Rockit Cup Grinder’s Mild: Recap

In an unprecedented turn of events, we had eight brewers for the February Rockit Cup—Grinder’s Mild—and ten different versions total (I split my batch between 1968 and 1728, and Brian brought a kegged and bottled version). Our eight brewers included the usual cast of miscreants and vagabonds, like myself, Brian Gallow, Jake Browning, Jeff Fortney, Chris Wyatt, and

More Jeremy Fish

Darren Link, plus two new entries (three people all told, including brewing partners): Matt, Wes, and Christina. Sorry, I didn’t think to ask their last names. This is not the first time I have failed miserably in a social situation. Nor will it be the last. Matt, Wes, and Christina, please feel free to get me up to speed through the comments if you so desire. [Update: Matt Young and Wes & Christina Davis!]

Ten beers meant a lot of chaos; while Chris was not in attendance—for his own recipe, mind you—that still left us with nine people, since Jeffrey got grandfathered in as a table participant even though he didn’t brew. There are perks that come with being one half of the pair that came up with Rockit Cup brand name. Copyright, yo. Anyway, since there were too many beers to effectively rank, and since the shitty paper cups I graciously bought and brought out of my own personal benevolence were not suitable to the tender palates of some out our participants (ahem—Brian!—ahem), we only ranked our top five beers, and came up with a list of the top three:

1st:  Brian Gallow (bottled)
2nd: Matt Young [Updated!]
3rd: Chris Wyatt

There are too many beers to offer any semblance of commentary. All were broadly similar, with slight differences that made them stand out. Brian’s winning version had a chewier mouthfeel that I enjoyed (I voted for it as the best beer as well). I did write on my comment sheet next to what turned out to be one of my versions “not good,” which I do appreciate. Matt’s was drier and hoppier, but I also voted for it in second place. I didn’t write anything next to Chris’s version, although I circled it to mark it as part of my top five—I put it at fifth. Still, good times had by all. We’ll be doing a short turn around for March’s Rockit Cup, which will be a Belgian Pale Ale; I’ll be posting it shortly.

And in this case, the winners didn’t write the history books. Snap-pow!

(2/8/2013)