Hammerdown Brewcup 2018

Hammerdown sponsored by Braxton Brewing Co went down this past Saturday and whaddaya know, someone scored a gold! To start PBnJT! got gutted at a 19? Obviously not PB fans and one comment stated "alcoholic", at 10.6% I hope so. Reinke's jumped up to a 31 and was lumped with Orange Creamsicle in a group of 19 on the 29 Fruit Beer category. Notes for it included bumping up the malt bill to balance the raspberries or toning down the fruit. That's an easy fix. Then the shocker, Orange Creamsicle, 35.5, mini-BOS equaled GOLD🥇 ! A 37 from one judge, 34 from the other with good feedback on flaws of base Berliner character and pumping up the orange. Favorite comment was "childhood ice cream". RP@OTB snagged some🥈 on Poppin' Collars and Even More Stars, then 🥇 on Brett X Blend .  Next up Hot Summer Brew Off.

Brew Batch #94 Uranus IPA

The latest "fun" batch kegged up this morning. FG 1.010-0.001 @48F to yield a nice 6.69%. Hoping for some good pineapple/pear form the Comet finished by a touch of dank. Learning a lot about hops with these beers and looking forward to next batch already. Actually got a solid 5 gallons on this one from cold crashing the fermenter at an angle! Uranus is waiting, drink it up!

Wizard of Saaz 2018

The results are in and the statisticians will love them! So there were 332 entries judged and ALL (114, I think places) but about a dozen or so medaled from either the SAAZ or SNOB brew clubs both located within close proximity to each other in the same state, Ohio. Meaning roughly 90% of ALL places went to these 2 clubs. I'm not sure how the Homebrewers Association feels about this, but either these clubs represent some badass amateur brewers within BJCP standards or there was a bunch of "good ole boy-ism"? Reinke's (29A) faired about the same as Suwanee at 27 (with a cracked bottle?), Orange Creamsicle (29B) squeezed out a 28 and PBnJT! (30A) spread it's first showing at 29. Notes on PBnJT! were that of "liquid Reese's cups" but lacking hop profile for Baltic porter. So I made the perfect beer I was intending but got shanked at a 29? It's a 10.6% Imperial peanut butter porter!!! Not real impressed with the ethics on this comp that's why I made sure to link to the results directly for all to see. Next up Hammer Down in Covington, KY sponsored by Braxton Brewing Co. 

Brew Batch #94 Uranus IPA

A NEIPA in the BP series that you receive a special sow-on-patch for when getting to Level 10 with this beer in your portfolio, has the same grain bill as the founding beer Shepherd's but with a schedule that includes Galaxy, Comet and Mosaic. Only time will tell how long this 5 gallon (only 4 after pre-keg treatment and I cry a little as I wash out so much yeast and hop trub loss) will last. So gather yourself kids and tap into this limited beer when you can. OG 1.060+0.000@ 65F. Next go around let's do some T-shirts? I'm open to slogans, but let's start it with.. " I ❤ Uranus" from Beat-12 on a brown T that's a sweet 60/40/10 blend. (Freebie if you catch that and Untappd it)

Brew Batch #93 Jake's Juice

What I will label as Jake's Juice 2.1 on Untappd, has become the final edition of a well brewed beer. This batch is 2nd only to Reinke's in number of brews, extract version (1.0) was always the same with of course the honey being the variable in all batches, 2.0 being the leap to AG WITHOUT water corrections to appreciate Köln, now we have honey from within a 5 mile radius and corrections made for water chemistry thanks to RP@OTB to bring the best definition so far. Vanguard hops and a smooth FG 1.006-0.001 @49F to give a solid 5.9%. Crisp, light bread notes and a wonderful froth, with 8 gallons (5 for Jake and 3 for QC) do I dare enter this swill in a comp? Only if The Enabler enters his Oyster Stout?

Suwanee HomeBrew Contest 2018

Suwanee Homebrew Contest 2018 went down 3/17/18 and the results are finally in and Reinke's Revenge 2017 and Southie-12 weren't contenders. Reinke's was entered as 29A (Fruit beer) with a 20C (Imperial Stout) on raspberries. BJCP Master Judge, Phil Farrell hit me with a 27, but provided great feedback. Adding some Cara, more Dark Crystal or higher mash temp "will give the beer a closer profile". He said it was a good drinkable beer but lacked "strength". HHhhhmmm, it's 10.5%!? I will say the apprentice offered up pairing this raspberry fermentation with Nelson Sauvin worked into the base beer (not a bad idea, gotta be a dry-hop though). So Reinke's fell ultimately at 26. Southie fell into 26D, Belgian Dark Strong Ale. A double black eye of 22.5, with comments of reviewing grain bill and yeast choice. So I'll be revamping that one quite a bit. I've already looked at traditional Trappist yeasts and adding 2 pounds of turbinado to pump up the 8.5%abv to a drier 10-10.5%. My only complaint is this was a $10/beer comp and it took 3 weeks to get sheets! and I live a state over. I don't mind scans, I can print them myself and the majority of beers won't medal so they can be scanned and ready for website loading, but damn nothing for almost 3 weeks?