Regional Representative Updates, Quarter 4 2021 – Beer Judge Certification Program

West
Brian Cooper

Our West Region judges are making their way through the (continued) pandemic, working to find their individual comfort levels, and resume some normal activities. Although certain things still feel quite abnormal, there are a number of activities that have returned with adjustments. We have reason to be hopeful as judge education, exams, and competitions seem to be continuing their slow uptick.

As we deal with the uncertainty and worry of the arrival of new variants, many competition organizers are doing what they feel is needed to minimize the risk. Distanced and outdoor events (where possible in this colder season), and requesting vaccinated judges only is becoming more commonplace, as a way to help protect those who take part in events.

In short, we are seeing some signs of a slow return to normal, with more activities such as exams and competitions, expected for 2022 than we have seen in 2020 or 2021. Only time will tell what the coming year will look like, but we welcome the sense of new normalcy.

My assistant reps and I stand ready to assist our seasoned members, newly certified judges, and those aspiring to learn the art of beer judging, as we all navigate this unprecedented time. Wishing all of our judges happy holidays and best wishes for the prospects of the coming new year.

Northeast
Andrew Luberto

Greeting and Happy Holidays!

First off, we have a number of new National judges in our region and I’d like to take a moment to recognize them. Congratulations to Ryan Dacey of Wallingford, CT and Max Finnance, of Ledyard, CT. Excellent achievement both.

On that note, I’ve continued to hold written exams in the region in alignment with my goal of increasing the number of national + judges in the region. Good luck to everyone who took the written quarterly in October. I currently have members with interest in taking the written exam in both February and May, if you’re qualified and interested please let me know. As always, if you have questions about the exam or in need of feedback or guidance please contact me or the assistant rep closest to your location.

Additionally, I’ve reached out to clubs in the lower New York area about interest in holding cider and/or mead judging exams. These certifications are fairly limited in our area even as home mead and cider making have grown substantially. If interested in becoming certified, please let me know. The Northeast Team is available for virtual talks or training sessions if interested. We’ve met with a number of clubs in the region and had productive conversations. Email me if you’re interested in setting something up.

On Sunday January 16th at 12 pm EST, I’ll be hosting a talk with Scientist Sigrid Gertsen-Shibbye of Lallemand Oenology. We’ll be doing a deep dive on yeast and mead making, so this would be a good opportunity to bone up on your mead feedback or if planning on taking the mead certification exam. This is a free event, sign up here if interested (the recording will be available afterwards): https://www.crowdcast.io/e/meadmatters6.

The board had a productive and encouraging discussion with Don Blake, the new lead exam director. I raised a number of concerns communicated to me by the members in our region about the exams and there will be further discussion in the coming months. I’m also continuing my work on the committee formed to improve the website and recently, with Brian Cooper, overhauled all the FAQs.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me or my assistant reps anytime at [email protected].

Mid-Atlantic
Fred Mullner

Winter 2021 BJCP Mid-Atlantic Update

There is a ton of stuff going on in the Mid-Atlantic Region! Thanks to everyone who submitted something.

NHC News

The National Homebrew Conference will be in Pittsburgh June 23 – 25. More details will follow as they become available, but you can sign up for updates at https://www.homebrewcon.org/

Club News

There’s a new club for people in Central Virginia. One Fifty One Brew Club (151BC) has members from Charlottesville to Waynesboro.

Exam News

Rick Franckhauser is planning a tasting exam in May 2022 for prospective Cincinnati/Dayton judges.
Fred Mullner is hosting an exam in Pittsburgh on February 5, 2022. The location will likely be at Helicon Brewing in Oakdale near Pittsburgh International Airport.

Award-Winning Beers

Delaware

A small brewery in Newark, DE, Autumn Arch, led by head brewer Jimmy Vennard, won a Bronze in the Great American Beer Festival for their Saison. While larger, established breweries, like Iron Hill and Victory (both from Eastern Pennsylvania), produce frequent award winning beers, this was quite an accomplishment for a small brewery in a very popular style.

Ohio

Tim Lawson from Cincinnati is a certified BJCP judge, homebrewer, and college professor. He writes: “I brewed my recipe for a Belgian Dark Strong Ale with Third Eye Brewing here in Cincinnati (15 BBL batch), and it was selected for the very first curated beer festival in Cincinnati (the festival name was Beer, Booze, and Bonks). Two well-known beer bloggers in Cincinnati put this festival together, and they chose the top 26 breweries in the city. They selected the top one or two beers at each brewery to be featured in their festival. As a homebrewer, I was pleasantly surprised that the beer I brewed at Third Eye was one of only two beers selected from that brewery! The name of the beer is Dark Sorcery.”
Luke Shropshire, also from Cincinnati recently won a bronze medal at GABF in the wood and barrel aged sour beer for his “French 75” cocktail inspired sour. Blonde sour ale Aged in a gin barrel with juniper and lemon peel fermented/ soured with his home brew cultures.
News from Bloatarian Brewing League (Cincinnati, OH):

Gerard Miller of MASH (Middletown Area Society of Homebrewers) had an honorable mention on the BOS table at Beer & Sweat this year. Third Eye Brewing in Sharonville approached him to brew his NEIPA recipe. This scaled up full batch used 99lbs of Kohatu and Galaxy hops, with offerings on draft and 4packs. The label features the 2021 Beer & Sweat logo!

Third Eye also hosted our club brewout for National Learn to Homebrew Day was recently the recipient of 3 golds and a bronze at Ohio Craft Brewers Cup, which earned them titles of Best Regional Brewery, and Best Small Brewery (under 5,000bbls). On the heels of that they were selected for @cincitoolbank‘s Brewers Philanthropy Award.

Competition News

Ohio

National Judge Mike Ontolchik sends this in from Cleveland:

Society of Northeast Ohio Brewers (SNOB) returned to hosting our homebrew competition, Son of Brewzilla, this November. The SNOB Competition Committee of Greg Irving, Jim Jadwisiak, Todd Donnelly and Mike Ontolchik worked with Fat Heads Brewery and our sponsors to host a successful 295 entry competition. We added the question mark to our competition name earlier this year to represent the uncertainty that we could accomplish such a feat. We do want to again thank Fat Heads for letting us host the competition at their Middleburg Heights, OH production facility. They not only find cold room space for entries, they give us their event space for the competition weekend. Most of the entry fees and sponsorship money goes to feeding our volunteers and buying them drinks. It may not be the most responsible thing to do but, I would prefer having a shifty purchased for me after judging than another T-Shirt or Pint Glass. What’s leftover will go to a charity of the club’s choosing so that we may give a little back to our community.

Our team has not held a retrospective of the competition yet, so I’ll give one of my own findings. It seems like it takes the same number of volunteers to judge a 300 entry competition as it may for a 400 entry competition like we have recently. Our entries per flight average was 6.6. We had the capacity for more volunteers, yet those last few spots were difficult to fill the day of the competition. As the pandemic passes, I expect that most of us will want to get back out to volunteer not only our local competitions, but those with travel.

One unique rule Son of Brewzilla has that other competitions may not is that we have a payment deadline before the entry shipping window opens. This year, like several times in the past, we hit our entry capacity long before the shipping window. As this requires frequent PayPal reconciliation, we try to give ample notice of the pending purge. I timed the purge to happen during a club function so that I could help register new entries for those that wanted them. By the end of the night, the maybe dozen entries deleted were replaced by paid entries. For this, we had 295 of 300 entries to judge and 300 entries worth of fees to help run our competition. This also helps us budget and organize categories earlier.

SNOB and Society of Akron Area Zymurgists (SAAZ) plan to take turns hosting an autumn Northeast Ohio homebrew competition. As Son of Brewzilla is expected to return in 2023, look for Wizard of SAAZ in 2022.

Pennsylvania

The Stoney Creek Homebrewers in suburban Philadelphia held their annual competition on November 13 in Phoenixville, PA. Just as the competition ended, however, the power to most of the town mysteriously went out, so they finished the best of show round in the dark. That’s dedication.

Washington, DC

Bill Ridgely has a great write-up on a unique beer competition in the Metro DC that’s been going on for almost 25 years.

Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP) Hosts 24th Real Ale Competition and Festival
By Bill Ridgely
(BJCP #B0067)

The Washington, DC-area homebrew club Brewers United for Real Potables (BURP) hosted its 24th Real Ale Competition and Festival in Rockville, MD on Nov 5 and 6. This year would have marked a quarter century for the event, but the Covid-19 pandemic unfortunately forced its cancellation in 2020.

The event is normally held each year in November, a time of year that features moderate temperatures during the day and cool nights, conditions which aid in the conditioning and drinking pleasure of this unique style of beer. The first BURP Real Ale event was held in the Fall of 1997. It has since grown to become, to the best of our knowledge, the world’s largest competition and festival devoted entirely to homebrewed (vs commercial) Real Ale. This year’s event featured 39 total entries served from a combination of corny kegs and traditional casks.

Real Ale is the name coined by England’s Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) in 1973 for a type of beer defined as “brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide”. Traditionally, British brewers ferment these ales to near completion and then transfer them to casks (originally wood but now stainless steel or food-grade plastic). After the beer is transferred, finings (yeast settling agents) are added to clarify the beer once the fermentation completes. The last bit of fermentation produces the relatively low level of CO2 required for the final product. Properly conditioned Real Ale is normally served at cellar temperature (around 55º F) and should be crystal clear in appearance with light carbonation. Since many ales produced in this style are also relatively low in alcohol (at or below 5% ABV), they are ideally suited for consumption over an extended period of time in the social setting of the English pub (hence, the term “session beers” – those consumed during a drinking “session” with friends and family at the pub). Real Ales are traditionally served by gravity dispense (through a tap inserted directly into the cask) or pulled from the cask using a hand pump (also referred to as a “beer engine”).

BURP members began traveling to the UK to enjoy these beers relatively early, from the 1980’s on. At the time, homebrewers were just starting to use Cornelius kegs to store and dispense their beers, and techniques used to carbonate homebrew in the keg (fermentation to completion and then re-fermentation in the keg using a sugar or malt extract addition) generally followed UK Real Ale guidelines (i.e., no extraneous CO2 added). Some club members also began experimenting with traditional techniques of fermenting to near completion and then transferring to the keg with finings added. The first BURP Real Ale Competition and Festival was held to highlight this type of beer and enlighten club members on its unique qualities and the techniques required to brew and serve it properly.

The Real Ale Competition

The BURP Real Ale competition is a celebration of traditional British, Irish, and Scottish cask conditioned beers. The currently accepted styles of beer for the competition are based on the latest 2015 BJCP style guidelines:

Cat 11 (British Bitter) – all substyles
Cat 12 (Pale Commonwealth Beer) – Substyles 12A (British Golden Ale) and 12C (English IPA)
Cat 13 (Brown British Beer) – all substyles
Cat 14 (Scottish Ale) – all substyles
Cat 15 (Irish Beer) – Substyles 15B (Irish Stout) and 15C (Irish Extra Stout)
Cat 16 (Dark British Beer) – all substyles
Cat 17 (Strong British Beer) – all substyles (including strong mild, winter warmer, etc.)
Cat 27 (Historical Beer) – Substyle London Brown Ale

Following CAMRA guidelines, only naturally-carbonated beers are accepted – no force carbonation using extraneous CO2 is allowed.

The event is registered with the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) and is open to all homebrewers, regardless of club affiliation. There is no cost to enter the competition and no limit to the number of beers a brewer can enter. The competition itself is held on a Friday evening and is open to invited judges and stewards only. Entries are accepted in either corny kegs (3 gal or 5 gal) or traditional casks (5 gal pins preferred, but 10 gal firkins are accepted if appropriate stillage is provided). Current protocol calls for all beers entered in corny kegs to be served using beer engines and all those entered in casks to be served through gravity dispense.

The beer engines used to draw beer from corny kegs are kindly loaned to the event by BURP members and other area Real Ale devotees. This year’s event featured 20 of these beautiful hand pumps, all lovingly maintained by their owners and representative of several different UK manufacturers (some of which are long out of business, making replacement parts nearly impossible to find).

All beers are judged according to their quality as well as their adherence to the style guidelines. BURP prides itself on recruiting the most knowledgeable Real Ale judges from within both the homebrewing and professional brewing communities. Ribbons are awarded for first, second and third places, and the overall winner receives the coveted BURP Champion Real Ale pewter cup. Also, by long tradition, there is a special “Cellarman’s Choice” award presented to the beer deemed by the competition cellarmen/women and competition stewards to be “the best beer in the competition which does not reach the Best of Show table”.

The Real Ale Festival

All beer remaining after the Friday competition is made available to BURP members and their honored guests for tasting at the Real Ale Festival held the following day. The event is held in a private home so is not open to the public. However, it is one of the major events on the BURP calendar so attracts a large number of the club’s nearly 200 members. The event begins at noon with an educational session on Real Ale. This year, BURP member (and Real Ale guru) Andy Anderson provided a comparative tasting of his Ordinary Bitter served three ways – on gravity from a cask and from two separate beer engines, one with and one without a sparkler.

After the education session, all beers are made available to the thirsty crowd on a self-serve basis. A large abundance of food is contributed by all those attending.

The event has been covered in the regional press, including a nice appreciation in the Washington Post some years ago by beer writer Greg Kitsock. It is still available on the Post website at this link.

Further information on the BURP Homebrew Club, including a membership link, can be found on the club website at https://www.burp.org/.