We hope everyone has been enjoying the "wonderful" summer weather by getting out, brewing, and having a few great homebrews. On July 26th we can celebrate the second anniversary of the enactment of Senate Bill 5060 which allowed you to take your homebrew out of your house and enjoy it with friends. Don't forget to celebrate that right on the 26th as well as other times throughout the summer!
This summer also brought the formal announcement of Seattle/Bellevue as the location for the 2012 National Homebrewers Conference. We want to see each and every one of you at the event next June. Start planning time off and brewing a ton of beers! Don't forget, that means the second round of the National Homebrew Competition will be held in Seattle so plan out your entries now for some home field advantage! In the meantime, you can visit www.brewingwithbigfoot.com to watch our promotional video and get pumped for the conference.
The summer is a bit of a lull for homebrewing events but that is about to change. August brings a bunch of homebrew competitions, Beerstock, and even BJCP classes. Time to start brewing some beers for the fall season and get some meads and ciders ready for the Washington Mead and Cider Cup. In this news we'll give you some basic details on all of these. We hope to see you out and about!
National Homebrewers Conference Information
Dozens of Washington residents recently attended the 2011 National Homebrewers Conference in San Diego. It was a great three days of homebrewing information, camaraderie, and just a little bit of debauchery. The Washington Homebrewers Association, GEBL, and BREW all had very strong showings serving hospitality suite shifts as well as showcasing Washington's finest homebrew at Club Night. At the Awards Banquet on Saturday, we were proud to see Washington have three people place in the Second Round of the National Homebrew Competition. We'd also like to give our special congratulations to our Northwest friend, Randy Scorby for winning Homebrewer of the Year (though he is from Oregon, he has been a great supporter up here!)
During the banquet, the AHA announced that the 2012 National Homebrewers Conference was to be held in Seattle/Bellevue. Local committee co-organizers Mark Emiley and Tom Schmidlin along with a SLEW of planning committee members took the stage to welcome the conference into our back yard for next year. We showcase Bekky Herr and Ryan McGee's pre-conference video that you can watch at www.brewingwithbigfoot.com.
We are very excited to FINALLY be able to publicly announce that the 2012 National Homebrewers Conference is coming to Seattle/Bellevue from June 21-23, 2012. We want ALL Washington homebrewers to be a part of this landmark event. We'll have more info coming soon and will be working on our conference planning website at www.brewingwithbigfoot.com.
If this is the first you are hearing about Beerstock, well, you need to get with your club members right away. Since the passage of Senate Bill 5060 in 2009, Washington homebrewers have gathered during the summer to celebrate Washington homebrewing. It is a homebrewing festival where clubs from all over the state gather, share great beers, eat great food, and have an awesome time. There is a judging clinic, music, games, food, camping (very important), and, of course, tons of great homebrew. This year it will be held in Orting Washington after we outgrew our host spot from last year.
YOU MUST BE A HOMEBREW CLUB MEMBER TO ATTEND!!! In accordance with the law, this is a private event and only Washington homebrew club members are allowed to attend. Not in a club, JOIN ONE RIGHT NOW!!! Clubs that are attending Beerstock have a focal and this person can help coordinate your attendance. They'll have all of the rest of the info you need to attend this epic event. So join up ASAP and see you there!
Competitions, competitions, competitions!
Did we mention competitions? The end of the summer kicks it into high gear with a bunch of local homebrew competitions. We've got information or links to all of these competitions on the WAHA site so check them out and enter today. Of note, there are three WHOTY qualifying competitions in August and 1 in September (Washington Mead and Cider Cup). Get your entries out today and bring your best!
Finally, there are two BJCP exams coming in the fall. Unfortunately, for both of the exams, the 12 allotted spots (per BJCP rules) are already taken with fairly long waiting lists for each exam. Each of these exams do have study groups planned in advance. Even if you aren't one of the lucky people who has an exam slot, these classes are a great way to prepare for the exam and also increase your beer knowledge and tasting skills. The BJCP is working on a new format for the exam which involves an online test followed by a tasting exam and these classes can help you prepare for that exam when it comes out next year. The class for the October exam will start meeting in August at Larry's Brewing Supply and the details for the class for the November exam will be coming out soon (likely to be held in Issaquah). You can find information for the first classes at the link below. Simply contact the class organizer to let them know you are interested. http://www.wahomebrewers.org/learn/bjcp-classes/371-kent-bjcp-class-info-oct-2011-exam
We hope to see you all soon at an upcoming event. And remember, when the weather isn't great, it is a perfect time to brew!
