AHA Competition Entry Story

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pinarphan

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I brewed an American Brown Ale a few weeks ago that I really liked and decided it should be my first ever entry into the AHA competition just to see what the judges would say. However, I don't have a beer gun or other counter pressure filler so I've been letting the time slip by. Last night I decided to search the forums here and sure enough found a GREAT thread on filling bottles from a keg on the cheap (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-need-no-stinking-beer-gun-24678/index24.html). So, as soon as I could get out of my morning meeting I ran for my LHS picked up a stopper and a party tap to complete my inventory list for the DIY bottle filler.

By now I had 1 hour to get 15 miles home and use this yet unbuilt, untested rig and get the thing boxed and back to town to FedEx for overnight to San Diego. Yes, the deadline for the competition is tomorrow at 5pm.

After a few setup challenges, I got it to work like a charm! Off I ran with one 12 ounce bottle of "Blister Brown" ready for judging!

Walked into FedEx 2 minutes past the deadline, 4:30 but they said they could still get it on the truck..."By the way, what is it?..."

"A Bottle of Beer!" said I.

"You can't ship that!" said the FedEx Nazi!

****....

The decision to gamble and a mad dash to UPS though, rendered success! The 5pm deadline for Brown combined with my quick reply of, "A souvenir" were adequate to gain my precious cargo a ticket to ride with guaranteed delivery at least 2 hours prior to tomorrow's deadline!

After a few more hours slave'n for the Man, I made it home again so anxious for what was certain to be one of the last pints of the ale that spurred me to such devoted action.

Fate spoke loud and clear.

At first pull on the tap, prior to a mere ounce of my treasured brown nectar the all too familiar pop, suds and echo from the bottom of the cornie told me that the 12 ounces I pulled off just hours earlier was meant to be my first submission to a homebrew contest after brewing as many years!


(forgive the cross post but I had to put this on the BN forums as well)

Cheers to All!

Wes
 
"A Bottle of Beer!" said I.

"You can't ship that!" said the FedEx Nazi!

Wes


Live yeast cultures! i thought we all agreed that we were going to be calling them 'live yeast cultures' :D

That is awesome that UPS hooked you up though. Good luck with it!! :mug:
 
I told the guy it was beer and he said they couldn't call it that and said let's just say it's a bottle.

It's kinda hard to deny it when the shipping 'TO:' label reads '2009 NHC Brew Depot' on it.:D
 
Wow, hope you score well with the judges man! It's good to hear that things worked out. :mug:

So, is it technically illegal to ship beer, even though the competitions say to send beer to them? Just wondering the reason that you were denied.
 
It's illegal to ship alcohol via USPS. With a private carrier like UPS/FedEx, it's purely up to company policy. And I guess their policy is..."No ship for you!".
 
I don't risk the "live yeast cultures". I usually say its some sort of fragile glass (porcelain, china etc).
 
I find that if you print the labels at home and drop at a non-shipper owned location (eg Office Depot), they do not care nor do the ever ask. I usually put it in the UPS pile, exchange friendly waves with the (seemingly always over worked) employee and then leave.
 
Every once in a while I send some beers to my friend in A'dam. I just put "barley soda" on the customs form. Never a problem yet. :)
 
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