Fall is just around the corner and prime brewing season is coming up.  Time to break out the kettle and make some great brews.  Start looking ahead to some fall and winter events.

BJCP Classes / Exams

Washington has been working on building up its BJCP judge population and has 6 exams on the upcoming calendar.  The first exam is on Oct 23rd which is completely full, but preparation classes are going on in the North Sound and South Sound right now.  While you may not be able to get in on the October exam, you can start studying now by joining one of the classes.  Just contact Mike Brown or Mark Emiley for more details.  The South Sound class is webcasting their sessions (Tuesday nights) and you can view the recorded series or tune in here (video series)

Another exam is scheduled for December 11th.  While this exam is also full, another set of classes will kick off on Wednesday evenings on October 6th at Larry's Brewing Supply.  Details on this class are posted here.

Four more exams are scheduled in early 2011.  There will be an exam in Bellingham on February 19th (also full) with some preparation classes in the area (details will be posted here when available).  The next exams with spots available are a Mead Exam in Seattle on March 12th (contact Mark Emiley), a beer exam in Seattle in April (contact Mark Tanner This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), and a beer exam in Yakima on May 7th (most spots reserved for Eastern Washington residents - contact Steve Antoch).  Given the very high demand for exams and limitations on exam scheduling, we are having to book exams further and further out.  If you have a group that may be interested in having an exam near you, please contact us and we can help you get rolling!

Homebrewer Fresh Hop Ale Competition

Enter YOUR homebrewed Fresh Hop Ale in our BJCP competition for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place homebrew Fresh Hop Ale. The brews will be judged Saturday, September 25th, and we will reveal the top 3 winners on Saturday night (10/02/2010) at the festival, where the winners will be recognized, awarded a plaque and homebrewing supplies!

HOMEBREW FRESH HOP ALE (FHA) ENTRY CRITERA:

• Your entry must fall into the Pale Ale to IPA category
• We are looking for beers in the 40 to 120 IBU range and 5 to 15 SRM color range.
• Your entry must include 100% flavor and aroma hops from the 2010 harvest year. They can be commercially grown or homegrown but are not to be processed through kiln drying. Bittering hops do not fall into this rule.
• New! You must submit only three (3) 12oz. bottles of FHA. No growlers.
• Only one (1) entry per contestant will be accepted. Bring us your best effort!

HOW TO ENTER: Complete details here

Important Dates

• Beer Delivery Deadline: Wednesday, September 22, 2010 by 2:30pm
• Judging: Saturday, September 25, 2010
• Festival & Awards: Saturday, October 2, 2010

Washington Mead and Cider Clinic and Cup

Once again, the WAHA and Impaling Alers will be running a Mead and Cider Clinic and Cup, this year all in one day!  In the morning of Saturday, October 16th, we'll be holding a mead and cider judging clinic.  All judges are encouraged to come down to learn more about judging these fermented beverage.  Then in the afternoon, we'll kick off judging of the Mead and Cider Cup (described below).

Enter the 2010 Washington Mead & Cider Cup: Washington’s 2nd Annual Mead and Cider only competition, brought to you by the Impaling Alers on behalf of the Washington Homebrewers Association. All Meads, Ciders, and Perries will be accepted as defined by the 2008 BJCP Guidelines for categories 24 – 28. (This is a WHOTY Qualifier).

• Entry Fee: $6 per entry – Checks made payable to Larry’s Brewing Supply
(2) 10-12 oz or (1) 750 mm corked or capped bottle per entry
• Entries Due: September 28th –  October 12th, 2010
• Ship to / Drop Off: Larry’s Brewing Supply (Closed Sun & Mon)
   7405 S 212th St. #103
   Kent, WA 98032

BJCP Judging will be held on Saturday October 16th, 2010 at Larry’s Brewing Supply (address above). Cork finished petillant and sparkling entries should have a crown cap or wire cage as well.  Entries of (1) 10-12 oz bottle will be accepted, but may not advance to the BOS judging if an insufficient sample remains. 

Complete details here.  Bring out Washington's best meads and ciders!

Novembeerfest

It isn't too late to start brewing some batches for the final WHOTY Qualifier of 2010, Novembeerfest.  Novembeerfest will be held on November 6th at Larry's Brewing Supply in Kent.  Details are being finalized and will be posted at www.impalingalers.org.  Good luck!

AHA Club-Only Competition - Strong Ales

Back in March, the Impaling Alers hosted the Session Challenge AHA Club Only Competition which was the largest AHA COC ever and was won by Washington's own Jonathan Powell (BREW).  This December Washington will play host to another AHA COC when GEBL hosts and features Strong Ales.

Entries are due November 30, 2010 and judging will be held December 4, 2010. Entry fee is $7. Make checks payable to American Homebrewers Association.

Entry Shipping:
AHA COC
Armour Unsderfer Engineering
13456 SE 27th Pl, Suite 200
Bellevue, WA 98005

Hosted by Jim Brischke and the Greater Everett Brewers League of Everett, WA, this competition covers BJCP Category 19 styles.  For more information, contact Jim Brischke.  Let's make it another terrific Washington showing!!!

Great Summer Wrap-Up

This summer had some wonderful homebrew events.  Beerstock 5060-2 was a tremendous celebration of Washington's homebrew culture and club spirit.  Thanks again to the Joy's for organizing another fantastic event.  The Lakewood Rotary Homebrew Festival was another great exhibition of over 100 homemade concoctions.  Thanks to Brandon Horn for his tireless work on the festival.  Fair organizers all around the state are wrapping up their homebrew competitions so get out to your local fair and find out your best competitors in your area.

After such great showings this year throughout the community, we can look ahead to another great summer next year.  Every great event needs helpers and organizers.  Beerstock 5060 is looking for some new organizers and a new location (interested in helping?  Contact the Joys).  Next year's NHC will be down in San Diego and we'll be looking to make a showing down there.  Start planning ahead and get involved today.  Talk with your club or contact the WAHA to help out!

On Monday, August 31st, the Presidents of the Boeing Recreation clubs were summoned for a Webex where it was announced that due to the current economic condition, Boeing has decided to terminate all subsidies to its clubs.  For our club, this comes in the form of use of space in the 7-226 building as well as use of our storage shelter in the Kent Space Center Parking lot.  To put it simply, no devoted space for a club on Boeing property.  In addition to this news, the leaders were informed that due to the potential for flooding due to the Howard Hansen Dam, all equipment must be moved by October 19^th with activities at the Kent Recreation Center ending by September 30^th.  We were recently provided permission to release the attached letter.

As you all know, this is a significant blow to the way that our club has been doing business, in particular to the Grape Procurement side of the house.  While this is highly unfortunate, we must start looking for immediate and long term solutions for maintaining our club's operations. 

Upon notification of this information, the BEWBC board has taken the following actions:

• We have contacted Recreation informing them of the obligations and requirements of the upcoming harvest and a request for deviation or additional support
• We contacted all vineyard focals to consider alternate approaches to managing the harvest
• We have held an emergency board meeting to discuss options and plans of action
• We have approached the Masonic Lodge about storage of meeting materials and received word that they are providing us with a cabinet
• We are already investigating alternate storage and logistics options and considering club demographics and requirements

Despite the frustrations and challenges that lie ahead, we need your support in the upcoming weeks.  There are many options out there for alternate ways to support components of club operations.  Between our 100+ members, we have numerous capabilities, contacts, and ideas.  While the core board and grape procurement team are considering options, if you have some constructive ideas for possible solutions, please pass them on to either Mick Pegg, Kathryn Chalfan, Kevin Neal, Joe Sikora, or myself.  If you have a special relationship with a storage facility or maybe you know about a large space which would be understanding of our organization's operations, let us know.  While many ideas may not work out, we'd rather have multiple options than none.  We are looking for actionable ideas and leads.

At this point, we will need some extra understanding and support from members as we work through the initial barriers.  Our focals will need you to be a bit flexible on the crush operations this year.  But if we make it through this harvest as a team, we can work on getting a more resilient framework in place for next year.  Please be ready to give as much help as needed during this emergency for our club.

We hate to be the bearer of bad news and while we all may have a lot to say about support to the Recreation program, our efforts are best focused on solving our problem at hand.  We are going to work with Recreation and the other clubs to try to find the best solution so burning ties with their support will not help our efforts. 

Look for more information to come in the upcoming week, but until you hear from us again, please think about ways that we could keep the club running in an effective and efficient manner.  With a little effort from everyone, we will make it through this intact and more self-sufficient than ever.

Please be aware that Dave Buhr has made some additions to the club library.  The updated Library catalog has some new Beer Books:
1) Craftsman Style Series, Books #6 Belgian Ale
2) Craftsman Style Series, Book #7 German Wheat Beer
3) Farmhouse Ales, Culture and Craftmanship in the Belgian Tradition
4) Ambitious Brew, The Story of American Beer

The complete club library spreadsheet can be viewed in the Club Files Section at the link below.

Library Catalog