West Sound Brewers

Entries for the 2008 Kitsap County Fair Homebrew Competition will be accepted at the dropoff locations from July 24 through July 31. Click Here for detailed instructions and competition label forms.

The West Sound Brewers Meeting for July will be at the Riggs Haus on July 19th @ 2 PM. Matt & Leah Riggs are in beautiful Navy Yard City (ok, Charleston really, but Matt digs the NYC cachet) overlooking the majestic stack on the west side of PSNS.

Contact Us for directions.

Lots o' street parking.

Bring Homebrew. Bring Saison. Lots of Saison! Or just come and drink up all of Matt's. Or bring whatever refreshing weather appropriate bier you want.

If you drink any corked beer or champagne bottles in the next few weeks, or if you have any lying around, please bring them so Matt has somewhere to put his saisons.

From the WAHA site:

The first of the Pro-Am selected beers, Mark Emiley's May Day Kolsch, is being released by Rock Bottom-Seattle on Thursday July 10th. From 5:30-8:00 there will be $2 cash pints. Rock Bottom is making the release a benefit event for Inner City Outings, a group aimed a providing opportunties for urban dwelling kids to get out to explore, enjoy, and protect nature.

Everyone is welcome to come by and try the beer. We'd love to have a great turn out for all of the Pro-Am beer releases to let our craft brewing brethren know how much we support them and in turn, appreciate their support.

Feel free to pass this information onto anyone. The money all goes to a good cause and $2 pints are pretty hard to come by! There is ample public transportation in the area so I encourage folks to take the bus if possible.

In a surprise come-from-behind victory, Brad Ginn (sometimes known as Robert, which is his first name) took the gold medal in Category 18 at the National Homebrew Competition last week with his Belgian Tripel. His tripel had previously placed 3rd in its category in the NHC NW Region 1st Round competition in April. The additional two months of aging must have been just what the beer needed to leap-frog the higher placing entries from the first round and sneak away with the gold.

Show up at the July meeting, tentatively scheduled to take place at Matt Riggs' house late in the month, for a chance to sample Brad's award winning brew. His supply is running low and that will probably be the last meeting he brings a bottle of the tripel to.

From the NHC Site:

Category 18 Belgian Strong Ale
# of Entries: 345
Sponsored by Dingemans c/o Cargill Malt
Gold	Robert Ginn, Poulsbo, WA, Belgian Tripel, West Sound Brewers
Silver	Scott Lothamer, Moraga, CA, Belgian Strong Dark Ale, Diablo Order of Zymiracle Enthusiasts (DOZE)
Bronze	Bob Thompson, Murrieta, CA, Belgian Dubbel, Temecula Valley Homebrewers Association

The June meeting will be at Darryl and Andrea Elves' house tomorrow, June 18, starting around 7 pm. Come enjoy their wonderful home on Liberty Bay. Hopefully by that late in Juneuary it will finally be sunny and warm. If not, you can be the first this year to sing, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

Darryl says they'll have some snacks ready. He does have a nice grill on the deck so consider bringing something for grilling.

Andrea loves fruity lambics so bring those along if you have no homebrew to share. Matt is already coveting the empties (so feel free to bring him any empty corkable/cappable bottles (like Lindeman's), it could earn you some special saison samples).

Contact Us for directions.

From the WAHA Yahoo Group:

Got three bottles of a great tasting homebrew around? The Puget Sound Pro-Am is accepting entries (three 10-12 oz bottles, $6/entry) at the mail-in location (Larry's Brewing Supply) from now until May 28th so start sending in your entries (entries can be registered in advance through a link on the competition website at http://www.bewbc.org/pro-am). The other entry points (Diamond Knot Brewery, Bob's Homebrew Supply, Cellar Homebrew Supply, and the Beer Essentials) are accepting entries now through May 28th. Please make sure to use the special entry recipe form available online at the competition website! We want the brewers to know how you brewed it so they'll know that they can!

The Puget Sound Pro-Am is an AHA/BJCP sanctioned competition aimed at providing award winning homebrew recipes to be brewed by Puget Sound breweries with the goal of capturing a medal from the Great American Beer Festival's Pro-Am Competition. Eleven breweries (Big Horn/Ram (2), Rogue, Elysian, Diamond Knot, Rock Bottom (2), Elliot Bay, Big Time, Pike, and Powerhouse) will be selecting their favorite homebrew beers from the best of show round to scale up and brew on their systems. Winning beers of AHA members may be sent on to the GABF for a shot at national glory! Non-AHA members can still enter the competition and win other awards and prizes - also, one of the breweries not submitted to the GABF will not be constrained to picking an AHA member!

This competition is drawing entries from around the country, but we all know that Washington makes the best brews, so get those entries ready! This is the third Washington Homebrewer of the Year Qualifying competition so start racking up some points with your placings! See the wahomebrewers.org site for more details on the program.

Judging will be held on May 31st at Larry's Brewing Supply in Kent, Washington (if you are interested in judging, stewarding, or helping with event execution, contact Mark Emiley at markemiley@... or register online at the website). Check the website for updates on contest details. If you had a beer that didn't make it to the second round of the NHC, send them on in for a second opinion and a chance for an awesome opportunity! Invite your friends to join the AHA and submit beers as well (all beers will be judged and ranked regardless of AHA membership). Good luck, and may your wildest brewing dreams come true!

Mark Emiley
PSPA Organizer