Siciliano's 9th Annual Homebrew Contest

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mtnbikerbrewer

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This is copied from our blog post found here.

Calling all homebrewers!

It's time once again to get that oak-aged, dry-hopped, brett-infused, maple-flavored, spruce-tip, double-imperial, pale-porter hybrid into the bottle—the Siciliano's Market 9th Annual Homebrew Contest is right around the corner. See below for contest rules and regulations.

Is 2012 your year?
Every homebrewer is allowed one (1) beer entry. All entries must be brewed by the person named on the entry form. Please do not submit beers under the names of significant others, children, dogs, cats, parakeets, and/or imaginary friends.
Beers are submitted according to the BJCP Stye Guidelines. Ciders and meads are excluded from this contest. If you're not sure which is the correct style category for your beer, contact us and we can help you.
Entries require two (2) plain, unlabeled/unmarked 12oz amber bottles. Please no clear bottles or bottles of any other size.
Entries must be submitted with the correct paperwork (entry form), and with competition bottle-ID forms rubber-banded to the bottle. Find the entry form here and the bottle-ID form here. Contact Siciliano's if you have trouble downloading these files.

The entry fee is $5.

Entries will be accepted from Wednesday, March 7th through Wednesday, April 18th. If mailing in an entry, please include paperwork and submission fee. Ship in a well-packed box to:
Siciliano's Market
2840 Lake Michigan Dr. NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

The Siciliano's homebrew contest is a prime opportunity for beginner and seasoned homebrewers alike to receive constructive feedback on their efforts. All entries will be judged impartially by industry professionals and/or trained judges according to the standards of style and not in comparison to one another (with the exception of Best in Show). As in previous years, the winner of Best in Show will have the opportunity to brew his/her winning recipe at a local brewery (to be named later).

Finally, what's a contest without a party? The 9th Annual Siciliano's Market Hombrew Party and Awards Banquet is scheduled for Saturday, May 5th, 2012 at Johnson Park in Walker, MI. Be sure to keep a close eye on The Buzz for additional party and seminar* details. Happy brewing everyone, and good luck!

*This year's homebrew seminar is scheduled for Friday, May 4th. A full list of seminar topics and speakers will be announced in the near future, as will details regarding seminar fees, time, and location.
 
FYI - The party is a VERY good time! Hang out, eat good food, chat with other homebrewers and most importantly, DRINK OTHERS' HOMEBREW!

I have not seen the Friday night Seminar agenda yet, but that is also a good time. Beginning to advanced brewers can learn more about different topics, or even just hang out and find out about other hobbies like breadmaking, beekeeping, etc. (To name a couple of topics covered in previous years.)
 
FYI - The party is a VERY good time! Hang out, eat good food, chat with other homebrewers and most importantly, DRINK OTHERS' HOMEBREW!

I have not seen the Friday night Seminar agenda yet, but that is also a good time. Beginning to advanced brewers can learn more about different topics, or even just hang out and find out about other hobbies like breadmaking, beekeeping, etc. (To name a couple of topics covered in previous years.)

The Friday night seminar lineup is still being finalized, but from what it looks like right now, it's going to one of our best yet. Once it is finalized, I will post it up here.
 
As soon as I heard about Beer Camp being the grand prize, I rushed up to Siciliano's to submit the only really good beer I had on hand that was ready - my California Common that took bronze at the W.E.B. competition. It's a solid beer, but I wish I had something a little more distinctive to submit - judging by the first few lines of the competition announcement, this may be one of those comps where it takes an "extreme" beer to take the top prize. Hopefully that's not the case.
 
So I did some looking around on the 'ol interwebs, and I can't seem to find any info on how much beer camp costs - even on the Sierra Nevada site. Just a bunch of stuff about some sort of video competition to win a spot. Is this something that you can only go to by winning a contest, or can you sign up and pay to go? I'm curious because if I am lucky enough to win, I know the wife is going to want to come also. She helps with all my brews, and no way is she going to let me have all the glory if we are the lucky winners.
 
As far as I know, beer camp is not something you can just buy yourself into. You have to win some sort of contest to get an invite. I'll have to double check, but I think unfortunately if a beer wins with two peoples name on it then those people will have to decide which one goes to beer camp and who stays home (or in Chico but not at Beer Camp).
 
Hope the judging went well this weekend. Patiently awaiting the results... Hopefully I don't have to wait until the 5th ;D
 
FYI I sat in on the judging and I think it went very well. IIRC every year the results are given at the party. I don't think I remember any results given in advance.

I'd like to thank Brewery Vivant for opening the brewery up to the judges and stewards for the judging. I like what they are doing over there and the complementary food and drink were great!
 
It's right around the corner. No time to brew anything good to bring now.

I might bring my hoppy Mild and maybe my light wheat will be carbed by then.
 
My wife just told me we are supposed to go to a baby shower on the 5th:mad:
I thought those things were just for the ladies - come on, somebody back me up here. I don't want to miss the party.
 
My wife just told me we are supposed to go to a baby shower on the 5th:mad:
I thought those things were just for the ladies - come on, somebody back me up here. I don't want to miss the party.

Oh please.

<eyeroll>

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f45/coed-baby-showers-322661/


What does she need you there for? Just do what I do when things like this come up. Just tell her you REALLY don't want to go. Tell her you will make her embarrassed to have you there if she insists on you coming.

The only reason for her to need you to go to this thing is to show all the other ladies that she has a firm grip on your man sack.
 
Yeah no way would I be going to a baby shower... But I will be going to a Big Brew Day event and will have to miss this. Doesn't seem like the best choice for awards ceremony dates...
 
Yeah, seems like a strange date to pick - but then again, I bet there will be some brewing going on at the party/awards ceremony. Now that sounds like a good day - a big group brew and then the awards ceremony. So what did everybody enter? I entered a Cali Common, the only good beer I had ready. It seems like an appropriate entry, since I'm hoping it sends me to Cali!
 
I would love to help judge this next year- can someone remind me so I can volunteer? It sounds like Homercidal had a really good time, and I would love to come down for this.
 
I would love to help judge this next year- can someone remind me so I can volunteer? It sounds like Homercidal had a really good time, and I would love to come down for this.

Yeah, it sounds like it was a good time - especially since the judging was done at Brewery Vivant. That place is freaking sweeeeet.
 
I would love to help judge this next year- can someone remind me so I can volunteer? It sounds like Homercidal had a really good time, and I would love to come down for this.

Come on down and make it a beercation. Several great places to find beer down that way. I really like Brewery Vivant's atmosphere.
 
The event was fun, but the tasting was pretty serious. You usually have to have a lot of concentration to taste well and put thoughts to words, especially if you are new to it.
 
Yeah I've judged before. I would have done this event as well if I had not just been out there for the Cider and Perry comp... 2 beercations that close together is too much ;-)...or at least it was this year ;D
 
Yeah, I didn't want people to think all we did was sit around cracking jokes about people's beer.

Oh, I meant to ask, did Jeff win the cider comp again this year? That guy is perennial!
 
Nope a pair from MN got BoS. Apart from the BoS...everything was point driven... any cider/perry that scored over 30 got a medal.
 
Any word from anyone who went to the party? I couldn't make it, but it looks like it was some pretty crappy weather anyway. My wife is in GR visiting friends this weekend, so she is going to pick up my scoresheets for me tomorrow.
 
Well, it's no trip to beer camp but I did get a bronze medal. Scored a 37.5 overall. That makes 4 bronzes for me now but no silver or gold yet. Next up is the brews crews comp., we'll see if I can break the bronze barrier there. I have a Two Hearted clone dry hopping right now that I'm trying to have ready in time for the deadline.
 
The party was actually pretty decent. The weather was certainly a factor, but people still had a good time hanging around the building. The rain was on and off and mostly light anyway.

I did not enter a beer this time. I have to plan better next time.

Met some nice people and drank some excellent beer. The ribs and baked potatoes were pretty nice too.
 
I don't remember his name, but I think he won with an Altbier. A guy from Sierra Nevada was there to announce the winner. It was very cool. They should have it posted on the Siciliano's Market's facebook or website very soon.
 
Darn an Alt... Not me lol. Congrats to whomever the winner was ;-)

Wonder how long they will keep the medals/scoresheets at the store... I don't get out to GR very often...
 
Hey, give me your entry number if you can find out what it was. There was beer left over from the judging. Those people who didn't make the BOS round still had a bottle left over and I picked some of those up after the party.

Of course I'm playing Homebrew roulette because the only information I have is an entry number on the cap... I have ZERO idea what the style is. Ok, maybe a little bit more than zero... I can look through the bottle and get an idea of how dark it is.

I was planning on practicing my tasting on those mystery beers.
 
Can't remember the number. I dropped of my entry and 2 others. We were 3,4,5. It was a 14% double chocolate stout ;-)
 
haha I like sours. But I know the pain of drinking the 'losers'... Everytime I take bottles home after a comp it's solely for the delabled bottles lol
 
I never thought about that. Most of the beers I judged were decent beers at least, even if they didn't fit the style.

I guess there is a good chance I'll be getting some bad ones.

It has been my experience that the quality level of homebrewing, on average, has gone up in the past several years. Judging by the number of entries and the comments I've heard from judges and organizers.
 
Best of Show Winner was:

Russ Smith from Muskegon Ottawa Brewers with a Northern German Altbier.

The scores can be found here. Score sheets and medals can be picked up at the store. If you live some distance away and would like your results (and applicable medal) mailed to you, contact me at [email protected] or Steve at [email protected]

There were 220 entries in the contest this year, 102 medals awarded. Beers scoring 35 - 39.5 received Bronze, 40-42 received Silver, and Gold went to beers scoring 42.5 or higher. The 8 highest scoring beers of the day went to Best of Show tasting.

If anyone has any questions pertaining to the homebrew competition, email me at [email protected]

Cheers!
 
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