Hometown heroes
Published by Staff on 6.24.2008 at 3:22 p.m.Still keeping your homebrew hobby a dark secret kept to the confines of your garage? If so, reconsider: If your beer’s up to snuff with the likes of David Anderson’s and Gordon Strong’s batches, your hobby could one day earn you big-time kudos. Anderson and Strong, two of this year’s National Homebrew Competition’s big winners, were just a drop in the bucket of 5,644 entrants—nearly twice the number of competitors in the World Beer Cup. Hosted by the American Homebrewers Association, the contest judged homebrewed beers in 28 categories. A complete roster of winners is listed at www.beertown.org; below, some of the competition’s biggest champs:
Ninkasi Award
Gordon Strong
Beavercreek, Ohio
Saint Paul Homebrewers Club
(Strong won after NHC rules broke a 5-way tie among him and four other competitors)
Homebrewer of the Year
David Anderson
Northglenn, Colorado
Hop Barley & the Alers
Homebrew Club of the Year
Saint Paul Homebrewers Club
Saint Paul, MN
Meadmaker of the Year
Steve Piatz
Eagan, Minnesota
Saint Paul Homebrewers Club
Cidermaker of the Year
Jeff Carlson
Grand Rapids, MI
Prime Time Brewers