I brewed an American Brown Ale a few weeks ago that I really liked and decided it should be my first ever entry into the AHA competition just to see what the judges would say. However, I don't have a beer gun or other counter pressure filler so I've been letting the time slip by. Last night I decided to search the forums here and sure enough found a GREAT thread on filling bottles from a keg on the cheap (http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f35/we-no-n ... dex24.html). So, as soon as I could get out of my morning meeting I ran for my LHS picked up a stopper and a party tap to complete my inventory list for the DIY bottle filler.
By now I had 1 hour to get 15 miles home and use this yet unbuilt, untested rig and get the thing boxed and back to town to FedEx for overnight to San Diego. Yes, the deadline for the competition is tomorrow at 5pm.
After a few setup challenges, I got it to work like a charm! Off I ran with one 12 ounce bottle of "Blister Brown" ready for judging!
Walked into FedEx 2 minutes past the deadline, 4:30 but they said they could still get it on the truck..."By the way, what is it?..."
"A Bottle of Beer!" said I.
"You can't ship that!" said the FedEx Nazi!
Shit....
The decision to gamble and a mad dash to UPS though, rendered success! The 5pm deadline for Brown combined with my quick reply of, "A souvenir" were adequate to gain my precious cargo a ticket to ride with guaranteed delivery at least 2 hours prior to tomorrow's deadline!
After a few more hours slave'n for the Man, I made it home again so anxious for what was certain to be one of the last pints of the ale that spurred me to such devoted action.
Fate spoke loud and clear.
At first pull on the tap, prior to a mere ounce of my treasured brown nectar the all too familiar pop, suds and echo from the bottom of the cornie told me that the 12 ounces I pulled off just hours earlier was meant to be my first submission to a homebrew contest after brewing as many years!
(forgive the cross post but I had to put this on the HBtalk forums as well)
Cheers to All!
Wes
