Hello fellow Home Brewers!
The Beer Barons of Milwaukee are very pleased to announce the fifth annual Midwinter Home Brew Competition will be taking place on February 21st and 22nd, 2014. This competition is held in conjunction with the 17th annual Midwinter Brew Fest at the Milwaukee Ale House, and is a circuit qualifying event for both the Master Championship of Amateur Brewers (MCAB) and the Midwest Home Brewer of the Year. The competition will be limited to 800 entries. All entries to be judged by at least 2 BJCP Judges, Professional Brewers, or Mead Judges.
Participant, judging, and steward registration for the competition will be coordinated through the web site at http://www.midwinterhbc.com. Entries will be accepted January 4th through February 8th at 11 different locations in WI, IL, & MN. Shipped entries should be sent to Northern Brewer in West Allis, WI. Please refer to the web site for drop off location cut off dates and addresses.
1st, 2nd, & 3rd place awards will be issued for each category. Each award will consist of a medal and a gift certificate to Brew & Grow (Gold - $25, Silver - $15, Bronze - $10). Beer Best of Show, Beer Best of Show Runner-Up, and Mead / Cider Best of Show will receive engraved barrel head awards.
This year we are very happy to have two professional ramp ups affiliated with the competition. One of the Baltic Porter entries (BJCP category 12C) will be chosen to be ramped up by the Milwaukee Brewing Company for serving at the Milwaukee Ale House. Also one Mead entry (BJCP categories 25 A-C, 26A, & 26C) will be ramped up by Moonlight Meadery as a pilot batch.
The awards ceremony will again take place at Revere’s Wells Street Tavern on February 22nd at 6:30 PM central time. Gordon Strong is scheduled to present Brewing Better Beer: Practical Applications prior to the awards announcement. Both the presentation and the awards ceremony are open to the public. Results will be posted to the competition website shortly after the conclusion of the awards ceremony.
Additional details can be found on the competition web site, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ pages. Information regarding judging and stewarding opportunities can be found on the Volunteers page at http://midwinterhbc.com/volunteers. Please pass this information on to your fellow home brewing friends and direct any inquiries to the Contact page on the registration page at http://midwinterhbc.com/contact
Thanks and best of luck to all that enter!
Bruce Buerger - Competition Coordinator
