A Call to Arms (and Kettles) for MN Brewers

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable "Ask not what your club can do for you-- ask instead what you can brew for your club." Ladies and Gentlemen-- For far too long (four years running!) the Quality Ale and Fermentation = Fraternity (QUAFF) from San Diego, CA, has had a stranglehold on the = Club of the Year competition at the American Homebrewers Association = (AHA) national convention. For the past four years, they are the only = club to hoist the trophy over their collective heads and receive the = accolades that accompany the honor of being AHA Club of the Year. This year . . . =20 that changes. This year, the brewers of the North Star state are going to take home = the prize. After all--it's much too warm in southern California to = properly ferment most styles; besides, we've got better brewers! The challenge is this. We need many brewers to commit to brewing and = entering lots of styles. (New style listings attached) I will be in = charge of keeping track of who is brewing what, so that we can have = numerous entries per style. For those who are unfamiliar with the = national competition, each club earns points on a 6-4-2 basis for = brewers from that club who place first, second, or third in a style = category at either the first round (right here in MN in 2005!) or the = second round. We would like to see a few MN beers entered in each = sub-category, so that when many of our beers take places, we are = garnering points all across the board. Why the call to arms now? Certain styles will need to be brewed in the = very near future in order to be ready for the April contest. = Additionally, we need everyone thinking about what they will brew over = the next eight months, so that we can have MN entries in every = sub-category. With the first round being judged in the Twin Cities, MN = brewers can save on some shipping, which should increase the incentive = to enter! Your club can certainly enter beers under your own club's name, but here = is the second part of the request (besides the one that asks you to tell = me which styles you will be brewing so that I can send out requests for = people to brew styles that are not being covered)-- As some members of the MN Homebrewers club (MHBA)and the St. Paul club = (SPHBC) know, there is a friendly agreement between the MHBA and the = SPHBC that the club that has the most competition points heading into = the AHA national competition will be the club that will is listed as = each brewers' club on the entry forms, regardless of which club the = brewer usually associates with. In other words, if the SPHBC has earned = some points in the AHA club-only competitions (COC) during the year, = while the MHBA has not, then both clubs' members will enter the April = AHA national contest as SPHBC members. This way, one club receives many = points, rather than two MN clubs splitting some points and both clubs = finishing far down in the Club of the Year standings. I am humbly requesting that all MN clubs (and maybe even the Prairie = Homebrewing Companions! :) ) consider entering the national = competition under the name of the MN club that has the most COC points = going into the nationals. There are five more COCs before April, and = those points are awarded on a 12-8-4 basis. If every MN entry had the = same club name on the national entry forms--and if MN was represented = numerous times in each category--well then, we just might have ourselves = a trophy! This is more than do-able; this is imperative! Many MN brewers entered = under the SPHBC banner last year, and the result was an impressive = fourth-place finish! With an even more concerted effort, the trophy = comes to Minnesota. So--the bottom line is this: Please look over the attached list of new Beer Judge Certification = Program (BJCP) styles (complete style guidelines at www.bjcp.org) = decide which styles you can commit to brewing and entering, then let me = know which those are. Barleywines, Russian Imperial Stouts, Meads, sour = ales, and other larger or more need-time-to-mellow beers need to be = brewed right quick! Then, please consider entering into a friendly agreement that all MN = brewers will enter under one club name. At the moment, it would be MHBA = or SPHBC, considering that those two clubs have scored well in previous = contests, but the club name used on entries could be open for = discussion. QUAFF must fall--and we're just the brewers to make it happen. Please = send me the styles you are willing to brew and enter, then think about = entering under one club name when the time comes to register. Thank you for your support of this concept, and I'll look forward to = tallying the hundreds of entries we'll be flooding the contest with! Thanks again, John Longballa Coordinator, The Campaign to Bring the Club of the Year Title to = Minnesota! (CBCYTMN) ;) -- Attached file included as plaintext by Ecartis -- -- File: NewBJCPstyles.txt 1. LIGHT LAGER 1A. Lite American Lager 1B. Standard American Lager 1C. Premium American Lager 1D. Munich Helles 1E. Dortmunder Export 2. PILSNER 2A. German Pilsner (Pils) 2B. Bohemian Pilsener 2C. Classic American Pilsner 3. EUROPEAN AMBER LAGER 3A. Vienna Lager 3B. Oktoberfest/Märzen 4. DARK LAGER 4A. Dark American Lager 4B. Munich Dunkel 4C. Schwarzbier (Black Beer) 5. BOCK 5A. Maibock/Helles Bock 5B. Traditional Bock 5C. Doppelbock 5D. Eisbock 6. LIGHT HYBRID BEER 6A. Cream Ale 6B. Blonde Ale 6C. Kölsch 6D. American Wheat or Rye Beer 7. AMBER HYBRID BEER 7A. Northern German Altbier 7B. California Common Beer 7C. Düsseldorf Altbier 8. ENGLISH PALE ALE 8A. Standard/Ordinary Bitter 8B. Special/Best/Premium Bitter 8C. Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale) 9. SCOTTISH AND IRISH ALE 9A. Scottish Light 60/- 9B. Scottish Heavy 70/- 9C. Scottish Export 80/- 9D. Irish Red Ale 9E. Strong Scotch Ale 10. AMERICAN ALE 10A. American Pale Ale 10B. American Amber Ale 10C. American Brown Ale 11. ENGLISH BROWN ALE 11A. Mild 11B. Southern English Brown 11C. Northern English Brown Ale 12. PORTER 12A. Brown Porter 12B. Robust Porter 12C. Baltic Porter 13. STOUT 13A. Dry Stout 13B. Sweet Stout 13C. Oatmeal Stout 13D. Foreign Extra Stout 13E. American Stout 13F. Russian Imperial Stout 14. INDIA PALE ALE (IPA) 14A. English IPA 14B. American IPA 14C. Imperial IPA 15. GERMAN WHEAT AND RYE BEER 15A. Weizen/Weissbier 15B. Dunkelweizen 15C. Weizenbock 15D. Roggenbier (German Rye Beer) 16. BELGIAN AND FRENCH ALE 16A. Witbier 16B. Belgian Pale Ale 16C. Saison 16D. Bière de Garde 16E. Belgian Specialty Ale 17. SOUR ALE 17A. Berliner Weisse 17B. Flanders Red Ale 17C. Flanders Brown Ale/Oud Bruin 17D. Straight (Unblended) Lambic 17E. Gueuze 17F. Fruit Lambic 18. BELGIAN STRONG ALE 18A. Belgian Blond Ale 18B. Belgian Dubbel 18C. Belgian Tripel 18D. Belgian Golden Strong Ale 18E. Belgian Dark Strong Ale 19. STRONG ALE 19A. Old Ale 19B. English Barleywine 19C. American Barleywine 20. FRUIT BEER 21. SPICE / HERB / VEGETABLE BEER 21A. Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer 21B. Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer 22. SMOKE-FLAVORED AND WOOD-AGED BEER 22A. Classic Rauchbier 22B. Other Smoked Beer 22C. Wood-Aged Beer 23. SPECIALTY BEER 24. TRADITIONAL MEAD 24A. Dry Mead 24B. Semi-sweet Mead 24C. Sweet Mead 25. MELOMEL (FRUIT MEAD) 25A. Cyser (Apple Melomel) 25B. Pyment (Grape Melomel) 25C. Other Fruit Melomel 26. OTHER MEAD 26A. Metheglin 26B. Braggot 26C. Open Category Mead 27. STANDARD CIDER AND PERRY 27A. Common Cider 27B. English Cider 27C. French Cider 27D. Common Perry 27E. Traditional Perry 28. SPECIALTY CIDER AND PERRY 28A. New England Cider 28B. Fruit Cider 28C. Applewine 28D. Other Specialty Cider/Perry -- Binary/unsupported file stripped by Ecartis -- -- Type: application/vnd.ms-excel -- File: NEWBJCPSTYLES.xls