Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Got a couple of emails from these folks. Must have gotten our info at AHA. Just in case anyone's interested.

Greetings Fellow Homebrewers,

I am happy to announce the Black Anniversary of Hoppy Halloween Homebrew Challenge by the Prairie Homebrewing Companions of Fargo, ND-Moorhead, MN. That's right we are turning 13 this year and are looking forward to putting on one ghoulishly awesome event in celebration of this most wicked of all anniversaries! Great prizes, over 700 handmade skulls to adorn the medals, and more. Please refer to the attached poster and our website, http://www.hoppyhalloween.com/ , for more info.

Also, for all you regional brewing monsters out there we are doing our best to help you get your entries to us without fright. We have set up drop sites at both Northern Brewer and Midwest Homebrewing Supplies in the Twin Cities.

Hoppy Halloween is coming up fast so I wanted to tempt you with a little something that will haunt your soul and hopefully draw you into our lair. All arrangements have been made to bring in a guest speaker fitting of a celebration for the wicked 13th anniversary of this ghoulish competition. Check out the attached poster. That’s right JAMIL ZAINASHEFF is coming to Fargo!!! He will be with us for the weekend and speaking on Saturday night at our awards Banquet. Did I mention the banquet will feature steak tips cooked with homebrew? OR that we will have a firkin of Summit to go with all the homebrew? This is going to be a BLAST!

Hopefully this will entice you to come celebrate with us. If you are interested contact hoppy@hoppyhalloween.com to make your dinner reservations and Contact the Howard Johnson Inn at (701) 232-8850 for hotel reservations. If on or before October 8th ask for the “homebrewers” block.

Good luck to all.

Cheers,

Tom

Entries accepted October 8th to October 23rd

Day of Reckoning October 30th

_____________________________________________

Tom Roan

Hoppy Halloween Competition Coordinator

hoppy@hoppyhalloween.com

http://www.hoppyhalloween.com//

I talked to a couple members of the Fargo club at NHC. For a city somewhat smaller than Cedar Rapids, they've got a large and active club.

http://prairiehomebrewers.org/

Their award of brewing program is interesting too. They judge beer at the beginning of every meeting, encouraging members to brew high quality beer from multiple categories and subcategories to gain various levels within the award of brewing.


http://prairiehomebrewers.org/aob.htm

Award of Brewing Levels

Brewers advance through the program by demonstrating their ability to produce beers that accurately reflect the characteristics of world beer styles as defined by the Beer Judge Certification Program guidelines and brew them without major defects.

Recognized Brewer: To reach the “recognized” level a brewer must make a beer from 6 of the major categories currently sanctioned by the BJCP. At least 1 of these must be a lager and at least 1 of these must be an ale.

Accomplished Brewer: To reach the “accomplished” level a brewer must make a beer from 12 of the major categories currently sanctioned by the BJCP. At least 2 of these must be lagers and at least 2 of these must be ales. Beers credited to a Recognized brewer count toward this obligation.

Master of Brewing: To reach the “master” level a brewer must make a beer from every major category currently sanctioned by the BJCP. Beers credited to an Accomplished brewer count toward this obligation.

Brewers wishing to advance beyond these levels have these options:

Master of Brewing 2nd Degree: To reach this level a brewer must produce beers representing 26 additional styles beyond those credited for the “master” level. A club service component is also required to advance to this level. This will include, but not be restricted to, a demonstration of the brewer’s knowledge of world beer styles and technical aspects of homebrewing.

Grand Master: To reach this level a brewer must produce every style of beer currently sanctioned by the BJCP (currently 80). Beers credited to a 2nd Degree Master brewer count toward this obligation. A club service component is also required to advance to this level. This will include, but not be restricted to, a demonstration of the brewer’s knowledge of world beer styles and technical aspects of homebrewing.