The EHG 2004 Aurora Brewing Challenge on June 3-5, 2004 has been registered with both the BJCP and the AHA. The Edmonton Home Brewers Guild is proud to once again to be hosting this event as an MCAB qualifier. Our strong commitment to provide excellent feedback and results to our competitors in a short turn around year after year makes our event among the best. Without the enthusiasm from the volunteers in our club and those in the Western Canadian clubs this wouldn’t be possible.

The ABC will run from Thursday to Saturday, different from previous years. This is to attract out of town judges, stewards and other club members and their spouses to not only attend the competition but also the conference and dinner that will follow on the Saturday night.

I have received emails from brewing clubs in the U.S. that are interested in submitting entries and I must admit I have to work harder on recruiting more interest from the clubs in our Eastern provinces to submit entries into the ABC. The Western Canadian clubs; the Headhunters from Saskatoon, Marquis de Suds from Calgary, Lethbridge and ALES from Regina will again show strong numbers this year and we need to return the support for their competitions.

This year will be a memorable event for the Guild and its members. We are shooting for the stars and aim to shatter last year’s record of 238 entries. We are anticipating over 300 entries this year – a 26 % increase from last year! Am I nuts for expecting this? Yes! Is it possible? Well I wouldn’t be organizing the event if it wasn’t. To do my part there is an article in the December newsletter on building up an inventory of homebrews strictly for competitions. See “The Scoop on Competitive Brewing by the Master Competitor”. I have adopted that philosophy in my brewing by bottling six to twelve bottles per five-gallon batch and storing them in a room in my basement never to be seen again until competition time. By doing this, my inventory has grown leaps and bounds. I ask my fellow EHG members to do the same and enter many and in multiple categories if so desired.

Cheers