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Monday, August 27, 2012

Michigan Beer Cup, Recap

The Michigan Beer Cup & Homebrew Festival took place August 16-19, 2012. Here's our official recap of events.

Photo courtesy of the
MI Homebrew Fest Facebook page
By Greg 'Swig' Johnson

To fill the void left by the Michigan State Fair, several Michigan homebrew clubs and businesses have stepped in and stepped up to create the Michigan Beer Cup. Now in its third year, this is a great competition for homebrewers across the state to bring forth their best efforts and to get them in front of judges. 

Siciliano's is proud to be a part of the sponsorship for this contest as well as the resulting homebrew festival, which, speaking from experience, is a blast to attend. Think Siciliano's Annual Homebrew Party and then multiply by ten since this festival spans several days with camping and more beer from more people and even more homebrew clubs.

Generally speaking, it's an exciting time in the Michigan craft beer world. Grand Rapids is tied with Ashville, NC for Beer City USA, seemingly countless breweries are opening all around the peninsulas, and every day brings more homebrewers to the hobby all of whom are helping to advance the craft. We are extremely proud to be a part of the homebrewing and craft beer movement and look forward to even grander events to be hosted in Michigan.

With all that said, I would love point out the winners and honorable mentions from the West Michigan area. I hope I spotted them all. (For the complete list, go to this website.) But first we will honor the overall awards.

Michigan Beer Cup - Overall Award Winners

MBC Club of the Year 
Kuhnhenn Guild of Brewers 

Best of Show, Beer 
Tom Lebel
Miss the Buss Common, 07-B California Common 

Best of Show, Ciders 
Jeff Carlson
Westside New England Cider, 28-A New England Cider 

Best of Show, Meads 
Mike Winnie
Beam Mead, 26-C Open Category Mead 

West Michigan Honorees (Club affiliation in parentheses)

Jeff Carlson (Primetime Brewers) 
Peach Ridge Cider, 27-A Common Cider - 2nd Siver 
Westside New England Cider, 8-A New England Cider - 1st Gold 
Westside Cherry Cider, 28-B Fruit Cider - 2nd Silver 
Sweet Heat Jalapano Cider, 28-D Other Specialty Cider or Perry – Honorable Mention 
Westside Atomic Cider, 28-D Other Specialty Cider or Perry – Honorable Mention 

John Applegarth (Primetime Brewers) 
Common Perry – 27-D Common Perry - 1st Gold 

Joel Kamp & Chris Carr (Muskegon Ottawa Brewers) 
Berlin Burb, 23-A Specialty Beer - 3rd Bronze 

Brent Zomerlei (Primetime Brewers) 
London Calling, 08-C Extra/Special Strong Bitter – Honorable Mention 

Ross Ziegenthaler (Muskegon Ottawa Brewers): 
Willows Old Nessy, 09-C Scottish Export 80/- – Honorable Mention 

Chad Zomerlei (Primetime Brewers) 
60 Shilling Ale, 09-A Scottish Light 60/- – Honorable Mention 
Stoned Porter, 12-B Robust Porter – Honorable Mention 

Jason Warnes (Brewsquitos) 
10-A American Pale Ale – Honorable Mention 
23-A Specialty Beer - 1st Gold 

Dave Secord & Kevin Christensen (Yeast Coasters) 
14-C Imperial IPA – Honorable Mention 
14-B American IPA – Honorable Mention 

Joel Kamp (Muskegon Ottawa Brewers) 
Wild Chunky Monkey, 16-E Belgian Specialty Ale – Honorable Mention 
Super Freak Stout, 23-A Specialty Beer – Honorable Mention 

Troy Redder (Muskegon Ottawa Brewers) 
Squirrel Killer Saison, 16-C Saison – Honorable Mention 

Kevin Christensen & Trevor Delabare (Yeast Coasters) 
B3, 18-C Belgian Tripel – Honorable Mention 

I would like to take this moment to congratulate all who participated. Awards or no, your participation helps to ensure that events like this continue to to happen in the future. I especially would like to commend those who received medals: your diligence and due process has proven fruitful. I tried to list all who were mentioned from West Michigan. However, if I have missed someone from our region, please inform me and we'll update the list.

For more information on these awesome events, please check out the links below:

Finally, a big thanks to all the organizers for putting this even together. Thank you for your continuing and relentless commitment to homebrewing in the state of Michigan.

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