2011 Beehive Brew Off

It's brew off time, wahoo!
I know there will be a huge showing this year; but I'm curious, what will you go for in your entries. Technical expertise or creativity. I know the two aren't mutually exclusive, but will you strive for the perfect pale ale or go for the cutting edge?

If you haven't. Read the post yet here it is.
http://utahbeer.blogspot.com/2011/04/2011-beehive-brew-off.html

I've got an imp IPA fermenting right now. I'm thinking of doing a hoppy red as well. I can't get enough of those. Any idea what category that'd fit in? Or would that fall into specialty?

The way my friend and I have always entered is, "Hey, what do we have laying around" a month or two before the competition. Last year we entered some stuff that we knew was below par just to see what improvements the judges suggested, as well as 3 or 4 things we thought were pretty good. This year, I think we're going to only enter stuff we think it is pretty good.

So, as for the technical verses creativity, we always go with creativity. There are many many breweries that make killer pale ales, so why would we bust our ass on that when we can make something like a Gruit that isn't available anywhere. My background is Fine Art and my brew buddie is a musician, and neither of us have any interest in making art that looks like anyone else's. That same idea transfers to beer. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the competition.

---Ricky H.

It is unlikely we'll be entering anything this year. We're getting married at the end of May, so that month will be really busy. And then we move to South Carolina at the end of June, so that'll probably be a busy month. We've tossed around the idea of mailing some stuff from SC, so we may do that. But I'm not sure if that'll work out.

As for the question: I am typically a technical guy. I really enjoy trying to nail a style, or nail my version of a style. Brewing the same thing over and over again to make minor tweaks here and there to get it to where I want it is a lot of fun for me. Maria usually likes to do the more "creative" things.

A typical pre-brewday conversation:
Me: "So what do you want to brew?"
Her: "I'unno. Maybe some sort of cocoa or spicy thing. What about you?"
Me: "My porter."
Her: "What? Again!? You brewed that four times already!"
Me: "Yeah, but I kinda was thinkin' I want it with just a little more hop presence in the finish..."
Her: *stares me down* "We're not doing that."

So,

It looks like we've missed the boat on a "Utah beer blog" people recipe. What things are you all excited about? And what brews are you all thinking you might enter? Also, should we have a tasting of entries from people on this site after the comp like what was being discussed last year? Is it possible for me to use more question marks in a single post?

---Ricky H.

Yeah it's been a crazy year so far for me. I've not brewed near as much as I'd hoped. So for I've got a really nice (IMO) dry stout to enter, and what I hope will be a tasty imperial red IPA, that's just gone to secondary. I don't think I'll have the Berliner Weiss ready and I'm sure the Flander's Red won't be ready until next year at the earliest.

I'm more than happy to bring a sample or two to the awards ceremony and trade in the parking lot like last year.

How about you Ricky? What are you guys entering 20, 30 brews?

Kent,

A parking lot trade always sounds like a plan to me. I'll happily drink an imperial red and dry stout of yours, I'll bring a grab bag of stuff. As for 20 or 30 brews to bring? At least 35. Ha, no. We've been brewing a lot as always, but this year we aren't going to do what we did last year and enter a bunch of stuff. There were a few entries we put in last year that were more of a "Let's see what the judges think is wrong with this one?". The feedback was important and helpful, but I think we won't be doing that again this year. We'll be entering a couple things, but I don't think we'll be 100% on what goes in and what doesn't 'til we are closer. When we figure it out, I'll let y'all know.

---Ricky H.

I would be up for swapping some beers as well. I should have about 10 that I will be entering this year.

Entering:

Framboise

Saison

Belgian Dark

Imp. Orval

English Barleywine

Old Ale w/brett

Flanders Red(maybe)

Trippel (if I can dig up three)

Wow nice entries Mike. I'll have to pick your brain on the sours. I'm just a noob in them.

Ok,

Entries are in. I cut it down more than I thought after much "Research Binge Drinking" the day before. That's really the best part about beer competitions, sampling some stuff you made 6 months ago and aren't 100% sure where it's gone since you last tried it.

I should be dropping off my bottles tomorrow.

Black IPA, RyeIPA, Belgium Pale Ale, American Pale Ale, Irish Red and a Raspberry wheat.

They are all drinkable to me, however to the judges we will see.

Good luck to everyone who entered.

This is tough. I'm picking my beers apart to the point where I've already pre-judged them as "not "worthy"! I guess it's time to suck it up let 'em be judged and take my medicine.... Or awards.

Dropping off my entries tomorrow.

American Pale Ale
American IPA
American Brown
American Red
Porter
Oak Aged American Stout
Espresso Oatmeal Stout
Russian Imperial Stout
American Barley Wine
Belgian/American IPA

Great sounding entries. Everyone bring some extra so we can have a "Utah Beer Blog" beer exchange in the parking lot.

APA
Saison
Biere de Garde
Dubbel

Man -- You guys are going to kick my ass in these categories

took mine in this morning..
watermelon cream
cream ale
small saison
apa
now time to get tickets to the event!!!

Man,

It's looking like the board members are swamping the Saison, APA and Trappist style beers. I'm looking forward to the event, I always love the feedback... and the free appetizers.

Do you have to have tickets to get into the Bayou that evening?

JRL wrote:

Do you have to have tickets to get into the Bayou that evening?

No ticket required.

I entered:
Tripel
IPA
Berliner Weisse
Saison
Wild Saison
Mild
German Hefeweizen

The wife entered:
American Blond Ale

We should have a few bottles to trade after.

WOW!! 479 entries! Around 100 more then last year. Nice job everybody.

Good luck to all that entered.

beerbelly42 wrote:

WOW!! 479 entries! Around 100 more then last year. Nice job everybody.

Good luck to all that entered.

Holy hell! That's an impressive turnout.

In the end I only submitted one entry, a dry stout. Five others I deemed unworthy. I'll see if I have enough in the keg to throw a couple more bottles together to trade.

I'm amazed by the entries people have listed here. Very impressive.

Yeah,

It's amazing how big this event is getting. It really shows how serious the craft brewing community in Utah is getting. I know all of you are bringing the heat also. A friend of mine who's in the "Ye Olde Deseret Mead Makers Guild" with me dropped off an entry on Monday and apparently they've had a ton of Mead entered this year... Last year they only had what 10? And just reading from this board how many people entered a trappist style, APA or a Saison those are going to be some awesome categories. Good luck to y'all and I'mma bring a damned case for trade. See you there.

---Ricky H.

How will the exchange work before or after?