Unfortunately, my helles bock was not selected as the winner of the Sam Adams Patriot Homebrew Contest, but I can’t complain about making it to the final five. Guess we’ll throw some beers at the upcoming Longshot and see what sticks! I’ve updated the Awards page again; I took a 1st place for a dark mild and a 2nd place for an American Wheat at the 2009 Boston Homebrew Competition. This weekend will see the judging of a new competition based out of western Massachusetts, run by the homebrew club SPARGE;  there is a very intriguing best-of-show prize for this one, namely getting your beer brewed by the Northampton Brewery for the Great American Beer Festival’s Pro-Am Competition.

After a bit of a hiatus, I have been brewing nearly weekly, and will be putting together my 9th batch of the year tomorrow, an Irish Red (curiously, the first style I ever brewed, but one I haven’t done again since).  Lots of competitions in the next few months, and hopefully some interesting news about the (real) brewery as well.