Oktoberbest Zinzinnati Beer Judging

Saturday morning found me trying to stay awake in the back of Dave Williamson’s car, headed down to the Northside neighborhood (Northside!) in Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Malt Infusers Oktoberbest Zinzinnati Homebrew Competition. For those of you already in the know, I participated in this event last year in conjunction with the BJCP class I was taking. Now I’m all grown up and judging on my own. Oh, and you can find the overall results of the competition here.

The morning flight was Light Lager (1B, 1D, and 1E) and Pilsner (2A and 2B), which is a pretty nice way to start out—getting hit with Strong Ale out of the gate would be a bit rough, with only donuts and a cup of coffee to tide me over. We had a solid round of eight beers—there was a little bit of everything, and all of it was good. Flight winners were:

Table 1: Catergories 1 and 2 (8 Entries)
1. Wayne Palumbo, Honey Lager, 1B Standard American
2. Scotty Elliot, Hell or Tower, 2A German Pilsner
3. Scotty Elliot, Der Dort Moon, 1E Dortmunder Export
HM. Frank Barickman, Conan in Helles, 1D.Munich Helles

Mini-BOS:

After lunch, it was on to Belgian and French Ale (16A, 16B, 16C, 16D, and 16E) plus Sour Ale(which was only 17A and 17F I believe). Again, another very strong round of beers; there were three sets of judges, and between myself and the judge I was paired with, we had seven beers, including the eventual BOS winner, William Magnuszewski, Ellzebelle. I participated in the mini-BOS with the top six beers; flight winners were:

Table 13: Catergory 16 and 17 (20 Entries)
1. William Magnuszewski, Ellzebelle, 16E Belgian Specialty
2. Scott Lafollette, Belgian Wit, 16A Witbier
3. Andy Melchers, Royal Belgian Rye, 16E Belgian Specialty
HM. Chad Alstaetter, Witty High Saison, 16E Belgian Specialty

Free swag!

Judge gifts included a Cincy Beerfest Pint Glass and a $10 Gift Certificate to Northern Brewer. Seriously. Damn. Someone’s raising the stakes of the game. I’ve already managed to lose the Northern Brewer Gift Certificate, but the pint glass is getting put to use.