Monday, May 5, 2014

Biking to beer judging....

Well, this isn't too bikey, but I have found that more people read these when the word beer is in the title.  This weekend was judging for the Great Basin Brew Off.  A homebrew competition that draws entry's from all over the country.  So being a glutton for punishment, I signed up for the Friday night and Saturday Morning judging sessions (and got suckered into the the Saturday afternoon session as well).  Sounds like torture, huh?!

Well, it's not quite as glamorous as you'd think.  Basically, you can't just have a love of beer....you do need to be a trained beer judge.  And in reality you end up writing A LOT and actually trying to minimize how much you drink.  To put this in perspective....there were over 200 entries and probably a total pool of judges numbering about 30.  So, to get through the 7-8 beers per session and stay objective (and sober) is it's own task.

Anyway, the biking part is simply that I did ride down and back for each session.....  Other than that here's some (fuzzy) pictures of the event.

Technically, he's drinking what we call a calibration beer!

Getting organized!  These guys are stewards who bring out the beer by category.

Hard at work judging the brown ales Friday night.

Mid session break....

A batch of Icky was fermenting away....

A mini best of show round....no formal scores here.  Just pick the best beer!

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