Forty-one beers were entered for judging at Oakland’s recent Oaktoberfest festival.  Those 41 entries were placed for judging in about a half-dozen combined categories.  When the suds cleared, DOZE had once again shown why it is the best homebrew club around:

Category: Munich Helles

1st Place – Paul Brown (BOS runner up)

3rd Place –   Ray Graves

Category: Kolsch

1st Place – Arlyn Johns

2nd Place -     Ray Graves

Category : Vienna Lager

1st Place –   Mike Bernhardt

Best Of Show

Arlyn Johns, with a Kolsch

Paul Brown, Runner-Up with a Munich Helles

Congratulations all around!

The 2011 National Hombrew Competition winners have been announced.  This year we again had several DOZErs earn medals:

• Category 3: European Amber Lager
  Silver Medal – Stephen Northcutt & Mark Ristow – Oktoberfest/Märzen
• Category 9: Scottish and Irish Ale
  Gold Medal – Scott Lothamer – Scottish Heavy 70/-
• Category 27: Standard Cider and Perry
  Silver Medal - Stephen Northcutt & Mark Ristow – Common Cider

The full list of winners can be viewed or downloaded from the AHA website.

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.

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.

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!

Three DOZE’rs brought home some bling from Orlando this year!  Congratulations to these guys for brewing the best homebrew in the nation in their respective categories!

Jon Plise brings home a gold for his Dark American Lager and a bronze for his American Brown Ale

Scott Thomas contributes a bronze to the list for his American Stout

Mike McDole adds a silver to his bling stash for his Dortmunder Export

Congrats, guys!  Way to go!