Friday, March 23, 2007

Let the competition begin!!!

Ah yes, tis been a while since a post, and updates on TBR activities are in order.

First, the important stuff:

Empyrean Beer Quest registration opened on Wednesday, and I am happy to report that myself, Josh, and Scott are all registered participants for the session beer competition on May 20th. Josh is keeping with his roots and throwing down an irish ale, Scott is planning a bitter, and I will be producing a 60 or 70 Schilling version of my highland porridge scotch ale.

If you want the skinny, click here for the .pdf of the schedule off of the Empyrean site, and here for the registration info. This is an all-grain competition, so keep that in mind.

The brewing for these entries will likely take place over one massive weekend, details of this are sure to come.

As far as beers go, Scott has road dog on tap now, I am preparing to bottle mine, and everything else has been put on hold to prepare for Beer Quest.

because EBQ limits the entries to 21, the consensus among TBR is that we are pleased to be participating, and if we can make it to the second round to be in the 10 that participate in the public event, even better. The ultimate is of course if one of us wins and our beer is available on tap at Lazlo's. We shall see....

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Storm's a Brewing....

Well, as the central committee of TBR is occupying different states and time zones this weekend, there are no official activities taking place, but updates are in order.

Scott FINALLY racked his Road Dog clones to secondary, and did a sweet stout yesterday which I'm fairly certain has crawled out of the fermentation buckets and taken his in-laws hostage. Gosh, I hope that works out for the best. Josh is planning something for the weekend following his return from Florida. Not sure what, it's a bit of a secret. I am currently doing some research for a German Alt, which pertains to the next topic.....

Empyrean BeerQuest! Empyrean ales in Lincoln will be announcing the next BeerQuest homebrew competition any day now. Only the first 21 to register can participate, a panel of judges narrows the field to 10, and then the winner is selected by the general public at an event on May 20th. Tickets to the public event go on sale on April 2nd, and they are limited. TBR hopes to field at least one entry, but we'll see how that pans out. At the very least TBR members will be in attendance for the judging event, regardless of entry status.

Oh, April 2nd is also Cask Night at Firebirds in Lincoln, and is the night of the monthly Empyrean tour, so mark your calendars.