The homebrew/homemade wine contest was last night and it was interesting at some points and lame at others. To tell the truth this was the most interesting thing of the night:
My Pumpkin Ale popped a chubby while it anxiously waited to be poured. Yep, that was about the highlight of the night. OK, OK maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but not much. Let me paint you a picture, L Bird and I showed up a little early because L Bird was going to the judging the wine so she had to fill out her judging form. So we walk in and were told the contest was upstairs in the gallery's loft and that my entries were to be set up on the table closest to the window. So L Bird and I venture upstairs and the loft is completely empty except for the band setting up. OK, we're early I figured so no one is here yet. So I wandered over to my table and saw that there were only 3 homebrew entries, 2 of which were mine. Not a very promising sight, so then I wandered over to the homemade wine side and they only had 3 entries as well. I knew I had time, so I wandered back downstairs and talked to the woman running the event and she said she was hoping for a lot of last minute entries because 50 applications had gone out.
Well, that was wishful thinking because the 7 PM came and it was still just me and another guy pouring samples of our homebrew. On another note, that was an interesting part of the night. I got to sit behind the table and pour samples of my beer for people and talk to them about my beer. So that was actually pretty cool. It was also very funny to watch people taste the hot chili beer and watch them try to hide their screwface and be polite. Now I realize that beer is not for everyone but some people did actually appear to like it.
So in between pouring samples I started to chat with the other homebrewer, who's beer was quite delicious as well. He had a Scottish Wee Heavy that he added 2 pounds of raisins to made it slightly cordial tasting, but an all around good beer. As I was talking to him, I realized I knew his face from somewhere. Then I had it, I had seen him on Facebook for Rheinblick German Restaurant. He is their new chef. So we had a great conversation on beer and schnitzel.
One other highlight of the night was the band, Twice Before Noon. They were a pretty good band and they all were pretty nice guys. Another highlight was Billy asking "Is Twice Before Noon better than afternoon delight?" On a set break they all came over and tried the beers. The bassist was a hot sauce/spicy food nut so he really enjoyed the hot chili beer.
So then came the Judge's choice at 8:30 and my not so pumpkiny pumpkin ale won. I guess you can call it a win, I mean I brewed 2 out of the 3 beers so I had a 66% chance of winning. But whatever, so the judging came and went and people were starting to leave and it was just the band, Chef, L Bird, my friends Billy and Kim, and about five older skanky cougars on the other side of the loft. So we packed up and bounced.
Overall the experience was OK, if the event had a better turnout I think it would have helped tremendously, but even with its poor turnout there were a few bright spots, the band and talking with tasters about beer. I don't count the winning, because I don't really feel like I won. But what the hell, it was a night out, right?
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