Nothing better defines fall in New England than the changing of leaves, tankards of fresh pressed cider and the crisp mornings most days. Along with all of these wonderful things, this autumn marks a full year of RIBS home brewing competitions! To welcome the season we chose the theme to be Browns and Bitters competition. Browns are best known as brown yet mild beers, with a malty character and low hop aroma. Bitters are similar but as their name implies are a bit more heavy on the hops. Both styles are British in origin. We chose two beers that fit the theme and tasted the best. In first place, Mike D. and his “India Nut Brown”. Second place went to Josh F. with his English Bitter.
Special consideration was given to Charlie B. for addressing his body odor problem and improving it ten-fold. For this we awarded him the “Most Improved Odor” award. It is important to note that this is not a normal category at our brew competitions. Of course this is all in good fun.
This also marks the last competition that does not follow BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) guidelines. What does this mean? Well how it works now, RIBS members vote on what beers to brew for the specific competition but members were never held to strict guidelines. This made the voting very subjective, but also allowed members to explore the extremes of the style. RIBS members all agreed that after 1 year of competitions we would follow the styles of the BJCP guidelines. We are excited for our next competition, which will follow the BJCP guidelines for Stouts.
The rest of the pictures from the competition can be found in the gallery.