[MKOB] Club Only Competitions

[Russ Clayton]

Dear fellow olut heads,

    After a long arduous process, I've taken all the suggestions and 
limited down our beers for the upcoming 2007 lineup for club only brews.

    Drum roll please...

    First Quarter Beer ... which we will talk about in January and will 
brew there-after for the March meeting.
             *(Brown Ale) -- This can be American or English, your choice.

    *Second Quarter Beer ... which we will talk about in April and will 
brew there-after for the June meeting.
            * (IPA/APA) -- Choose either an IPA or an APA.*

    Third Quarter Beer ... which we will talk about in July and will 
brew there-after for the September meeting.
            * (Irish Dry Stout/English Porter)   -- Choose either an 
Irish Dry Stout or English Porter.

    *Fourth Quarter Beer ... which we will talk about in May and will 
brew there-after for the November meeting.
             *(Strong Ale) -- Choose Belgian, English or American.

*    To explain the choices above.  The Brown Ale was far and away the 
single most popular style submitted.  IPA and APA were tied for second.  
Dry Stout and Porter were also tied.  And the next most popular style 
that I saw was Strong Ale.  A variety of strong ales were submitted, so 
I figured we would lump them into one category.

    I also received suggestions saying that we should open up the 
categories a bit and not be so precise.  So I believe I've done that 
without being too broad, and still allowing for a good set of guidelines 
to judge each beer.

    Also note that the Fourth Quarter beer will be talked about in May, 
to allow for brewing and maturation for the November meeting.

    If you feel that you have a good handle on one of these styles, and 
would like to make a presentation at one of the meetings, please let me 
know.  I will also ask George to talk about the style for a few minutes 
and give us the rundown of what the style or styles require.   To make 
this work, it would be best to have a variety of people involved.  Jim 
is still working on the matter of having a prize available for each judging.

    I believe the most popular idea of judging was to let everyone score 
the beers and then add up the scores.  Before each judging I will ask 
George to talk for a bit about the style or styles we are getting ready 
to taste.  He will give us the main tasting points we should be looking 
for and main defect points we should also be looking for.

    Each beer submitted should be in plain brown 12 oz. bottles for the 
sake of judging fairly.  To assure that everyone gets a sample, please 
bring 4 bottles, just in case there are a lot of people present.  I will 
bring saltines to clear our taste buds between samples.  The judging 
will be done first after the main meeting part is done.  After the 
judging is done for the competition, the floor will be open for other 
types of beer that may have been brewed and brought to the meeting.  
I'll tabulate the results and figure who the best of show was.  In case 
of a tie, the tie will be broken by a secondary tasting by George and 2 
random people that want to judge.

    If I have forgot to mention something please let me know.  
Otherwise, I hope everything goes well.  If you want to brew your entry 
for a category before the date that we will talk about it for the first 
time to allow for more aging, please feel free.  This is why I wanted to 
get this email out before the end of Dec.

~russ