It should not be hard to tell were my mind is at right now. Competitions! We are right smack in the middle of the biggest 5-7 weeks of brewing competitions in western Canada: early May Regina, early June Edmonton, and the wrap up to the season, mid-June Calgary. Get those entries in to Edmonton by 28 May. I could go on and on about this but I know the rest of my team will be banging the drum so I don’t have to here. Rather I’ll devote my space to the kick off show of the season.

The season certainly started well with a total blow out in Regina: 615 entries! That is 360 more entries than either Regina or Edmonton had last year. Of those 615 entries, 160 came from Edmonton – we had 50 more entries from our club alone than the total number of entries last year when the competition was held in Toronto! Amazing. We kind of spooked Regina a bit with our high number of entries. Ours were the first entries to arrive and Bushwakker brewer Dave Rudge emailed me and said their cooler was already full and that was just from Edmonton! Not to be outdone Regina members responded to our challenge by coming up with some 200 of their own entries. Those numbers tell you just how powerful home brewing has become in western Canada this past year. But finally, yes finally, there is life in eastern Canada as the Montrealers and other Quebec clubs also competed with significant numbers this year and walked away with several fists full of medals. But the rally from the east could still not match the momentum of the west; Regina and Edmonton clearly dominated the show with a one-two punch in total medals taken. Well done to the West and what a great way to kick off the inauguration of the Western Confederation of Brew Clubs.

Besides the medal counts there were lots of things to be very happy about. It was great to see best of show go to their hard working competition organizer, Kelly Deis, who also dominated the show with a huge whack of medals. Kelly pulled off a Herculean feat – faced with 360 more entries than ever before, he organized his team of judges in an extremely efficient manner. Largely due to his efforts (although he would not admit it himself) Regina blew through the entries in a week, with the help of a last minute push with judges from Saskatoon and Edmonton. Kelly is just the most awesome gentle giant of a man who has to be the most modest brewer I’ve ever met. He has a generous spirit that well symbolizes the heart of western brewers.

Kelly will represent Canada well in the AHA finals. He is one of 6 Regina members coming to our competition and conference; make every effort to meet this man and make him feel welcome. We are privileged to have such talent working for the Confederation.

But Edmonton certainly wasn’t shut out of BOS, long time member Barry Hunt finally had a break-out-year and took 2nd BOS with a fantastically crafted Scottish 60. And a guy who has been absent on the national scene for a number of years, Harry Wagner, reasserted his presence with a fine 3rd BOS with his signature American Pale Ale. To top off BOS, mead maker of the year went to our local beer scribe, Greg Wondga, who not only had the best mead in the show, but also took two other medals for meads. Greg also was the 3rd best brewer in the show taking home something like 6 medals in a wide range of styles. This is fantastic from a guy who entered his first competition only two years ago. Of course his path was set right from the beginning because he took a silver medal in his first ABC and got a medal in the AHA finals last year.

For me there were a lot of highlights at the show but three were particularly outstanding. For years the AHA first round event in Canada has largely been dominated by a few brewers taking home most of the metal. This year was quite different and I think it marks the maturity that has been achieved by the western brew clubs. The reason it was different was that this year the medals were very well distributed amongst all the competitors; yes Kelly, Barry Bremner, and Greg each won quite a few, but other than that, the wins were well spread around. For example, Edmonton had 18 competitors this year and of those 18 something like 13-15 medaled. Not only did we jump from 3-4 guys competing, so many of them came away with one or two medals. That tells me there is a depth of talent that both clubs can tap into for the future, because we are most strong by having many talented people rather than having a few of us at some kind of demi-god status. I felt hugely proud both for Edmonton and Regina to be hearing so many different names being called at the awards banquet.

The second thing that felt so good was to have both cities shouting for and applauding the other city’s wins. As their president John Gray pointed out several times through the weekend, not only are we their biggest rivals we are their best friends. We are indeed sister clubs.

The third thing was more personal for me and what an honour it was. The best thing about being a high-ranking judge who doesn’t get a gold is the chance to do Best of Show. This is something that hasn’t happened in a long time for me at a national level show. The chance to do it with the dream team of judges that Kelly assembled more than made up for the lack of wins on my part. Kelly graciously chose 3 out of 5 judges to come from out of town, so not only did I get to judge with Dave Rudge and Garry Falkenstein of Regina, two of the most knowledgeable beer geeks in western Canada, I got to have Ken Nyback and Mark Nesdoly at the table. The way that team worked to efficiently and fairly get through that tough final flight was awe inspiring unto itself, let alone considering the quality beer on the table. If anybody needed reassuring that the most competent judges in Canada come from the west, they only had to watch that team of experienced people work their way through that flight. It was impressive. These guys are all leaders and I know each of them will continue to contribute to quality brewing in Canada, hopefully for a long time to come.

I know I left out several people integral to the success of the show and my excuse is simply that I don’t know all of you, but one name I cannot overlook is Regina’s President, John Gray. This is a really cool and gracious man, able to listen to my rants and move on, able to judge with masterful competence, and able to pull his team together under adversity. Make sure you meet the man when he comes to Edmonton. You won’t be able to miss him, he’ll be the guy standing there with long hair in a pony tail and a huge smile on his face.

Finally, I have to say congratulations to all the brewers from across the nation for helping making Regina’s show such a success. Several new brewers got medals, several people who have been trying for a long time finally broke out and some long-term winners kept their place at the podium. Even if you didn’t place you are a winner for competing and your future in brewing will only be better for it.

Now let’s move on to Edmonton and make that show the success that Regina’s was!