July 11, 2009 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition - Fox, Alaska This is an AHA/BJCP sanctioned competition. The Grand Prize for Best of Show is $500! Prizes will also be awarded for 1st, 2nd & 3rd places.   Entry Fee: Please include a check or money order for $5.00 (no cash please) and three 12-16 oz. brown or green crown-top bottles per entry. Checks or money orders should be made out to Scott Stihler. Note that all of the bottles should be devoid of labels. Entries with labels will be disqualified and the corresponding entry fees will be considered donations to the prize fund! Number of bottles required: Three 12-16 oz. crown top bottles per entry. The bottles should be free of any ink, paint or labels. Entries will be accepted: June 22 to July 8, 2009 at 5:00 p.m. - No Exceptions! Judging: Judging will take place on Saturday, July 11th at the Silver Gulch Brewing and Bottling Company in Fox starting at about 10:00 a.m. The best entry from each of the seven judged categories will be entered into the final round of judging to determine the Best of Show. Judged Categories: Pilsner - 2 A. German Pilsner B. Bohemian Pilsener C. Classic American Pilsner English Pale Ale - 8 A. Standard/Ordinary Bitter B. Special/Best/Premium Bitter C. Extra Special/Strong Bitter (English Pale Ale) American Ale - 10 A. American Pale Ale B. American Amber Ale C. American Brown Ale Porter - 12 A. Brown Porter B. Robust Porter C. Baltic Porter Stout - 13 A. Dry Stout B. Sweet Stout C. Oatmeal Stout D. Foreign Extra Stout E. American Stout F. Imperial Stout India Pale Ale (IPA) - 14 A. English IPA B. American IPA C. Imperial IPA   Fruit/Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer - 20/21A Fruit Beer - 20 Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer - 21A In the above table the numbers represent the BJCP categories while the letters correspond to the subcategories. The category names have been linked to the corresponding BJCP webpage in which the respective categories are described. Note that depending upon the number of entries in each of the seven categories it may be necessary to consolidate two underrepresented categories or subcategories into a single one. Furthermore, should there be a large number of entries of a particular style those entries may be taken and place in their own separate category. Entry Shipping: Entries should be shipped by FedEx, UPS etc. to the following address: ETBHC c/o Silver Gulch Brewing and Bottling Company 2195 Old Steese Highway Fox, Alaska 99712 (907) 452-2739 There is no mail delivery to the above address! Items mailed to that address go to a post office not frequented by the folks at Silver Gulch. Aside from the legalities (or lack thereof) of sending entries via the U.S. Postal Service, doing so more than likely will result in them not being picked up in time for the competition. Please do NOT use the U.S. Mail for shipment of your entries!!! Shipping to Alaska is a bit more expensive than doing so in the contiguous United States. To save yourself some money you might wish to consider entering the competition with a friend and sharing the shipping costs. Please note that FedEx Overnight Delivery and UPS Red to Alaska is NOT delivered the next day. Although one pays for this service such packages are delivered in two business days. Likewise, FedEx Second-day Delivery and UPS Blue to Alaska are really delivered in three to five business days. Please keep this in mind when shipping your entries. Due to the large area covered by the 99712 zip code NONE of the private carriers (e.g. FedEx Ground, UPS Ground, DHL, Airbourne Express etc.) will ship to the brewery via their ground based service. Please do NOT ship your entries by ground based carriers. Although this service is less expensive, the entries will likely not arrive at their intended destination until well after the competition. When packaging your entries please be sure to use large amounts of bubble wrap and other packing materials. An employee of FedEx recommends that packages should be able to sustain a three-four foot fall and remain intact. Although this may seem a bit excessive please note should it become apparent that entries have broken in transit, some shipping companies may not deliver your package. Such packages would simply be thrown away. We recommend placing each bottle within a large zip-lock bag prior to bubble wrapping. Also lining the shipping box with a garbage bag which is then sealed around all of the entries, packing materials etc. is not a bad idea. Taking such precautions should ensure that the package still be delivered despite any mishaps which may happen along the way. I believe shipping via FedEx tends to be a bit less expensive than UPS. However, one should be warned that FedEx has recently changed their alcohol shipping policy last year. All declared and undeclared alcohol shipments that break will be treated as Dangerous goods spills. The FedEx policy for alcohol shipping is such that only known shippers are allowed to do so. If a package containing a homebrew entry were to break AND leak, the Dangerous Goods person at FedEx would be required by policy to contact their legal department. Although with proper packaging one can guard against entry breakage and possible leaks things still can happen. Please use extreme caution should you choose to ship your homebrew entries via FedEx. Entry Drop off: Entries may also be dropped off at the Silver Gulch Brewing and Bottling Company's retail store after 4:00 p.m. on week days and after 11:00 a.m. on weekends. Please have the entries in six-pack carriers and/or boxes (i.e. make the entries as self-contained as possible). Entry/Bottle ID Forms: The Entry and Bottle ID Forms may be printed from the links below. The standard AHA/BJCP forms may also be used. Fill out the Entry and Bottle ID Forms (be sure to include you phone number, T-shirt size and your e-mail address). Since bottles have been known to break in transit we recommend putting the Entry Form and your check or money order in a zip-lock bag. Also please attach Bottle ID Forms to each of the three bottles per entry with rubber bands (Please do NOT use tape or glue!). Three bottles per entry are required just in case there are sufficient entries to warrant multiple flights during the initial round of judging. Also the additional bottles are added insurance against the loss of an entire entry due to breakage. Because of the logistics involved unused bottles will not be returned. Sorry. Please indicate on the Entry Form which of Category and Subcategory to which you wish to entry your beer. A complete listing of the BJCP style guidelines may be found at the following URL: http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/catdex.php. Note that one MUST indicate the Classic Beer Style for entries in the Fruit/Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer category. Please indicate the classic beer style in the space provided on the Entry Form and include the category number and subcategory letter. For example, for a pineapple, broccoli oatmeal stout the classic beer style would be Oatmeal Stout (Category 13: Stout; Subcategory C: Oatmeal Stout). Failure to indicate the classic beer style for Fruit/Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer entries will result in beer styles being assigned to the entries at random! Extra awards: In addition to the normal competition we have the Battered Bottle Cap Award for the most humorous beer name and the Globe Trotter Award for the farthest traveled entry. We also give out the Club Spirit Award which is to recognize and honor homebrew clubs which support our competition. Individuals who support the competition above and beyond the call of duty are also recognized. Three or more separate entrants specifying their respective homebrew club will receive this prestigious award. Individuals with five or more entries and, therefore, have plenty of club spirit all by themselves will also receive the Club Spirit Award. We need experienced judges to help out with the judging on July 11!! If you'd like to judge or need more information about the E.T. Barnett Homebrew Competition please contact Scott Stihler at home - (907) 474-2138, work - (907) 474-5450 or stihlerunits@mosquitobytes.com. Who was E.T. Barnette? Forms Needed for the 2009 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition Entry Form (HTML) Entry Form (PDF) Bottle ID Form (HTML) Bottle ID Form (PDF) . . Pictures and Summaries of Previous Events: 1999 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition 2000 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition 2001 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition 2002 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition 2003 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition 2004 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition 2005 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition 2006 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition 2007 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition 2008 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition ----------------------------------------------------- Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest 2000 Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest 2001 Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest 2002 Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest 2003 Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest 2004 Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest 2005 Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest 2006 Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest 2007 Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest 2008 Below is a listing of beer-related events taking place in Alaska during 2009. Upcoming events for which I have information are listed above and the details are given there. The dates of several of the events listed below may not be known at present (or at least not known to me). This information will be updated when I have more details. Most events listed here are annual events and although the exact dates may vary from year to year the approximate dates are correct and can be used as a guide to the remainder of the year as well as next year. The Following Events are for the Year 2009 January 16 & 17 Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Festival - Anchorage, Alaska February 7 Fur Rendezvous Homebrew Competition - Anchorage, Alaska February 22* BJCP Examination is given - Anchorage, Alaska* April 18 Snow Goose Breakup Homebrew Competition - Anchorage, Alaska May 2 Zymurgist Borealis National Homebrew Day Celebration/Big Brew - Fairbanks, Alaska May 22 & 23 Great Alaska Craft Beer & Homebrew Festival - Haines, Alaska May 23 Goblets of Gold Mead Competition - Homer, Alaska June 6** BJCP Examination is given - Juneau, Alaska** July 11 E.T. Barnette Homebrew Competition - Fox, Alaska July 18 2009 Golden Days Beer Fest - Fox, Alaska July 31 Beer Tasting aboard the Riverboat Discovery II - Fairbanks, Alaska August 1 Summer Beer Festival - Ketchikan, Alaska Mid-August Anchor Town Invitational Homebrew Competition - Anchorage, Alaska September 26 Zymurgist Borealis Septemberfest - Fairbanks, Alaska Late September Equinox Mead Competition - Anchorage, Alaska Early October Great Alaska Beer Train - On a train traveling from Anchorage to Portage, Alaska Early-Mid October Southeast Alaska's Autumn Pour Homebrew Competition - Juneau, Alaska Late November or Early December Humpy's Big Fish Homebrew Competition - Anchorage, Alaska *Note that the BJCP examination and preparatory course are given in Anchorage every other year. **Alaskan Brewing also has a preparatory course for the BJCP examination which begins in February. However, this course is already filled at present. If you have any information regarding a beer related event that should be listed in this calendar please contact Scott Stihler at stihlerunits@mosquitobytes.com or (907) 474-2138. .