October 1997 Volume 20, Issue 10

MCAB Judging

by Bryan Gros

From the judge digest, announcing: the Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing

On behalf of Brewing Techniques Magazine, the Home Beer and Wine Trade Association, the Home Brew Digest, and the Foam Rangers Homebrew Club of Houston, I am pleased to announce a new national homebrew competition. As the planning for this competition is in the embryonic stage, I am also soliciting all comments and suggestions.

The first Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing ("MCAB") will be held in late 1998 or early 1999 in Houston, Texas, and will be hosted by the Foam Rangers. 8-10 major regional homebrew competitions (selected on the basis of size, prestige, and geographic distribution) will be selected shortly as MCAB Qualifying Events. Winners at each Qualifying Event in 15-20 of the most competitive BJCP subcategories will be invited to enter the MCAB in that style. Entrants will be free to either enter their qualifying beer or brew a different batch for the MCAB competition.

The MCAB will thus be a small "champions' championship," where the very best amateur brewers will compete head-to-head in the most competitive styles under ideal conditions.

The small size of the competition will allow us to have larger panels of qualified judges evaluating smaller flights -- hopefully minimizing palate fatigue and some of the other problems that can affect large competitions. We also hope that the MCAB will provide an opportunity for the amateur brewing community to congregate for a free or low cost, yet high quality technical conference that will be produced by amateur brewers, for amateur brewers.

We will shortly be forming a Steering Committee that will select the Qualifying Events, the BJCP styles that will be featured, the specific competition rules, and other matters.

(In future years, the Steering Committee would also be in charge of selecting a host club for the MCAB.) For those of you going to the GABF, we will be having an organizational meeting shortly before the Real Beer/Brewing Techniques Stogies and Stout Smokeout (10PM on Thursday, October 2, 1997, at the Rock Bottom Brewery in Denver). Please e-mail me for details and an agenda if you would like to attend.

In the meantime, if you have any comments or suggestions for the MCAB -- especially regarding which competitions you feel should be Qualifying Events -- or if you would like to be involved in this great endeavor, please let me know.

Louis K. Bonham

lkbonham@phoenix.net