Congratulations to our friends at the Titanic Brewing Co.! Their Captain Smith's Rye took a Silver Medal at the prestigious World Beer Cup. We're looking forward to helping them celebrate this wonderful accomplishment at the Brewmaster's Dinner on June 27th.
No one from the club won any awards at the Sunshine Challenge, but Chris and Jake went up to Orlando to judge and steward. Chris has filed the following report on their experience. It certainly sounds like the rest of us missed out on a lot of fun and that we should plan to attend next year's event! — Scott
On Friday, May 19th, Jake and I drove up to the Delta Resort in Orlando to participate in the Central Florida Home Brewer's "Sunshine Challenge 2000" homebrew competition. We arrived after midnight not expecting the crowd of 50+/- beer fans in the parking lot gathered around some wonderful cask-conditioned ale, and a beer truck generously provided by Shipyard Brewery. They merrily provided ample advice on where to park, and were otherwise good company. We enjoyed some great brew with these beer fans/brewers and then retired in preparation for Saturday's judging.
One of many nice features about the Delta Resort was the short walk from your room to the convention center where the show was held. No driving required. We were amazed at the diversity of groups with which we shared the convention center: the American Association of Hypnotists, and a large group of women belly-dancers (their organization name escapes me at this time.) To quote Dave Barry: "I am not making this up." My conclusion—God Bless America!
Each year, this competition draws VIPs. This year they had two: Lager Wizard Greg Noonan, author of "Brewing Lager Beer" and its engaging sequel, "New Brewing Lager Beer," and Ray Daniels, author of "Designing Great Beers." They were guest speakers at a seminar held Saturday morning. Judge Coordinator Ed Meeson put me to work judging and Jake to work stewarding at 0900 sharp, so we missed Greg & Ray's lectures. We got to meet and chat with both of these gentlemen one-on-one later, however.
Saturday's judging was pretty intense, 9 AM to 6 PM. By 6 PM, all beers had been evaluated. I met many judges I had seen or judged with previously at either the Meadlennium or the AHA Regionals in Tallahassee recently, including the infamous ex-MASHer, Mark Tumarkin. The judging facilities were outstanding and the competition was well-organized, probably because this was their 11th annual show, and the competition organizer, Mr. Ron Bach, was in the Navy in his former life.
The Sunshine Challenge was the largest show we've participated in, with over 600 entries, most of which were culled down over the previous week by dedicated local judges. However, there was still plenty of beer to judge. I judged several categories in the first and second rounds, including Belgian Fruit Lambics, European Pale Lagers, American Pale Ales, and Bocks. Mark and I did a second round mead flight. There were many great beers, and virtually no un-great beers, which leads me to believe brewers are getting better over the 8 years I've been judging.
There were a lot of events we either were not around for, or did not take part in because we were too late in registering: pub crawl, formal dinner, pool party, VIP reception, as examples. Maybe next year. Saturday night, after a power nap, Jake and I were again enjoying the company of the participants at a pool party with rock band and more excellent beer.
Sunday morning there was a BJCP exam being given. Jake and I said goodbye and headed back to Miami. This was a very worthwhile event we plan on repeating next year! — Chris
MASH has tentatively scheduled a fishing excursion for July 8th, 2000. We'll plan to meet at Haulover and get on a boat. More details to come.
The Spacecoast Associates for the Advancement of Zymurgy (S.A.A.Z.) will be holding the Commander Saaz's Interplanetary Homebrew Blastoff in Melbourne on July 15th. Entries are due July 10th. Please contact me if you'd like more information, entry information, etc.