What Is 'Sasquatch Ale'? Homebrewers Will Decide

This Saturday, 2/11, I will participate as a BJCP Judge for the Sasquatch Ale Homebrew Competition.  This is the first Sasquatch Ale Homebrew Competition and it's being influenced by the impending arrival of the National Homebrew Conference, which will be held in Seattle this June 21-23. 

(Courtesy wahomebrewers.org):
"With the 2012 National Homebrewers Conference in Bellevue next June, the Washington Homebrewers Association is looking for a special beer that Sasquatch (the honorary conference organizer) can be proud to serve to conference goers. We're looking to Washington homebrew club members to come up with they consider to be the embodiment of a "Sasquatch Ale" capture a special, Northwest, "Sasquatchian" flavor.

But what is a "Sasquatch Ale?" Ask yourself, "What Would Sasquatch Brew?" We are looking to Washington homebrew club members to come up with they consider to be the embodiment of a "Sasquatch Ale." Is it malty? Hoppy? Dark? Light? Hairy? Mysterious? Spiced? Smoky? Mossy? Woody? Who knows? But we want you to help us discover this style by entering the "Sasquatch Ale Homebrew Competition.""

As you can see, exactly what 'Sasquatch Ale' is has yet to be defined.  The competition is limited to AHA/BJCP Category 23A, which is for 'Specialty Beer'.  This is a somewhat more loosely defined beer catagory, and opens up the brewer to get creative with any number of 'specialty' ingredients.  Per the BJCP style guidelines:

"The distinctive flavor character associated with the stated specialty nature (i.e. the specialty ingredient(s) the brewer uses) should be noticeable, and may range in intensity from subtle to aggressive."

So, as a judge for this competiton I (along with many other and far more experienced BJCP Judges) will get to make the call on exactly what 'Sasquatch Ale' is.  Good luck to all the entrants!  Judging will be taking place at Larry's Brewing Supply in Kent this Saturday. 

Drink responsibly and stay safe out there.

(Disclaimer: Yes, I am aware there used to be a beer called "Sasquatch Ale", which was brewed by Six Rivers Brewery out of California.  However, this beer no longer exists/is no longer in production.)

Belgianfest, Judging & Barleywine Festivals

Snowpocalypse 2012 has passed.  I for one, hope that was the majority of lowland snow we'll be seeing this winter.  Living at the bottom of a steep hill, it cuases lots of problems for me.  I hope any of you who were snowed in had an adequate supply of liquid courage on hand.  Now it's time to look ahead to what's next. 

Belgianfest:

The next event I'll be attending is Seattle's 2012 Belgianfest, which will be held this year on Saturday, February 4th at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center on pier 66.  There will be more than 60 different Belgian styled beers from several different Seattle area breweries.  Tickets are on sale now from Brown Paper Tickets, and there are two sessions to chose from:

Session 1: 12:00-4:00 pm
Session 2: 5:30-9:30 pm

I already have my ticket for Session 1, and I'm looking forward to wrapping my lips around some Saisons, dubbels, wits, farmhouse ales, lambics and more.  Belgian yeasts have very distinctive character, and I'm looking forward to a full afternoon of inundating my palate with various, wonderful Belgian styles. 

Patience Is A Virtue

Back in April of this year in a post titled, "Patience & Planning Ahead", I posted about the necessity of patience in the brewing and fermentation process.  I think, with my latest batch of IPA, I have finally realized the true benefits of patience and planning. 

Back in late June, I brewed an IPA for a competition.  The competiton is the Fly-PA IPA competition being put on by the Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery.  It's a cooperative members-only competiton to find Flying Bike's 'flagship' IPA beer.  The winner will have their beer scaled up and contract-brewed by Three Skulls Ales here in Seattle.  It's a rare opportunity for a homebrewer, like myself, to not only have their beer featured at a local pub, but to create what will be the first ever production beer created for the Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery; an important milestone for any brewery - or brewer.  I brewed a nice and hoppy Imperial IPA, with a final acohol level somewhere in range of 7-8 percent (7.75% ABV). 

A Beautiful Imperial IPA

The Imperial IPA I brewed stayed nestled in it's primary fermenter at 68 degrees for a full three weeks before I moved it from the fermenter to a 5-gallon keg for conditioning.  I had intended to let the beer condition for just a week or two before dry-hopping it, but I got so busy and sidetracked that I didn't get around to dry-hopping it until about a week ago (August 17th); which means the beer was allowed to condition for about 4 1/2 weeks before being dry-hopped.  This was not a bad thing. 

The beer was not carbonated during conditioning.  I only placed a gentle blanket of CO2 at 10PSI into the keg just after filling it, and then disconnected the CO2 line.  Two days after adding the hops (in a 'hop sock') to the keg, I began carbonation. 

Last night, I got the first true taste of the finished beer - dry hopped an all.  I was very pleased.  I can honestly say that this may very well be the best IPA I have ever brewed.  It was also the first batch where my wife, Lynn, was my assistant brewer.  So it was a great milestone for her as well. 

The aroma, appearance and flavor of my IIPA were all right where I wanted them to be.  I had to stop myself from going back for more.  I want to let the beer sit a few days longer, and then I'll bottle some this weekend for the competition.  After that, I can begin enjoying the rest for myself and bring some to a few friends for them to enjoy as well. 

I used a brand new recipe, concocted from scratch by myself, for this batch.  It is definitely a recipe I'll have to try again.  I had originally planned to use Simcoe hops for this batch, but I was unable to find any, so I used a combination of different hops as a 'substitute'.  Now, I have my hands on some Simcoe from this year's crop, so I'll have to try the Simcoe version as well and see how it compares to what I've got now. 

So wish my luck!  If I'm fortunate enough to win the Fly-PA competition, it won't be long before you'll be able to taste my beer on tap right here in Seattle.  If I don't manage to win, perhaps you'll be able to taste some anyway... but you'll have to find me!  ;) 

Drink responsibly and stay safe out there! 

Puget Sound Pro-Am Results & Big Brew Day 2011

Last weekend was the 2011 Puget Sound Pro-Am homebrew competition.  There were a total of 403 entries made by 109 different homebrewers.  By last Monday, the results were posted for the homebrew competition.  Congratulations to the winners! 

Just this past weekend, however, was the time for the majority of the breweries involved to select which homebrews from the competition they wanted to scale up and brew on their own systems. 

The participating breweries included:
Ram Restaurant and Brewery
Elysian Brewery
Big Time Brewery
Rock Bottom - Seattle
Rock Bottom - Bellevue
Big Al Brewing
Baron Brewing
Diamond Knot Brewery
Snipes Mountain Brewing
Naked City Brewing
Harmon Brewery
BJ's - Tacoma
Powerhouse Brewery
Issaquah Brewhouse
Silver City Brewery
Elliott Bay Brewing Company

Each of these breweries could select one of the homebrew entries from the competition to brew.  It was not necessary for the breweries to select a beer that placed well in the actual homebrew competition, but most did. 

Here is the list of what each brewery decided to brew:
Baron Brewing – Mike Ritzer’s Grunge Effect, North German Altbier
Big Time Brewing – Ken Reister’s Reisterbrau’s Czar Russian Imperial Stout
BJ’s Brewery Tacoma – Trevor Nichol’s Biere de Printemps Biere de Garde
Elliott Bay Brewing Company – Tim Hervyford’s Black Pepper Porter
Elysian Brewing Company – Travis Nye’s Rye PA
Harmon Brewery – Ben Schielke’s Expedi-ale New American Pale Ale
Issaquah Brewhouse – TBD this week
Ram Brewery Tacoma – Jonathan Permen’s Fruition Raspberry Biere de Garde
Rock Bottom Seattle – Jesse Perez’s Siberian Baltic Porter
Rock Bottom Bellevue – Dan Hansen’s Bohemian Pilsner
Snipes Mountain Brewery – Karl VanEvenhoven’s Cascadian Dark Ale
Naked City Brewery – TBD this week
Silver City Brewery – TBD this week

Recreational
Big Al Brewing – TBD this week
Powerhouse -Ryan McGee's Mai Sharona, Maibock
Diamond Knot – TBD in a few weeks

Once again, congratulations to those selected!  They will soon have the opportunity to see their own beer on tap at these breweries.  What an honor, and a great way to celebrate and share their homebrew with their fellow brewers and friends. 

I didn't have any beers ready to enter for this year's Pro-Am or this year's National Homebrew Competition, but I hope to have a few things ready to enter for both events next year. 

AHA Big Brew Day:
This past Saturday, May 7th was also AHA Big Brew Day.  It's an annual event where homebrewers are encouraged to gather together in groups to brew for the day.  Bringing along, family, friends, and anyone else interested in learning more about or getting in volved in homebrewing. 

For me, the closest place to celebrate Big Brew Day was at Larry's Brewing Supply in Kent, WA.  I didn't have the means to bring my own system down to Larry's (I brewed later at home - video coming soon), but I was there for the festivities (as well as there to assist with the brewery selections from the Puget Sound Pro-Am homebrew competition - so I was rather busy). 

There were plenty of brewers at Larry's that day, and everyone was having a great time and brewing batch after batch of beer.  The smells coming from all the brewing were amazing.  I took a short video you can check out, to see how crazy/busy it was, but also how much fun!  You may need to 'Like' Beer Monger on Facebook in order to see the video. 

As for myself, I brewed my Oktoberfest Lager this weekend.  Its currently sitting in it's fermenter at 42 degrees in my beer fridge, and I plan to slowly raise the temperature to 48-50 degrees over the new few days.  There it will sit, fermenting for three weeks before I raise the temp a bit for a dicetyl rest and then lower the temp again before kegging the beer to allow it to Lager for three months.  It should be ready to drink by September 17th, the first official day of Oktoberfest in Germany this year.

Drink responsibly and stay safe out there.

I Popped My Judging Cherry

Today, I had the opportunity to be an official judge as part of the first round of the National Homebrew Competition - Northwest Region.  This was my first time ever acting as an official judge for an AHA/BJCP sanctioned competition.  It was a great experience, and makes me look forward to much more judging in the future. 

As luck would have it, I was assigned to judge BJCP Style Category 14 - India Pale Ale (pretty much my favorite style of beer).  This style section inclues the sub-styles of:

14A: English IPA
14B: American IPA
14C: Imperial IPA

During the course of my judging today, I tasted eight (8) different IPA's - 6 American IPA's (14B) and 2 Imperial IPA's (14C).  Of those eight, our tasting group sent on two for a 'mini-best of show' competition.  I was not a judge for that portion of the competition. 

As a first time judge, the process was enjoyable but slightly intimidating.  For each beer sampled (1-2oz), I had to fill out a complete BJCP National Homebrew Competition Beer Scoreshet.  All of the following sections had to be filled out in their entirety:

-Bottle Inspection
-Aroma
-Appearance
-Flavor
-Mouthfeel
-Overall Impression

All of these aspects, except for Bottle Inspection, are assigned a numeric score according to a scale.  Those points are added to create the beer's overall score (from 1-50).  I also had to comment on the accuracy to the intended beer style, the technical merit of the beer and my overall impression of its 'intangible' qualities.  I had 10 minutes to evaluate each entry in the competition, and then to discuss my score and it's aspects with the other judges score(s) and notes, so that we could reach a concensus on a fair score for each entry. 

This was a great first step in my journey to my BJCP Certification.  I look forward to my next judging experience.  It looks as though I may have another opportunity to judge near the end of April. 

Drink responsibly and stay safe out there.