2011 State Fair Homebrew Competition

This year, I’ve entered five beers into the Minnesota State Fair Homebrew Competition. Preliminary rounds closed to the public are happening 8/19 and 8/20 with the final round of judging happening on Saturday 8/27. I have a small group of friends rounded up to attend finals on the 27th whether I’m in them or not. It’ll be cool to see judging as it happens, as I’m interested in becoming a BJCP certified judge one day. If it turns out I didn’t make finals, we’ll just hang around for a bit and hit up the rest of the fair afterwards. No big deal.

The beers I entered are as follows, in order from left to right in the picture above:

• Category 9c, Scottish and Irish Ale – entered my Scootin’ Scottie Ale that took first place at regionals for the NHC this year
• Category 18b, Belgian Strong ale – entered Chasseur de Bruin, my Belgian dubbel
• Category 20, Fruit Beer – entered Fraz(zled) Wheat 2.0, my raspberry hefeweizen
• Category 23, Specialty Beer – entered my amber with kölsch yeast at the behest of some of the homebrew club guys and some buddies that independently had the stuff and very much liked it. I called this one “Burning Bridges” for the sake of giving it a name and because it turned out so unique, I figure you’ll either love it or hate it. Even though that strays from the canine theme. I figured since it’s an extremely experimental batch it was ok.
• Category 16e, Belgian and French Ale – entered my In the name of doG Belgian honey ale. I have high hopes for this one in particular, as I’ve received a lot of positive feedback on how well the honey blends with the orange peel and Belgian yeast characteristics.

I’ll of course let you know if I win anything. Wish me luck!