Because it is that time of year I’m devoting this View to competitions. The season could not have started off better for the Guild, and put us back on track as being the top club in the nation by what happened in Lethbridge a few weeks ago. In that competition EHG claimed something like 12-13 medals, including a Best of Show by Glen Hanna, out of a possible 21. Frank Kuzemski was the all round best brewer taking home 3 awards. Otherwise the wins were well spread amongst those of us who competed, illustrating that once again we are on our way to having a depth of competitive brewers that we can draw on. Besides Glen taking home a well-deserved BOS, I was especially pleased to see new member Shawn Lamble taking a second place in the very tough pale lager class. Congratulations to all EHG members who competed, a very inspiring job to everyone.

Now to the future:

For those in the know, those who have been around a few years and competed in our annual ABC/MCAB qualifier, you know these are the last few weeks to squeeze in those final few brews for the competition. For those who are new to the art of competing let me draw your attention to three critical dates – May 28, April 25 and 3 June. May 28 is a critical date because it is the last day that you can enter brews into the ABC. April 25 is a critical date because it is about the last possible day to start an ale and have a reasonable chance of having it fermented, in the bottle and well- conditioned before the final critical day, 3 June, which is the first day that the stewards will be cracking open your bottles and serving them to the judging panel. So if you’ve been holding off for any reason, delay no more, get out those pots and hops and get going on that final batch!

It is now too late to brew for the other very important competition in the region, the AHA qualifier being held for the first time this year in Regina on May 7&8. However, if you have two bottles of brew of any quality at all, do not hesitate to send these beers to this competition. If you have any doubts about whether a beer should be sent on or you are wondering what style to enter them into I have two bits of advice. 1) It is worthwhile sending any beer into competition – even if you don’t medal you will get great feedback, knowledge alone is priceless. And then you can send the same beer into ABC and compare the comments from two sets of judging pools. 2) If you don’t know which category to compete in, compete in more than one. That way you will get two sets of opinions on each beer. The ALEs competition is beautifully, and craftily, designed to foster this. Why? Because after 6 entries each additional entry is only a buck per entry! Nada, not one cent more you have pay out than $1.00 each entry except for shipping. And since the EHG is paying your shipping, this should inspire you to do everything possible to send more than 6 beers to Regina.

Now if after all that you are still unsure about what to enter, feel free to bring a bottle of those borderline beers to this month’s Guild meeting. Get a few experienced beer judges in your corner and pour your brew. Listen to what they say and then go for it. Neil, Gunther, Harry and myself are always on hand to provide good advice but there are other great judges in the club so don’t limit your self to our opinions.

The final reason to compete in Regina is that Regina is our sister club. They have a similar ethos towards brewing, have a well-qualified judging team, are aggressively competitive, but have a fantastic regional spirit. Regina is one of the reasons why in the past the ABC has been so successful – Regina has piled beers into our competition. Last year they won more first place medals in ABC than any other club. It’s time to repay that favour. We want to pile beers into the ALEs, both to prove that Regina can support an AHA first round site, and secondly, so that EHG takes more first place medals than any other club. Fair is fair. But seriously, supporting Regina supports brewing across western Canada. They are a fantastic brew club and a pillar of home brewing in the nation. As a small example of their commitment to the hobby, Kelly Deis, a good friend of mine in Regina, has promised that they will match us entry for entry. That is for every entry we send to Regina, they will send at least one entry back to Edmonton. So by supporting Regina, and helping them grow, you are also helping grow the ABC. So go for, give Regina everything you’ve got, except of course for the two bottles going to our ABC!

Packing Day for Regina

To help make this all happen we are having a group shipping get together. In addition to Lethbridge and Calgary, Regina ALEs is one of the competitions where the EHG pays for all shipping costs. All you have to do is cover your entry fees.

Fees are: $6.00/entry for each of the first 6 entries, $1.00 each for every entry after that.

When and Where: Saturday 17 April at 2:00 PM we will meet at Alley Kat. If you cannot meet that day, drop off your beers to Alley Kat sometime that week. Make sure those bottles are labelled so we know what they are.

What to bring: 1) 2 bottles each for each entry – remember to keep back 3 bottles of each in case you medal and go on to the AHA finals. Black out the caps. 2) filled in labels attached to each bottle with an elastic band (if you can’t do this we will have entry forms on hand). 3) A cheque with your entry fees. 4) Optional but helpful – an empty partitioned wine box. If a few of us bring boxes it will really help.All other packing materials including bubble wrap and brown paper will be available at Alley Kat.

I will have a sign up sheet at the meeting. It would be very helpful for planning purposes if you could let me know how many beers you plan to ship to Regina so I can organize supplies.

Bob Boufford modified the PDF entry form for Regina that will make filling out the forms much easier. For the computer challenged, you can just print the form and fill it out with pen. Further information on ALEs competition can be seen at: http://www.alesclub.com

Call for judges/stewards- Regina

Regina is expecting 300 or so entries this year. They need help from out-of-town judges to expediently get through this event. Full scale judging starts in the late afternoon of Friday 7 May at Bushwakker. There is an awards banquet with guest speakers being held at Bushwakker on Saturday – banquet tickets are $25.00. So far we have three judges Ken Nyback, Kevin Zaychuk and Roxy and one steward, Bob Boufford who will be travelling to Regina to participate. If you are interested in helping out please contact Roxy at roxanneih@shaw.ca or John Gray (ALES President) at damntasty@accesscomm.ca

If you are planning to attend as a judge, send John an email telling him what styles you are entering so they can make sure they put you into non-conflicting flights. Do this ASAP.