It’s been an extremely busy for me and my beer hobby lately.   I’ve been  buying a new brew system, having to go pick it up, participating in Zapp’s, judging in the Louisiana Club Competition and oh yeah trying to brew every now and then.    It all culminates this weekend with me getting my AHA results back and taking the BJCP exam in Houston tomorrow.

American Homebrew Competition Results

I put 3 beers in the AHA competition this year.  A bock, a barleywine and a Dunkel all of which I really enjoy.    The barleywine managed to advance to the second round of the NHC, the bock scored very well with a 41 and the dunkel didn’t get a lot of love with a 30.    The one fault all the beers had in common were an overall impression section including a desire for more carbonation which matches the comments my weizen got earlier this month from the club competition.   I currently carbonate high thinking that the carbonation will maintain through the bottling process but apparently it isn’t enough.   One judge commented that I might cool down the tools and the bottles before bottling.     I’ll have to do more research but I’m fairly sure I can move up from 3rd place and min-bos results to 1st and 2nd place showings.

BJCP Tasting Exam in Houston

I’m driving my ass all the way to Houston and back in one day to drink beer.   The Baton Rouge tasting exam for 2013 was already full 6 months in advance so I got on every waiting list within 6 miles and got a spot with the Bay Area Mastronauts so I’m using it or losing it.   I’ve studied enough for this thing so failure shouldn’t be an option.