And the winner is...

On Saturday January, 10 2015, the folks at Good People Brewing opened their doors and palates to the 2nd Annual (HODO) Heart Of Dixie Open Homebrew competition. This year was an official BJCP event open to all ale categories, with the winners of each category receiving a lab analysis of their beer. Wow, this offered us a chance to see how well, and how clean we were brewing. We, Frank & Andy Brewing, constructed a brew schedule to register 5 beers this go around: 1 porter, 2 stouts, and 2 strong ales. Another nice addition to HODO 2.0 was the crowning of a "People's Choice" champion on Friday night. We were all in. We took the kegs of two of our samples, along with two extra fun filled kegs ("Benny Frank" Brown ale, "Not Your Mother's" Milk Stout), to be shared and enjoyed by the front line, working collar, beer drinkers of the area. Excitement ran high, as this was to be a fun time to be had by all. Undeterred by the brewery's "Pardon our Mess" front door and parking lot renovations, I pulled up over the curb, and onto the sidewalk to quickly unload kegs and equipment. Once legally parked, and back inside the brewery, I set up our jockey box system,

and awaited to let the free beer flow. As I poured up our servings to the waves of people, I got the chance to meet and chat with many interesting beer drinkers, both experienced and new, as well as other brewers. I was impressed with some of the great beers these homebrewers made. Rauchbier, Berliner Weisse, Belgian, Citra IPA, and a Vanilla Bourbon Porter to name a few. Then with three out of our four F&A kegs kicked, we all anxiously awaited "The People's" coronation event, and which one of these excellent homebrewers was to be crowned. The news trickled through the dwindling crowd, and for some reason, the results were to be announced tomorrow along with the BJCP judged categories. Fine. Much to my dismay, I packed up what was left of our stuff, and vacated the premises with a funny limp to my walk, painfully unsatisfied. My patience was to be tested. But, the next day rose anew, and with it a resurgence of exhilaration. After a customary visit to The J Clyde to refuel, and a side trip to a new brewery, Trim Tab, (Great brews! But that's for another Blog Post) we strolled back to Good People to mix and mingle with the all the other homebrewers, and with fingers crossed, collect a little recognition. The mood and the crowd was certainly more subdued from Friday night, and most definitely from last year. The sparse folks that remained strained their ears to hear the category winners over the muffled PA system. We waited for our categories. Then when Porters and Stouts were announced stuffed together into one category, (What! that was the majority of our entries all lumped into one), we were hit with the premonition, like a searing scar across our brow, that something dark was about to happen, which was not the naming of one of our beers. And when the Strong Ale category magically disappeared with our hopes into the yeasty ethos, we knew we were done, dashed, defeated. Jilted in our spirits from HOBO 2.0 we left. We drank, we complained, we drank a little more, but we hoisted up our boot straps, and planned our next step on our brewing path, cause "F#*$@'n A!!! Energy and persistence can conquer all things," or was that too much of the "Benny Frank" talking.