Big Brew video contest winners

New Jersey homebrewers found the winners circle for a second-straight year in the American Homebrewers Association's video contest, but a crew from Oregon took the prize for capturing what National Homebrew Day is all about.

On Thursday, the AHA announced this year's winners of the annual contest staged in conjunction with Big Brew, held every first Saturday in May.

Portland, Oregon's FH Steinbart won the Spirit of Big Brew Award, while the Barley Legal Homebrewers club, teamed with Beer-Stained Letter, won for the video that drew the most views during the 10-day judging period.

This year, apparently, the AHA has done away with the second-place finish that it had awarded over the past three contest years.

Rounding out the field for 2011: Philadelphia's ALEiens picked up an honorable mention, as did California's Humboldt Homebrewers, who, for a while, gave the Barley Legal brewers a strong run for their money in the most-watched category.

Last year, the WHALES homebrew crew from Woodbridge won the most-watched award, while Barley Legal and BSL came in second place. (BSL won the Spirit of Big Brew Award in 2008, the first year of the contest.) The Society of Oshkosh Brewers won the 2010 Spirit of Big Brew Award.

Congrats to FH Steinbart, ALEiens, Humboldt Hombrewers, and of course, to the Barley Legal clan.

Homebrew Day, the video

This year's video from National Homebrew Day/AHA Big Brew, shot May 7th in the back lot at Iron Hill brewpub in Maple Shade, where the year-old Barley Legal Homebrewers club pretty much calls headquarters.

Special thanks to Chris LaPierre at Iron Hill and Tim Kelly from the Tun Tavern.

Remember to support your local homebrew shop.

And brewery.

Cheers.

Hurried goat

An excursion over to Phoenixville, Pa.

Fans of Sly Fox Brewing look forward to the first Sunday in May and the annual Bock Fest's running of the goats in the parking lot of the brewery-restaurant.

This year, the 12th running of the ruminants, South Jersey's Barley Legal Homebrewers club ponied up an entry, hoping to land naming rights to the brewery's 2011 maibock. (The maibock is named after the victor.)

Alas, Toilet – the moniker the club's entry ran under – finished second in his heat, not good enough to make the finals.

That race turned out to be quite the David-and-Goliath tale: a three-legged goat named Peggy vanquished two-time champ Dax, winning the hearts of the crowd and naming rights to the bock. (That's Peggy's preliminary race pictured below.)

As for Toilet, it was a long ride home, but there's always next year. Maybe some Toilet Bock, too.

Think Tun tripel at AC beer fest

The Atlantic City beer festival opens on Friday, and amid the tide of beers from 75 breweries at the sixth edition of the Celebration of the Suds, this beer should stand out: the Belgian tripel brewed at the Tun Tavern by homebrewers Vince Masciandaro and Evan Fritz, under the guidance of the Tun's brewer, Tim Kelly.

Vince and Evan's beer paced ahead of 19 other brews to claim victory in the Tun's first homebrewer contest. Top prize was the opportunity to scale up their recipe and brew a commercial batch for the Tun's taps and for the Friday and Saturday crowds at the AC beer fest. (The beer will be taphandled At The Shore Belgian Ale because of a tie-in with The Press of Atlantic City newspaper and its entertainment guide, At The Shore.)

The pleasure Vince and Evan got from playing pro brewer for a day should be all yours. The beer they brewed will have no equal at the festival. It's imminently fresh – brewed in early March, racked over this week for serving. It exists because of the festival – brewed specifically for the event. And Vince and Evan rose to the challenge of brewing on an exponential scale.

Talk to Vince about his beers and he'll tell you that he's his own toughest critic. A minor errant flavor you forgive because you've tasted it in store-bought brews is a rough spot that Vince wishes he had or plans to file down. A flaw is still a flaw to this Marlton guy, and that's that. And that's why his beers have that certain above-and-beyond effort that gives them a fine finish.

For Evan, homebrewing isn't about shaving some pennies off the cost keeping the fridge stocked. Hardly. Brewing's an intriguing science to him, a challenge, and re-creating the best beers he finds on the store shelves is equal parts holy grail and the proverbial practice that makes perfect.

He brews practically every Friday afternoon at his home in Williamstown (he'd love to do it daily as a professional), with the same goal Vince has: to make a great beer.

And that's what they did for the festival.

Cheers.

Tun homebrew challenge winner

The winner is: Belgian tripel.

Vince Masciandaro and Evan Fritz, both members of the Barley Legal Homebrewers club, took top prize in the Tun Tavern brewpub's homebrewer contest, winning a chance to scale up their recipe to a commercial-size batch.

(That's Vince in the middle and Evan at right, both talking with Iron Hill head brewer Chris LaPierre at last year's Big Brew/Homebrew Day at Iron Hill-Maple Shade.)

Vince and Evan's Tun-made brew will go on tap at the Tun and be served at the Atlantic City beer festival April 1-2.

The two edged out a double porter entered by Andrew Tobisen and Greg VanGilder (2nd place) and a double red ale brewed by Robert Ochs and Betsey Ford (3rd place).

New Jersey dominates in AHA video contest

This just in: Jersey beer folks dominate in the American Homebrewers Association YouTube video contest.

Woodbridge Homebrewers Ale & Lager Enthusiasts Society won for most-watched video from the May 1st Big Brew Homebrew Day observance.

Beer-Stained Letter (that would be us) got second place in the Spirit of Big Brew category, and the Society of Oshkosh Brewers got the coveted first place in Spirit of Big Brew. Congrats to them.

Special thanks go to the Barley Legal Homebrewers, who share credit in the second place finish.

Here are the links:
• Oshkosh Brewers
• WHALES
• Beer-Stained Letter

Big Brew 2010 in NJ – the video

The Big Brew was a week ago, and here's what went on behind Iron Hill brewpub in Maple Shade, where the Barley Legal Homebrewers club played host to a National Homebrew Day observance. Special thanks to Evan Fritz of the Barley Legal club for inviting the blog to their gathering and serving some great beer. They brewed a total of 140 gallons of beer for Big Brew, Evan says.

And a nod goes to Iron Hill Maple Shade head brewer Chris LaPierre for similar hospitality and availing himself for an interview on a day he also had to go to a wedding.

A couple other things: The videos is entered in the American Homebrewers Association YouTube contest, something we won two years ago (the AHA's inaugural contest). There's some leftover footage that will wind up getting used for follow-up videos. (Contest rules limited entries to three minutes maximum.)

Also, a shout-out to Keg & Barrel Homebrew Supply in Berlin, in Camden County. When Beer Crafters closed last fall, South Jersey lost one of the underpinnings to its homebrewing community. Nice to see another shop filling the void.