American IPA category. And finally the Albino Pale Ale into the Cream Ale category. The Albino was the beer that got the Third Place Ribbon. You can see the results here.
So, what competitions are next? Well, the full array that I think I am going to enter this year are as follows: War of the Worts XI (WOWXI), Master Championship of Ameteur Brewers VIII (MCABVIII), Best the Brewer Homebrew Competition (Brewer), American Homebrewer’s Association 28th Annual National Hombrew Competition (AHA28thNHC), Homebrewers Of Philadelphia and Suburbs Best of Philly XXII (HOPSBOPSXXII), Brewers Unlimited Zany Zymurgists Off VI (BUZZOffVI), Beer, Beer & More Beer Invitational II (B3II), and the Split Rock Homebrew Competition (Split). So that’s eight competitions, I REALLY need to get brewing, I’m already behind!
Also, it looks as if Twin Lakes Brewing Company should be up in action any time soon.
Today I received my side of a trade set up with Mikeys01 on BeerAdvocate.com. We had traded once before in May, so we were already comfortable with trading with one another. I recieved a great package that included the following:
I can’t wait to crack into these beers! I’ve only tried two of these beers, the S’muttonator and Curieux. Six of the beers I’ve actually been trying/waiting to try for a while now. This is great, I love beer advocacy!
Today I recieved my Secret Santa package from LostBearBrew from BeerAdvocate.com. I had signed up about a month for a 60 person beer exchange, ie. pollyanna / secret santa. I had DeeJayDan. We were suppose to send at least $20 worth of beer and a “Christmas” gift. This is what I SENT to DeeJayDan:
I think the Mid-Atlantic selection above is quite excellent. Plus, I did some fancy foot work and got a hold of the Bitter Woman and Wisconsin Belgian Red in time for the trade. Those two beers were beers that DeeJayDan really wanted, so I made it happen. Also, for his gift, I got him one of those single wine bottle picnic bags that come with the glasses, corkscrew, napkins and carrying bag. I engraved the corksrew with his name and put the Wisconsin Belgian Red in the spot of a wine bottle. Basically, he told me that was the money-shot – NICE!
Now, this is what I GOT from Lost Bear Brew:
Plus, he also sent a Sweet Water pint glass and a baggie with some coasters. All I can say is that I got one hell of a nice haul!! I really trully can’t wait to try the Smoked Porter, Damnation and the 2 homebrews! I am quite satisfied and can’t wait until next year, Secret Santa 2006!!
The 2005 MacRae has been brewed. This is the 6th Generation of this beer, and it basically keeps getting better. My personal favorite was the 2002 MacRae. So for this batch I went back and referenced the ’02 recipe, reviewed some of the constructive criticism from recent competition, and then tried to tweak it a bit to make it better. Only time will tell at this point. It looks great in the fermenter though!
I’ve added some new ‘brews’ to the ‘brews’ section of the website, check them out!
Linvilla Hard Apple Cider
Mead
Honey Pale Ale 2
Albino Pale Ale
Now, look carefully, anyone in this picture you might know? On page 19 of Zymurgy magazine, The Journal of the American Hombrewers Association, Volume 28 No. 6, November/December 2005 is an article about the AHA Rally at Iron Hill in DE from August of this year. It’s actually kind of a short dumpy article that doesn’t say much except for a few nice quotes. For example:
“The diversity of the people involved with championing the better beer movement in America is matched only by the diversity of great beers being made in kitchens, brewpubs and micro-breweries throughout the country.” – Sam CAlagione, Dogfish Head
Below is another piture, some of you may recognize someone else below.
Got Beer?
