In case anyone is interested, SNAFU (Las Vegas) is hosting their annual Winterfest competition on March 28 and 29, and Bill Moreland (the organizer) is offering a free ticket to their beer/food pairing dinner/awards banquet to anyone traveling in to judge.
I would like to go, but can’t this year due to lots of reasons. Yet, I went last year and got to know many of them because of it, and they are a great group. Note: I do plan on going there this fall for the Nevada State Homebrew Championships (NSHC), and so who can expect more than one trip a year to Las Vegas, if even one.
Anyway, here’s a link to their site. Maybe, someone would be interested in entering a brew or two, and skip the trip.
The Treasurer has confirmed that the Club will pay for (and bring) the commercial style example of anything we evaluate as a group at club meetings.
So, let’s say there’s something in your personal homebrew inventory, something special that you wouldn’t mind allowing us to practice our judging skills upon. Let us know and we’ll set it up for a monthly meeting. It’s that simple.
The club will supply the commercial brew , the sample cups, and even make arrangements with you to transport your homebrew so that you can be anonymous (for objectivity), and then afterwards, it’s your call on how secret you remain.
We will keep the judging as professional and objective as we can, and we won’t hold up the commercial example as the standard for comparison. We’ll go by the guidelines. It won’t be surprising if the homebrew example fits within the guidelines better and has fewer flaws than the commercial entry.
Just leave a comment or email via the Contact Us page, and we’ll take it from there. As of right now, we don’t have beer to judge for the February 22nd meeting.
Hey, our next WZZ club meeting/party is scheduled: Saturday, February 22nd, 6:00 PM(ish), at Kirk and Jackie Howell’s home, 3090 Meadowlands Drive, Sparks, NV 89431. (map below)
Newcomer? Thinking about getting involved but not sure? Old-timer but haven’t been active for awhile? Come on out, you’re welcome. Give us a try. See if you like the fit.
No theme chosen (maybe we should try “Let it Rain”). Pot-luck of course (food, snacks, and interesting brews/homebrews).
Interested in becoming a beer judge? Want to try evaluating a beer? We’ll make an attempt (though it’s not easy at parties), where we first evaluate a commercial beer, followed by a homebrew of the same BJCP style; listing (for both) what we sense as “to style” or “not to style” according to the guidelines. Sometimes the commercial entry doesn’t score all that well, and it’s really nice when the homebrew entry outscores the commercial brew.
It works better if we keep the homebrewer anonymous (saves someone’s pride and promotes objectivity). I’ll try to set something up but, if you’d like to volunteer, leave a comment (I’ll keep your identity anonymous too) or use the “Contact Us” site feature, and I’ll get back to you.
Cheers! Drink lots of water, eat lots of food, and drive safe.
