February 27, 2008
The Rye Gets Some Acclaim!
Well, I submitted about 6 beers to a local San Diego homebrew competition. Of the 6, there were really only two that I thought had a good shot, the Rye Pale Ale and the Milk Stout. Outside of that, I thought our Amber Ale was halfway decent but not great, and while I really, really like the Light Belgian ale, it’s a beer that’s been sitting around a while and doesn’t age well, and a 4.5% session beer usually will be overshadowed by most other things in the Belgian Specialty Ale category. I think the IPA wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, and the Belgian Witbier was partially submitted just so I could get rid of it!
Of all those, and based on the critical acclaim from my brother-in-law’s drunk poker buddies for the milk stout (who drank ALL of it — those rat bastards!), I thought we’d place in the competition with that beer. Alas, no luck. Stout is usually a pretty tough category, and while I won’t know much more until the score sheets come back, it didn’t make the top three.
The Rye Pale Ale, on the other hand, took second place in the American Ale category! For my first crack at the recipe, I’m pretty happy about that. And I’m even happier that I just re-brewed 15 gallons of it!
There are a few other big competitions coming up, such as the AHA National Championship and the Sam Adams Longshot. I think the second brewing of the Rye will be submitted for both of those, as well as the milk stout (assuming it turns out properly when we re-brew it in March). I may also do a simple extract hefeweizen, as it’s a category that usually does not receive large numbers of entries. But that just might be for personal consumption 
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Hey, I’m back.
Man did you ever take this brewing thing to the next level. Way to go. I’ve got a Steam Beer in the fermenter now that I’m dragging my feet on bottling. I like the cooking and the drinking, but you can have the bottling process.
Regards,
jack
One word, Jack.
KEG
My brother in law hates bottling as well, and we would often put off the bottling process because of it. Now that we both have kegerators, it makes it much easier to get the beer into drinkable form. Besides, when you add force carbonation, you can be drinking it faster too!
Hello form the “sister who bought you the first homebrew kit”. I hope you’ve reserved a few bottles for me – whether you win or not – can’t wait ro kick back a few on the beach with you!
Your fellow aspiring beach bum
Erica
Keg. I’ll look into that. How’s the baby? perhaps I should read your blog more often and I would know, but I couldn’t help asking the direct question.
Erica,
Well, whenever you make it out to the aforementioned beach, I’m sure I’ll have plenty here waiting!
Jack,
The baby is great… Just became mobile, which is scary in itself!
I don’t have children yet but a line from a comedian is still stuck in my head for that day when I do have them:
“We spend the first two years teaching them how to walk and talk, and the next 16 years telling them to sit down and shut up.”