Brewing Competition

2019's Competition Has A Theme!!

Long Aging Booze

Yes, that's right! We have a theme for 2019! And it's going to follow through 2025!

Make your product, and make it in such a manner that it will age very well over a few years (examples: high-gravity beers, sack meads, cordials with strong flavors), and bring it for the judges to sample. It's possible that it may not taste great, and that's okay. Your judges will give you input on what flavors are there, and will judge based on its current condition.

The follow-up: Every year through 2025, bring back a bottle for further judging. The yearly winner will get the standard prize, and the "Best of Show" will receive a very, very awesome prize. How awesome is the prize? It's so awesome, we don't even know what it is, yet!

Your terrifically awesome judges for this event are as follows:

All of these judges are very eager to sample the many offerings we are expecting!

The current prize list is:

A basket with at least one bottle of every entry

And for those who want to know the rules, here they are, also:

Submission Rules
1. Each contestant must submit at least eight (8) bottles of a single homemade beverage recipe for judging
  1. Each beer/cider bottle must contain a minimum of 8 ounces (display bottles may contain less, but should be clearly labeled as display bottles)
  2. Each mead/wine bottle should contain at least 375 ml (standard wine bottle is 750 ml)
  3. Each liqueur bottle should contain a minimum of 5 ounces
2. Entrants will receive one label per bottle; label will need to be firmly affixed to every bottle submitted
3. All bottles will be indelibly marked with an identifying indicator
4. One bottle will be judged by the panel of judges
5. All other bottles should be taken home and stored for aging
6. One bottle should be brought back to this competition at Iris Faire every year through 2024
7. Three bottles should be brought back for the final judging at Iris Faire in 2025
8. Breakage
  1. It happens
  2. It's a terrible thing
  3. It will disqualify you
  4. I suggest bottling more than the minimum of 8 bottles for this competition.
Categories
1. Wine
  1. Must be made primarily from grapes
  2. Can have other flavors added, but they cannot be a primary flavoring
2. Mead
  1. Made of honey, water and yeast
  2. May contain fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices and/or other ingredients suitable to your selected region and/or period
3. Cider
  1. Made of apples, water and yeast
  2. May contain other fruits, herbs and/or spices
4. Ale
  1. Must be made with malt, water and yeast
  2. May contain adjuncts
  3. May contain hops or gruit
5. Beer
  1. Must be made with malt, water and yeast
  2. May contain adjuncts
  3. Must contain either hops or gruit
6. Cordials
  1. Should contain period-style base alcohols (vodka, gin, brandy, or other similarly-documentable liquors)
  2. May NOT contain home-distilled liquors
  3. May contain any period fruit or other item which can be documented or logically deduced from period documentation
7. Other
  1. Have something that doesn’t fit well in another category, or is a variant/combination of categories? Put it here!
Judging
1. Judging will be performed by a selection of Peers and brewers who are not entered in the competition
2. DOCUMENTATION MUST CONTAIN ALL INGREDIENTS OR IT WILL NOT BE JUDGED
3. Brews made from documented period sources will earn bonus points
4. Brewing method is not required to be period, but differences from period should be noted
Prizes
1. The winner will receive an award from Master William in recognition of his/her achievements in the science of brewing
2. The winner will also earn the right to display the badge of the Iris Faire Brewing Competition on bottles of the winning beverage along with the year that they won the honor – this is good for any future brewing of the winning recipe
3. Other prizes may be offered at the judges’ discretion and/or the whim of some member of the populace
4. Runners-up may also receive prizes at the judges' discretion