New Labels and Brewing Competitions

Before I get onto the post, I figured I would post about a nice offer that is available today.  Moolala is offering a year long subscription for Beer Connoisseur for only $8.  The normal subscription price is $21 for the four issues, so this is a pretty good deal especially since I've been wanting to get myself a subscription for a while now.  The one issue that I had picked up was excellent.  There were reviews of over 20 different beers, an article about Garrett Oliver from Brooklyn Brewery, and my favorite part, an article about some of the breweries in the Czech Republic.  There are also some great looking recipes and pairing suggestions, although I have not had a chance to try any of them yet.  All in all it is a good deal and highly recommended for only $8.

Now onto the real post.  Nate has been at it again and has drawn up a couple more labels for my beers.  They are both for the Cinco de Mayo series of beers that were recently brewed, the Chocolate Chipotle Rauchbier and the Chili Lime Pilsner.





Here's the exciting part of this blog post.  There are two homebrew competitions coming up that will have entries from Lake Effect.  The first I was caught completely off guard by since I didn't know it would be this early.  It is the New York State Fair Homebrew Competition hosted by the Salt City Brew Club.  I plan on entering my Elder Ale, Belgian Blonde (might be entered as a Biere de Garde), and Irish Red Ale.  I am also going to be entering Jay and my Dunkelweisen (hopefully it will do a little better this time) and for Jay, I will be entering his Kitchen Sink California Pale Ale.  Niagara Tradition is a drop off point for this competition and entries are due by May 30th (actually May 28th since the 30th is a holiday and the 29th is a Sunday).  Entries are $6 each and judging takes place on June 10th-11th.

The next competition coming up is the Pearl Street Brew Master's Challenge - Honey Brown Lager/Ale.  It may be the fact that I have been eating Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast recently but I think what this competition needs is a Honey Toasted Oat Brown Ale.  I plan on using Maris Otter as the base malt with English Amber, Crystal, German Carafa, and Honey Malt making appearances.  I wanted to try something that I haven't done before, and that would be using toasted oats.  I believe that this with the late addition honey will give the beer a nice smooth finish and help provide a nice full body.  I plan on using Tettnanger and Northern Brewer hops and an American Ale yeast.  I will be brewing this on 5/21 and the submission date is 6/30.

On Deck: Honey Toasted Oat Brown Ale (5/21)
Primary: Hefeweisen 2
Secondary: Hefeweisen (dry hopped with Sorachi Ace), Traditional Pilsner
Total for 2011: 44 Gallons