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Ok boys and girls. This is it. I’ve just come back from Regina where I had
the chance to participate both as a judge and a competitor at an awesome
and huge regional competition (story below). ALEs has positioned their competition to be a feeder to our ABC/MCAB qualifier and now it is up to us to pull off the big one. Glen has done a fantastic job of organizing his team of competition volunteers, the competition has been advertised across North America, we have the support of brew clubs across western Canada and indeed the nation. Now all we need is you.
Over the years we have built the ABC/MCAB qualifier to be Canada’s number one quality competition. We’ve built the volume, the judging standards, the professionalism and last and most important we’ve helped educate all competitors who entered by providing the best feedback possible. Everyone who enters is a winner because whether you get the gold or not – the most important thing is you get quality feedback on your efforts. That’s the main reason you should be competing in the ABC.
Don’t worry about beating Harry Wagner or me on your first go. If you do, that’s great. Harry and I will love you for it. Remember, Harry and I didn’t start off getting gold, but we were winners from the get go. Why? Because we competed - both against those who were getting gold but more importantly, against ourselves. We entered, we studied the comments, we compared those comments against our beers and the next time we brewed we went on to build better beers. Over time we became good and then eventually we became some of the best. That’s what all competition is about – being the best at what you do for yourself.
This year the ABC tradition of excellence continues. The only question is – are you going to become part of it?
Hosting their regional competition under the theme of “Learning and Training” the Regina Ales this year pulled off brewing history. Even though they are not officially sanctioned by CABA, and are not a direct gateway onto higher levels of competition, these people managed to attract over 250 entries from across Canada. This easily put them into being the largest homebrew competition in Canadian history. With the rise of Regina, combined with the traditional strength of the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild, western Canada now clearly is the powerhouse of homebrewing in the Nation. Things will only get better for us out here in the west. Both Regina and Edmonton are seriously interested in helping other western clubs – Regina’s theme for this years’ competition could easily be taken as the motto of both clubs. Regina, you did western Canada proud!
Three judges from Edmonton went to help out – myself, Geoff Kuziw (national in all but official recognition) and new judge Kevin Zaychuk. It was an excellent judging experience for all of us. Unlike Edmonton, which because of its gateway status to MCAB seems to attract less novice brewers and therefore has a tighter and higher range, Regina is wide open. Their program highly encourages novice brewers and multiple entries. Therefore quality ranges from bad to awesome. For a judge, especially for someone near the beginning of their judging career who still has a lot to learn, there could be no better competition to judge than this one. You got to deal with the whole range. On top of that, Regina treated us like royalty. Billeting was excellent and the club ran a tab as the competition was hosted at Bushwakker’s, I highly recommend all judges to go to Regina at least once in their judging careers. I know I’ll be back.
Despite a doubling of entries from last year, the ALEs kept their cool and processed all the entries very smoothly. Thanks in part to software donated by the EHG, but in large part to American import and computer guru, Robert who seemed to run a tight ship in the backroom. The ALEs did a good job of pairing novice and experienced judges. Like us judging is done by consensus but they do a 3-point spread. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily the judges from Edmonton and the ALEs were able to come to agreement. There was good give and take, attitude was minimal and judging was efficient. Which was good because boy some of the flights were just huge!
I had told the ALEs before I arrived to either pair me with a novice (for education) or give me a big flight (for efficiency). They kindly started me off with both! My first flight was 19 stouts! Have you ever had to get through 19 stouts in a row? On top of that I was put with a novice named Tim Lowen. That was scary. It was even scarier because our first 4 beers scored 24, 23, 26, and 25. Oh Shit. You see, Regina pours their beers one at a time, unlike the whole flight approach we take. I had no idea of the range of quality I was facing. Was I being an arrogant prick and Tim being a newbie no-nothing? The only good thing was that we were both scoring the same and had the same general perception. Then we hit a 36 and a 37. Whew! Confidence was restored and we were off. Tim and I continued to score tight and about 2 hours later we were done and I mean done as in also toasted. ALEs wanted us to carry right on with dark Euro Lagers but I said no way was I going to do more dark malt. So the ALEs demonstrated their flexibility and we were rewarded with IPAs. Because we had taken so long to do the stouts I was paired with Tim again. And we continued to make a great team.
Saturday for me was a real treat because not only did I get to meet a long-term competition rival, but also I got to judge with him and what a set of flights we got. Gary Falkenstein and I wound up spending Saturday morning judging Old Ales, Scotch Ales, Barley Wines and Imperial Stouts. Life is tough but someone’s gotta do it. Again scoring was tight, perceptions parallel and speed on the mark. An awesome experience with an awesome judge.
Since, for some reason I could not do best of show, I wound up doing meads. Kevin Zaychuk was also mysteriously not selected for BOS, but Geoff Kuziw was awarded the honour of representing Alberta on the panel. Kevin and Gary Falkenstein judged the traditional meads and David Neilly and myself did fruits. They had to split it into two because they had over 20 entries in meads! I tasted some of the best berry meads in my life (and the most mouth wash like mead also, but that’s another story). We could tell that the top two berry meads were by the same guy as they had a distinct house flavour. But those were the rules and the best two won. The worst was also by the same guy – but he claimed that he just loved that mead. Go figure. (Sorry about that Russ!).
The competition ended in traditional homebrewer fashion with judges and friends doing their very best to demolish all the also rans. Several hours later I wound up at Russ Temple’s, along with my host Kelly Deis, where we proceeded to put a dint into Russ’s collection of American imports. Sometime that evening Russ’s very gracious wife drove Kelly and I back to his place.
So that’s it folks. An excellent competition. Well run, efficient teamwork, great comradery. What more can you say? To my mind this competition beats competing in the Great Canadian Homebrew competition any day. It’s gonna become my main out of Edmonton competition, I highly recommend making it yours. And if you’re a judge – it would be hard to beat the experience of judging in Regina. Go for it.
Oh, and Edmonton did very well at this competition – especially considering the huge number of entries we were up against. We came away with two best of shows and 10 additional medals.
Results:
Greg Wondga - 1st Brown Ale - American Brown
Greg Wondga - 2nd Spice Ale - Weddyn Ale
Kevin Zaychuk - 1st - American Pale Ales (this was a BURRP beer!)
Bruce Sample - 2nd - Fruit Beer - Christmas Stout
Roxy Hastings - 1st - German Wheats - Weizenbok
Roxy Hastings - 1st - Belgian Ales - Saison
Roxy Hastings - 2nd - English Bitters -ESB
Roxy Hastings - 2nd - Lambics - Lambic
Roxy Hastings - 3rd - European Pilsner - German Pils
Roxy Hastings - 3rd - Brown Ale - Southern Brown
Greg Wondga - 2nd BOS - American Brown (see - I told him those damn Americans didn't have a clue how good that beer was)
Roxy Hastings - 3rd BOS - Weizenbock
mebrew is also acceptable.
Well, the first annual BURRP! competition was pulled off with much fanfare, arm-twisting and imbibing. When the yeast had settled out, and Geoff Kuziw’s elbow had mended, we had three clear winners: Joe Simons - Best Brew (Munich Dunkel/N. Brown), Kevin Zaychuk - Closest to Style (American Pale Ale), and Richard Bruins - Most Outrageous Attempt (Steam or California Common Beer). Bob Boufford was awarded a consolation- Best Brew? (Best Bitter) both for giving it a good shot but also because he managed to brew not one, but two brews from his measly 10 lbs. of two row. Joe had obviously paid careful attention to how he made his malts because the beer had excellent, soft mouthfeel and a rich dark malt character.
It was great to see new members picking up awards in this wacky event – this bodes well for the continued spirit of the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild. There is already talk of at least one BURRP two for next year. Brian at Harvest Brew was happy to support the event. If any of you guys have any beers left over from this it would be a nice touch to drop off a bottle to Brian.
Remember, we are looking for all these BURP beers to be entered into our ABC competition this month. All these beers can go in at least two times. Once into Experimental and secondly into the style or styles you think it best matches.
Oh, and just to prove that this was indeed a realistic possibility and that BURRP was not just a completely off the wall competition, Kevin went ahead and entered his beer in Regina. There it won 1st place in American Pale Ales against stiff competition. Look out Harry!
Marooned in Hamilton!! Yes, it was by personal choice – to do the requisite course work for my Masters degree at McMaster University – but last September it still felt like being shipwrecked. Aside from being far away from family and friends, I knew I had to endure 8 months without brewing, which meant 8 months without good beer. To say I was feeling a bit sorry for myself would not be overstating the case.
Hamilton is known for its steel, its pollution and its mediocre football club. And not for good quality beer. The only local brewery offers up low-cost discount beers that rip off major labels. A Molson Export clone called, appropriately, Steeler. Or a Corona knock-off (as if anyone would want to duplicate Corona) labeled Brava. The prospects were sad, indeed.
But how wrong I was proven to be.
Within a few days of my arrival, I stumbled upon two of the best pubs I have ever stumbled out of. And both within a 10 minute walk of my temporary home. The two bars could not have been more dissimilar, but taken as a pair, they construct what may be close to the perfect commercial beer experience.
The first is right downtown with the pedestrian name of “Chester’s Beers of the World”. Its claim is a 24 page beer list spanning 35 countries. More than 200 beers all guaranteed to be in stock. From the normal Guiness and Grolsch and Beck’s to the downright bizarre Trinidadian Stout or Keo Pilsener from Cyprus. If you have the inclination (or the money) you can purchase an $85 2- litre bottle of Burgerbrau Plisner. Or maybe a Double Enghein for $30.
The stock of Belgian beers is impressive, with a list of 46 from that wonderful country alone. I had my first taste of a St. Bernardus Tripel in Chester’s.
Of course, most of the offerings are standard premium exports, which are sadly the best sellers in this upscale lounge. Businesspeople in town for a couple of days and prepared to pay a little more for a Stella Artois or Smithwick’s dominate this place.
But for this avid brewer and beer lover, the unquestioned highlight was Thomas Hardy’s Ale. The owner tells me he has two flats of this now defunct, restricted quantity barley wine in his cellar. I allowed myself to enjoy a bottle of the 1993 vintage from this complex and rarified beer as my celebration upon completing the last of my assignments (and was even allowed to return to Edmonton with a second, unopened bottle).
But for the beer lover, the real place to go is “Augusta’s Winking Judge” a few blocks south (on Augusta street, hence the moniker). Set in a transformed turn of the century house, it is an unassuming and decidedly unpretentious pub. It is the kind of place where a new visitor quickly falls into conversation with the regulars, or finds themselves drawn into a round of beer-filled cards with fellow revelers (something which happened to me more than once).
Sounds pleasant enough, but what makes this an exceptional pub is the beer on offer. It presently has 24 taps, and not a Molson or Labatt product to be found. The only beers you find in this pub are Ontario or Quebec microbreweries, with the occasional bootlegged keg of American craft brew (such as Arrogant Bastard Ale).
And the icing on this sweet cake? Three real aile taps serving traditional cask-fermented traditional ales. Without saying, these ailes are pulled into your pint glass in the time-honoured fashion, with temperatures and conditions met perfectly. Never such a sweet nectar will any of us taste in our land of Canadian and Blue.
Less carbonated than normal ales, served warmer with little regard for clarity and crispness, real ailes remind one of the best parts of homebrew. The complexities of the ale come through strongly, aided by the residuals of esters and yeast not filtered away. The fact I was able to enjoy a pint or three in a pub with beer-knowledgeable made my brewing equipment (and the Edmonton Homebrewers Guild) seem not quite so far away.
The samplings on offer rotate regularly, so suggestions may not prove helpful. But for what it is worth, my favourites were the Sergeant Major’s IPA (said to be the bitterest beer in Canada) Church Key and Maclean’s ESB (real aile version).
This rare and wonderous beer house is the child of two former homebrewers, Bill Rae and Albert Churchill, who were tired of the fizzy pale fare offered in Hamilton’s working class pubs and bars. Their creature of love and beer devotion has succeeded due to a small and committed crew of regulars, pining for a fine pint, plus the healthy addition of homebrewers turned temporary students looking for solace. I certainly found it there.
And lucky for me, solace was to be found minutes away from my place of study and work.
While Edmontonians rarely make their way to Hamilton, if chance and fate find you there, I recommend you allot a significant portion of your itinerary to spending a share of hours at Augusta’s Winking Judge.
I have the following items that I would prefer to sell to someone interested in brewing. I am located in Edmonton.
1- 1 Pepsi fountain pop machine 5 head complete with 5 stainless steel tanks and CO2 bottle & regulator and all fittings. Was working when disassembled.
2- 14 dozen green & clear plastic 500ml bottles.
3- 1 54 litre green demi- john in plastic carry case.
Please have interested parties contact me.
In their efforts to regulate beer quality, the ancient Babylonians, who were among history's earliest brewers, decreed that any commercial beermaker who sold unfit beer would be drowned in his/her own libation.
An 18- year study by the National Institute on Aging found that 50- plus men who consumed a drink a day during middle age scored significantly better on cognitive tests later in life than did non-drinkers.
On October 17 of 1814, a rupture in a brewery tank containing 3,500 barrels of beer caused a flood of fatal proportions in the London parish of St. Giles. The wave of beer swept victims off their feet, dashed them against walls, and buried them under debris. Two houses were demolished in the sea of beer suddenly loosed upon town, and nine people lost their lives in the flood of suds.
George Washington had his own brewhouse on the grounds of Mount Vernon.
After consuming a bucket or two of vibrant brew they called aul, or ale, the Vikings would head fearlessly into battle, often without armor or even shirts. In fact, "berserk" means "bare shirt" in Norse, and eventually took on the meaning of their wild battles.