Regional Representative Updates

The Midwest competition and exam scene continues to grow back towards pre-pandemic levels.

This autumn was kind of remarkable in Chicago as they bounced back post-pandemic, with three in-person competitions, plus two more are scheduled for early 2023. 

Indianapolis had a large Homebrew fundraising beer festival, Homebrew Palooza, in October. In November, the Indy Brew Battle (competition and a festival) also was a great success.
As Midwest Rep, I’m working with Homebrew clubs in Illinois and Missouri to get a few mead exams on the calendar and fill the seats.  If your club has similar needs, please contact me or one of the assistant reps.

Kansas City will be the site of the 40th annual Kansas City Biermeister’s competition and I have judged here many times and probably will return this year.

The big news for our region (and all US regions) is the return of National Homebrew Competition First Rounds!  Details are still being finalized, but there will be two Midwest sites this time around.  I’d like to encourage all BJCP judges to participate in First Rounds close to them, or First Rounds in places they’d like to travel to! These regional competitions are excellent ways to participate in NHC and are great ways for our younger judges to gain really solid judging experience.

Have a question about our region or do you have something you’d like in next Quarter’s newsletter ? Please send me an email about it.

Cheers,
Sandy Cockerham

Mid-Atlantic
Fred Mullner

Pennsylvania
Guest writer Chadd Balbi of Breweries In PA has a great write-up of the inaugural Pennsylvania Homebrew Invitational where they crowned the first-ever statewide hombrew champion:

The first ever Pennsylvania Homebrew Invitational was years in the making. Breweries In PA has always strived to be the best resource for Pennsylvania Craft Beer in existence. And after having successfully supported the professional industry for so many years and putting on several professional beer fest events, we knew it was time to showcase the amazing world of homebrewing in PA. The idea was simple; a statewide competition to crown the best homebrewer in Pennsylvania. However, the execution was difficult.

How do you fairly crown the best homebrewer. If you hold an event in Philadelphia, what about all those in Pittsburgh who can’t get across the state? What about Erie, and the Poconos, and Central PA and every other town in PA. Would it really be fair to crown the best homebrewer who could happen to make the drive to an event that could be hours away?

So, the decision was made… if we were going to do this it had to be done right. The Breweries In PA brand has become synonymous for putting the interest in customers and the industry first. The attention to detail we bring to every event had to be upheld. So, we decided the only way to do this was to go into each community and find the best regional homebrewers. And after we found the best of the best, all regional winners would compete for the best in the state. However, this is a large undertaking. It requires the coordination of hundreds of individuals, a ton of travel, and significant expenses to get it off the ground. So, we sat on the idea for four years thinking it would never work. And then, after years of planning, the inaugural Pennsylvania Homebrew Invitational was born.

Five regional competitions would take place throughout Pennsylvania between June and August of 2022. Each held beer fest style where the homebrewers would submit one beer for official judging in front of a BJCP panel and pour any beer they liked to the guests in attendance. During each event we found our top five homebrewers based on a Best of Show BJCP judging round. Those three from each of the five regions (Philadelphia, Central PA, Pittsburgh, Erie, and Poconos) would be invited to the championship where all 15 homebrewers would compete for the title of best homebrewer in PA.

On Sunday, October 16th we held the final event; the Pennsylvania Homebrew Championship at a centrally located brewery; Rusty Rail Brewing in Mifflinburg, PA. Not only was Rusty Rails location ideal to bring everyone in from the state, but their brewery also offered the space needed to celebrate the best homebrewers in PA properly. Much like the regional events, all competitors at the championship event submitted one beer for official judging. And a beer fest was held where they would pour any beer of their choosing to guests. While the beer festival was taking place a team of BJCP judges would simultaneously judge the submitted beer in a Best Of Show style panel. It was during this judging where we found our ultimate winner.

Adam Carter (Perfect Chemistry Brewing) would take home the prize of best homebrewer in PA. Adam would initially win first place at the Philadelphia region with a Mixed Fermentation style beer and would go on to win the grand prize of a custom made championship belt and $2,000 cash prize with the same beer.

In total over 1,000 guests participated in the year long competition, over 200 homebrewers in the state submitted their beer and more than 20 BJCP judges would be a part of the regional panels. The first ever Pennsylvania Homebrew Invitational was such a success, that it is intended to continue for years to come.

Ohio
Assistant Regional Representative Andrew Melchers of Cincinnati brings us this update on Beer & Sweat  34: In August, Bloatarian Brewing League pulled off another year of Beer & Sweat – our 34th Annual KEG-ONLY homebrewing competition that saw 116 entries from 5 states surrounding OH. We got back to our roots of hosting the post-judging party OUTSIDE this year. Unlike most every other homebrew competitions, ALL of the kegged entries are on tap for entrants and club members to sample! So, yes, that means you get to sample the entries of your competitors and friends to decide for yourself if they are worthy.

After performing a secret ceremony from the ancient scrolls of Floatus Bloatus, of a made up religion  known as Bloatarianism, it was declared that “HOMEBREW IS GOOD!” and the event organizers announced the winners of each category. Ultimately a Trappist Single brewed by Phil Meyer, a long-time BBL member, was the choice of the vaunted BOS judges panel. Phil was invited to brew his recipe at Listermann Brewing Co where it was tapped with much fanfare. Congrats also to Joey Brumley of MASH for his American Porter selected as BOS runner up.

BBL and Listermann Homebrew Supply co-hosted a Learn to Homebrew Day brew out on Nov 5th. Over 40 people attended the event this year to watch and learn from 4 brewers who made 25 gallons of beer. Demonstrations of traditional all-grain and extract methods were done, along with demos of the more automated Anvil and Grainfather all-in-one systems. As part of the draw of the event, the club secured a donation from BSG Handcraft of a Grainfather G30 system to raffle! The winning ticket belonged to Bill Huelsman who happened to be one of the brewers at the event – he was delighted! Half of the proceeds from the raffle are being donated to a local no-kill animal rescue.

In November the club will elect a new board. We’d like to thank Andrew Melchers for his leadership over the past 4 years and congratulate Bryan Evenson who will become club president, as he is running unopposed for the position, along with the rest of the new board who will take over in January. Plans are already underway for a great 2023!

From Cleveland, Paul Klammer and the Society of Northeastern Ohio Brewers (SNOB) have some unique competitions coming up. Paul is planning to revive the inaugural Ohio 4OZ that never happened due to Covid. This will be a local ingredient / local process competition in early 2023. The date hasn’t been set, but he’s targeting March-May 2023. If anyone has ever been involved in a competition like this and would be willing to give some advice, please reach out to me at [email protected] and I will pass along your information.