Brooklyn Wort

Another beer competition! Don and I managed to squeeze into the Brooklyn Wort, an annual local homebrew competition. Brooklyn Wort judges picked the top 30 homebrews, from a pool of 85 contestants. We just barely made the cut (got in as alternates with our Fat Wizard Wheat!), and attended the final event/competition a couple weeks ago.

Simpleton Saison: 7.8% ABV, 26.5 IBUs

We showed up to the event with 5 gallons of my Simpleton Saison, so-called because I tried to stick as close to style as possible. It was also the first beer I brewed alone (i.e., sans Don). We took a cab to the Bell House, a venue in Gowanus, where hundreds of people were lined up and waiting to sample our beer. More than three hundred people attended -- they received a free sandwich and tasting glasses, with which to sample all 30 competition beers -- and we got some great feedback and many positive notes on our saison. We were seated at a table in between an amazing Imperial Coffee Stout and an American pale ale.

Don at the event table

At the end of the event, all attendees voted for their favorite beers (People's Choice), while a handful of judges voted for the same (Judge's Choice). We didn't end up winning any awards, but it was pretty damn cool to have been a part of the event as a finalist. We also got helpful feedback from the judge's scorecards: "relatively clean beer with lots o' phenols and peppery notes"; "head retention could be better"; "wonderfully long finish."

There is a small part of me that thinks it's funny that these adult beer judges are taking my beer seriously; I feel like a kid messing around with recipes in a grown-up's world. I guess I'll keep playing along!