Greetings from your new VP Competitions! I’m looking forward to an active year of competitions, with both Club and High Plains Circuit events happening.
As you should know, our annual FOAM Cup competition is part of the High Plains Circuit, which includes a total of 7 competitions. Points are accumulated based on each individual and club results, and at the end of the year a High Plains Brewer and Club of the year are awarded. In 2018, our very own David Thompson took Brewer of the Year after a heated battle with the Butlers with the Kansas City Bier Meisters Club, which won club of the year. Club of the year is determined by the number of cumulative points each clubs members earn in the circuit. For more information on High Plains, please click on this link: kcbiermeisters.com/index.php/high-plains-award/
One of the many perks of being a FOAM member is that the club covers the shipping costs for entries into any of the High Plains competitions (sorry – you’re on your own for registration fees). As we’ve done in the past, drop off your entries at High Gravity and we’ll take care of shipping. Normally, the drop off deadline at High Gravity will be one week before the entry shipping deadline for each competition.
Here is a list of High Plains competitions in 2020. Where possible, I’ve included relevant dates for registration, entry submission and judging. I will be reaching out separately for each of these as they come up. However, you’ll see that we’ve got four events that are almost upon us with registration in either December or January. Time to get your entries ready!
Iowa Brewers Union – IBU Open – ibuopen.com
Registration open December 17, 2019; Entry deadline February 21, 2020; Judging February 25-29
Minn Home Brewers Assn & St. Paul Home Brewers Club – Minnesota MASH Out – mashout.org
Registration open December 20, 2019; Entry deadline January 10, 2020; Judging January 24-25
Kansas City Bier Meisters – KCBM 37th Annual Competition – kcbmcomp.com
Registration December 2019; Entry deadline February 7, 2020; Judging February 15, 2020
Garage Brewers Society – Champion of the Pint – garagebrewers.com
Registration January 2020; Entry deadline TBD; Judging March 2020
Lincoln Lagers – Sower’s Cup – lincolnlagers.com
Registration August 2020; Judging October 2020;
Prarie Home Companions – Hoppy Halloween – hoppyhalloween.com
Registration TBD
Fellowship of Oklahoma Alemakers (FOAM) – Foam Cup – foamcup.us
Registration TBD
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While FOAM covers shipping for High Plains competitions, there are many more competitions occurring throughout the US, Canada and elsewhere each year. The BJCP sanctions these competitions, so you know that they will be organized and operated according to the requirements of BJCP. You can access a list of BJCP competitions via the schedule posted on their website. The current list covers competitions into July 2020 and is updated regularly. As interesting comps come up, I hope to share details with the group. For example, you can check out my Facebook post about the upcoming Bluebonnet Brew-Off in Texas.
If you have ANY questions about competitions such as how to register or package your beers, please let me know! My email address is VP-Competitions@alemakers.org.
Best regards, Gary Elliott