News

One final reminder that this Saturday is our 2nd annual Iron Home Brewer competition.  The secret ingredient this year was Rye, so bring your best Rye offerings and come ready to taste away.  The event is being held outside (weather permitting) at Midwest Supplies in St Louis Park from 12 to 3pm and everyone is welcome!  Midwest gives us a large parking lot space, so kids, bring your scooters and balls.

There will be two prizes for rye beers–one awarded by a panel of judges, and the other awarded by people’s choice.  If you brewed either or both of the AHA Big Brew recipes this year, then bring those beers to enter a contest for those–yes, there are prizes.

Thirty pounds of Cascade hops, donated by Summit Brewing, will be given away in one-pound increments.

Pat and Hank McNeely will be putting on a mead demonstration at 1:00, so bring your mead questions and your notebooks. (and your mead!)

All homebrew (as well as delicious commercial beer) is very welcome, and the club jockey box will be available.  Anyone who brings at least 60 ounces of a particular beer will receive credit in the Brewers of Fame Program.

Huzzah! The 10th Annual Byggvir’s Big Beer Cup is accepting entries through September 17th of your homebrewed Historic, English, and European beers, ciders, and meads. One of the Best of Show beers will be brewed by Mike Hoops at Town Hall and entered in ProAm for GABF. The Best of Show fruit or Spice/Herb/Veggie beers will be brewed by Tim Roets at Roets Jordan Brewery. Plus many other great prizes and custom wood medallions!

Experienced or newbie judges, we would love your help on October 1 & 2 at the MN Renaissance Festival. Less experienced judges will be paired with more experienced judges. You will have time to enjoy the Fest!

Registration for your entries and to volunteer at www.rennfestbeercup.com. Let the contest organizer, Gera Exire La Tour, know if you have any questions. Hope to see you there!

Hey everyone. Eric Paredes, the Chief Manager at Modist Brewing has invited us to take a tour of their brewery on Thursday, August 11th starting at 6 pm. Paige Latham will be giving us the tour of their very unique brewing system. Midnord Empanada food truck will be there and they also have menus of other restaurants nearby. Eric would like to know approximately how many people will be joining us, so please RSVP at [email protected], so I can let him know. Their address is 505 N 3rd St, Minneapolis, MN 55401.

It’s time to start thinking about brewing with an off-beat ingredient. Once again the Minnesota Home Brewers association is hosting an Iron Home Brewer Competition!

Best of Show: Scott Ode and Jim Bradburn for their Lime Pale Ale

Here are all the details:

• This will be a club only contest that will utilize a secret ingredient in the brewing process.
• Brewers will have from June 13th until September 10th to brew any beer that they feel will work in harmony and exemplify the secret ingredient.
• Brewers should bring at minimum 6 – 12 oz bottles or 1 – 64oz growler. We will have the club jockey box available for kegs as well.
• The secret ingredient will be unveiled June 13th on-line and at the “Sinning with the Saints” game.
• The secret ingredient will be provided for free to any member that pre-registers for the competition and arrives at the Saints game and wants to participate in the competition.
• The secret ingredient will be chosen at random from one of these 4 ingredients:

• Rye (Flaked)
• Brown Sugar
• Orange
• Coriander

There are two ways to win:

1. We will have a panel of 3 qualified judges to select the Iron Home Brewer. The winner will win an MHBA Iron Home Brewer trophy and a $50 gift certificate to Midwest Supplies.
2. We will also have a people’s choice award will win a $25 to Midwest Supplies.

If you plan on picking up the ingredient at the Saints game (we need to ensure we have enough), or have any questions about this event please e-mail Matt Weide at or register below.

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In case you missed the notes, there are a couple Pro-Am homebrew competitions that are coming up. Check out the North Loop and LiftBridge competitions for more information.

This Saturday is the Inbound/North Loop Big Brew Day. Swing out and join us for a fantastic day of brewing in Minnetonka.

Do you have what it takes to brew like a pro?

Enter your homebrew in the North Loop Brewer for the Day home brew competition. The grand prize is having your recipe brewed by North Loop and being entered in the GABF Pro-Am competition.

Registration and Drop off is through June 12, 2016. Judging is June 24 and 25 and winners will be announced June 25th. Our very own Chris Smith won this in 2015 with his amazing Hefeweizen!

For more information, or to sign up visit http://brewerfortheday.com/contest/

Lift Bridge Brewing Company is inviting members of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association to enter beers in their 3rd annual 2016 Home Brew contest. One lucky winner will have his/her entry selected to be brewed at Lift Bridge and entered into the GABF PRO-AM contest in Denver 10/6-10/8!

Lift Bridge is excited to include the MHBA Homebrew Club! They are hoping up to 10 of the 50 total entries will come from MHBA members. The MHBA will be selecting entries for members on a first-come, first served basis. Entrants must be a dues-paid member of the MHBA.

Here are the short details:

• Entries will need to be entered into the website and delivered to Lift Bridge Brewing Company between (and not before or after) 5/7 and 6/11.
• Brewers will be allowed to enter two entries, but may only represent one club (even if they are members of more than one club). This also means that if a club submits 10 entries, they should come from at least 5 brewers.
• The entries will be judged on 6/18. Gera Exire La Tour will be the Organizer of the competition, following BJCP guidelines.
• Any beers scoring 36 or higher on the BJCP scale of 50 will receive a ribbon.
• The Brewer’s Choice may or may not be the Best of Show winner.
• The winner is encouraged to join the Head Brewer in brewing the winning recipe at Lift Bridge.
• The winner’s beer will be released commercially and entered into this years GABF PRO-AM competition (space allowing). Lift Bridge will provide one “all session” entry pass to GABF, though the winning Brewer will be responsible for all travel expenses if they choose to attend.

If you have competition questions, feel free to contact the competition organizers with any questions you may have! Please direct inquiries to [email protected] or Gera at [email protected].

To enter, visit the MHBA Lift Bridge Competition Sign-up form

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Big Brew Day — Saturday, May 7th: 8AM – 5PM
Come out to North Loop BrewCo’s (the brewery formerly known as LUCID) Minnetonka facility on May 7th and bring your brewing gear!  6020 Culligan Way, Minnetonka, MN 55345

(From North Loop’s Facebook invitation) Each year we invite homebrewers from all over to take over our parking lot, use our hot water, and share a few brews with us. If you’d like to participate in the big brew, please email or direct facebook message us to be sure we get an appropriate head count. We will accommodate as many brewers as we can fit.

We’ll be here starting at 8AM. We provide hot and cold water to get you going. You provide equipment and ingredients.

Want to brew? — contact us on this Facebook event page (North Loop BrewCo).

(John Longballa here)–Please let North Loop know if you plan to attend.  A food truck is in the works for the event.  We will participate in the national toast at noon CST.

Also–as part of the Iron Brewer meeting in September, the club will be awarding prizes to the two best beers that adhere to the recipes suggested by the American Homebrewers Association for the 2016 Big Brew.  The beers need not be made at the event, but will be judged according to the recipes.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/aha-events/national-homebrew-day/#Recipe