I entered my first two all-grain beers into the AHA National Homebrew Competition. The Robust Porter (aka Manual Porter) and an Irish Red Ale I've yet to taste. I called that one O'Shilly Red, but I'm sure that will not be my final name for the beer.
The competition is broken into two stages -- a regional round and a national round. I draw similarities here with American Idol. My beer is the cocky confident singer who strives to impress the judges with its perfection. Hopefully the beer is good enough and is not like one of those off-key losers they make fun of. I also hope that I do not get judged by the Paula Abdul equivalent. The fates will decide whether I survive the first round on the weekend of April 17-19 and make it to "Hollywood". The Hollywood in this case is in Oakland, CA. There will be up to 750 entries in my region -- the Northeast (CT, DE, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT) -- spread out into several categories and sub-categories.
I drove into Philly this afternoon to drop off my entries at Home Sweet Homebrew on Sansom St. I'm glad it's close. I feel weird about mailing beer somewhere. In ten years of brewing, I've never entered this national competition. The goal is to be in the top 3 in "12B Robust Porter" and "9D Irish Red Ale" so I can GO TO HOLLYWOOD, BUT ACTUALLY OAKLAND! I should find out how I do by the third week of May. Wish me luck!
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