Y'all- Had a GREAT time at the Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison, WI this past weekend! Thanks again to Jeff Luskey for arranging the tickets for it! I know he is already planning the BUS TRIP TO MADISON for Next year's Great Taste! Met some guys from the Milwaukee Beer Barons there - they are inviting any interested in judging at the Schooner homebrew competition to come on down. They are judging on Sept 18 - right before the Great Lakes Brew Fest... read on below... http://www.theschooner.org/ http://www.greatlakesbrewfest.com/main.html I went to it a few years ago, and I believe Rick Oftel and Paul Dienhart made the road trip there last year. For you cider makers, be sure to stop by Aeppeltroew Cidery on the way to or from! - Al ----- Original Message ----- From: Michael Rice <mrbeer5813(a)yahoo.com> To: north rep <north_rep(a)bjcp.org> Cc: Brian Joas <brian(a)brianjoas.com> Sent: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:11:29 -0000 (UTC) Subject: Great Taste Hey Al, It was great running in to you at the GTM. I did not realize that you Minnesota guys ventured in to our state on a quest for beer. Now we need to get you to travel another 70 miles to Milwaukee. I would like to invite you and your Minn brethren to come and judge at next months Schooner open held in Racine. The comp is held in conjunction with the Great Lakes Brew Fest. My club "Da Barons" joins forces with the Racine and Kenosha clubs to judge over 700 entries. We have sessions in various locations throughout the week with the main session's on Saturday in Racine. What makes this comp so much fun is that after the morning and afternoon sessions we attend the Great Lakes Brew Fest. Judges get free admittance. The GLBF is my personal favorite, for it is smaller and more intimate than the GTM. They only sell about 1500 tickets.The venue is superb, right on the Lake Michigan shore in downtown Racine. Because of Racine's proximity to the IL border we pull judges from the Chicago area. So this would be a great way for you to meet some of our Chicago BJCP brothers. Brian Joas is this years comp directer and you can contact him for more details. http://www.theschooner.org/ On another note, Milwaukee has some great beer bars. If you are so inclined to visit our city for some "beer tourism" please contact me. My fellow Barons and I would be happy to show you and your buddies around our fair city. The Lakefront Brewery is not to be missed. A private tour can easily be arranged. Mike Rice