It probably comes as no surprise to regular club members, but Mike McDole is one of the three winners in this year’s Sam Adams Longshot competition. His beer will be released in a 3 pack later this year, and will be available in stores nationally. Awesome job Mike, as usual!

According to Jon, Mike is also pushing hard towards California Home Brewer of the year, along with Virg Redman. Keep up the awsome work guys.

The DOZE entry in the September/October Club Only Competiton picked up a 3rd place!
Congratulations to Scott Lothamer and Justin Crossley for their “Black Peter”!

The upcoming November/December comp is Pilsners with Dark Lagers coming up really quickly in January.

Kevin Pratt (BJCP Assistant Continuing Education Director) announced that he’s setting up prep classes for the BJCP Judging Exam. Classes will be held at B3 and will prepare brewers for the BJCP Judging exam to be held in November.
The class will cost around $100 ($50 for the test, $35 for class materials, $15-20 for beer tastings) for 9-12 sessions. This is an awesome opportunity to learn more about beer and brewing, and a chance to help out the brewing community by becoming a judge at competitions.
E-Mail Kevin Pratt with any questions, or to sign up.

Congrats to Erik Beer, his Irish Red will be our entry to the March/April club only competition. The next round is extract beers, any BJCP style as long as extract makes up 50% or more of the fermentables.
With an open category, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have at least a dozen entries to choose from. Entries are due 4/28/07, the weekend before our April meeting, so have your beer for judging in March.

AHA Club Comps are a great way to earn to earn club points and bring DOZE some extra recognition. If you’re planning your yearly brew schedule, take a look at the styles and dates below. We typically judge category beers at the meeting before the entry due date (but we don’t always have a lot of submissions). So brew ‘em and bring ‘em. See the AHA Club Competition website for more specific details.

February 2007
Low Gravity/Session Beers (OG < 1.045)

March/April 2007
Scottish Ale

May 2007
Extract Beers

August 2007
Strong Ale

September/October 2007
Bock

November/December 2007
Pilsner

In addition to Jon’s awesome achievement, DOZERS came through with a whopping 35 out of 68 medals awarded!! Way to go Jon and congrats to all DOZERS for bringing it strong. Results here.

Jon Plise is the Sierra Nevada Homebrewer of the Year.

Just a quick reminder that this coming Saturday, November 11th it the 28th Annual California State Homebrew Competition. Stop by to watch the judging and see our own Jon Plise named Sierra Nevada Homebrewer of the Year! The fun starts at 10 AM and runs to 7 PM at the clubhouse in Stern Grove.
For more information, check the San Andreas Malts site.
Here’s the location on Google Maps.
If you want to take public transit, take BART to the Balboa Park Stop and then Transfer to the MUNI K-Line Inbound. Get off at the St Francis Circle Stop (corner of Sloat and West Portal) and then walk West down Sloat 3 short blocks to Stern Grove.

Not that we need to swell Jon’s head or anything, but our own local boy made the Contra Cost TImes.

 Check it out!

Congrats, Jonny 5-0!

– Gary F.

The results are just in from the Firestone Walker 3rd Annual Homebrew Contest and our own Mike McDole picked up Silver in both categories in the comp (German Hefe and American IPA). Congrats Mike!