United Nations of Beer

National Homebrew Conference

by Matt Morgan
(Beer Delegate, IL, USA)

National Homebrew Conference
Walter Payton's Roundhouse, Aurora, IL, USA

I have been to the land of OZ and I have seen the wizard, I asked for good taste and he gave me a sticker of the Rolling Stones lips with the big tongue sticking out.

I recently had the pleasure of stewarding at the first round of the National Homebrew Conference Great Lakes Regional. I more or less replenished supplies and helped clean up. The experience however, was invaluable. Now, I realize that my little barbs and kudos thrown out on the UNOB site are mostly opinions, objective as they may be, that serve to enlighten some and show my ignorance to others, but I live for both.

There will always be someone smarter than you, but take solace that there is someone stupider too. Well this instance, in the world of beer, I felt like I took the short-bus to a MENSA mixer.

The event was held in Aurora, IL at Walter Payton's Roundhouse; a vast, expansive, cavernous restaurant and entertainment venue which, viewed from space, looks like a giant doughnut. This is the home of America's Brewing Company. Mike Rybinski, Brewmaster for America's Brewing Company, participated in the judging and graciously hosted the event.

Also judging was Brewmaster Dan Cleveland of Blue Cat Brew Pub in Rock Island, IL. This should give you an idea of the level of integrity in judging these homebrew competitions, not to mention that most, if not all of the other judges were also well respected home-brewers. All judges are AHA (American Hombrewers Association) certified through the Beer Judge Certification Program or BJCP.

Home brewers from all over the Great Lakes Region put their best foot forward at the National Homebrewers Conference in hopes of advancing to the next round in Denver, CO. Many entrants will be happy just for the feedback. There were over 500 entries in about 22 categories divided amongst a panel of 40 judges split into pairs.

Beer judges at the National Homebrewers Conference actually drink, rather than swill and spit, each beer they are judging, since finish and aftertaste are components of flavor score. For obvious reasons, they try not to consume any more than they need to evaluate each beer, so there is often about a third of each bottle to be disposed of at the end of the event.

Each pour is highly scrutinized, examined by flashlight, deeply inhaled, swirled, swished, chewed and swallowed. There is plenty of bread and water for cleansing in between. After the judging is complete the remains are recapped and put aside to be disposed of... sampling by the stewards is not discouraged.

At the end of the morning session of the National Homebrewers Conference, I was just uncapping and whiffing each bottle while another steward poured them out. I did taste a few I found intriguing. Usually there was a surprise "off taste" waiting behind an alluring aroma.

I was less discriminating in the afternoon session, sampling the cast-offs of categories I like, such as IPA, Porter and Stout. Mike Rybinski also generously offered some of his brews during intermission, of which I tried the Honey Wheat and the Sweetness Stout which did the Superbowl Shuffle on my taste buds.

I also tried a very young (less than two weeks old) Russian Imperial Stout which was sweet and delicious, the darkest beer I ever drank and had more body than Tyra Banks.

There was a Barley Wine on tap that I didn’t really mess with, I tasted it and thought it was nice from my limited experience, but I wasn’t going to dance with the devil at this time.

My favorite beer on tap at the Roundhouse had to be the America's Brewing Aurora Amber Ale (click for review).

The tap beers were as good as you might expect, but the fun part about learning the judging criteria was in dumping (cruel paradox) some of the losing entries. I learned that some aromas can be very misleading, such as the one that smelled like sweet bosomy prom-night flowers but tasted like your locker-laden gym uniform.

Tread lightly, National Homebrew Conference newbie, was the message that had the most gravity here. As far as The Matrix goes, I'm glad I took the red pill. In other words, I can now see the forest for the trees.