World Beer Cup Entries
Today I am sending out our World Beer Cup entries. This event is held every two years by the Association of Brewers. This year we have entries from 40 countries and hundreds of breweries. This time around we are entering our Schild Brau Amber, Schokolade Bock, and the Generations White Ale. I spent most of my time today hand bottling and labeling the White Ale.
I hope we do well. I just looked at the previous four competitions that have occurred in the last ten years. Some beers are so good, that beating them is just not really possible, or atleast not with materials I have at my disposal. I don’t have a tasting panel, for example, to track flavor drift.
In the White Ale category, Hoegaarden, Allagash White, and Celis White routinely win medals. Hoegaarden wins every year, and one of the other two beers take a medal, and one medal goes to a random brewery. So I figure we have a one in three chance, in a sense, of winning a medal.
In the Vienna lager category, where we are entering our Schild Brau, the only beer that wins regularly is Leniekugels Red. Kind of odd, don’t you think? Snake River only won once, and they routinely take the Gold at the GABF. So I am not really sure how my beer will do. I was so pleased about taking a bronze at the GABF, that this seems definately worth going for.
In the Traditional German-Style Bock category, there are no clear pattern winners. Every year its seems to be up for grabs. This could be due to the fact that commercially produced REAL bock beers are pretty hard to find. I have the most hope for this category.
The best thing though is that the number of entries is less than the GABF. It seems that the entry fees and competition is so stiff, that few breweries bother to enter their beer, unless they really feel its good!
I for one, feel that our beer is that good, so we will see!
Aaron