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not sure why you thought I was done in '17 when I won MMOTY last year, but whatever - I'm pretty much retired from everything but NHC and that is coming soon. Sorry, no trip to MI or RI this year but I do plan to be in *redacted* next year. ;) For those wondering, KC and Indy finished on...

This is a great accomplishment already, congratulations.

Thank you my friend. Apparently I still can't get GLINTCAP gold medal Ice Cider through, but I shouldn't ever complain about 4/5. I'll be judging in KC this weekend; if you have some there I will listen for your name when it's over. cheers--

I will also say that as an experienced judge, I've tasted a ton of beer that evidently someone thought was good...that wasn't. Just sayin'

I dump a ton, mostly because I'm tired of drinking it. Almost certainly more than I personally drink. It doesn't stay great forever. But, since I'm sure we're talking about stuff that was bad from the beginning...Eh, that was sometimes a thing in the first 100 batches or while making several...

Tampa and Milwaukee finished, and I'm sure San Diego did.

also, when I told Gordon about the American Wild scoresheet, his tongue-in-cheek reply was that the style should have American Wild Hop character - no domesticated hops. :D

let me just say that my life got a lot less stressful when I realized the judging was a ****-show and that luck was a big part of it. I would agonize over what to enter, spend hours trying to idiot-proof them, and while mostly successful, there have been so many WTH moments in either the First...

though I have in fact had Cab Franc icewine with FG of 24 Brix, in this case that number is referring to OG. The "residual sugar" of 2.7% is what makes it clear in this case (as well as you not mentioning it being EXTREMELY sweet). The wine has about 27 grams per liter residual sugar, semi dry...

John can, at best, be at one region in a weekend. In those cases sometimes he physically takes the scoresheets with him when going back to Boulder, which saves time on actually sending them to him. Then, he is very thorough, and wants to get things done right. Also, every year there will likely...

here's my annual request that we keep details to a minimum for styles where specialty ingredients are used. For instance, beers with fairly rarely-used fruit that are likely the only such beer in the competition.

minor note: almost no fruit will raise gravity above something that is already well above 1.100. Yes, Cara Cara are sweet oranges, but c'mon they aren't anywhere close to 32 brix. 16 brix is rare but seen sometimes in oranges; they are still mostly water and will dilute OG of something that is...

making cider or perry I'm proud of may involve me driving several hundred miles for the right apples/pears. With milling and pressing and the general lower alcohol levels compared to mead, and the delicate nature of some of these apple and pear aromas that tend to blow off with a fermentation as...

4 vials, several tests. It made a relatively decent dry cider and also had no trouble going dry in an 11% applewine. Tendency to produce H2S in a stressed environment was higher than some strains but lower than others. Worked fine at fairly low pH but was at wrong time of year for me to test...

Once you know your apples and how they typically respond to fermentation, I believe in pre-fermentation blending. ...But I've rarely had that luxury as a hobbyist. Thus post-fermentation is my specialty. It's controllable and the results are immediate.

I agree generally with what has been said. However, at times I've been really impressed with the aroma of some early/summer apples. So I'll press and freeze a bit to mix into other batches or even to backsweeten with.

Thanks for stopping by the side of the South Sound Suds booth for my cider/mead. I can't remember if I poured you NE Cider, dessert pyment or Alcoholic Candy. Cheers-- Michael

leaving today. Looking forward to it. Got car just about packed up with kegs, bottles, and growlers for the 27 hour drive. Not looking forward to that part. cheers-- --Michael

pectic enzyme can help, though with pear juice - especially perry pears - there's extra haze from tannin. (pear tannins are different than apple.) Between a small amount of tannin and the effects of the pasteurization process, it may end up taking a while to clear, and may never fully clear...

well, whatever. Chicago is up now.