I was chatting to Dave Carpenter after Brewcon and I was championing the Irish homebrew scene. I told him that it was probably miles ahead of the States.
Anyway there was a bit of back and forth and I posed a challenge to him.
What if we got the best homebrewers in Ireland to make Irish style beers (Irish Red, Irish Stout for example) and US style beers (AIPA, APA etc) and we got the best American homebrewers to do the same and we squared off against each other in a Ryder Cup type format.
Dave was genuinely excited about this challenge and put me in touch with Matt Bolling (AHA events & membership coordinator) and John Moorhead (competition organizer) to work out the details.
John Moorehead got back in touch with me and this is what he had to say ...
Quote
Hi Mick!
I like the idea of international collaboration, competition, and celebration of homebrewing.
As far as feasibility on shipping, international entrants ship their beer to NHC sites every year, some just know how to do it better than others.
To continue the brainstorming: who would be eligible to enter the competition (perhaps NHC Final Round winners? A lottery?)? Would be alternate countries each year? To keep it manageable, an entry cap of X would need to be put in place. Also, what do the winner's get out of it?
I didn't have exact answers to John's questions but I did suggest a Ryder cup format which is almost like a match format where beers square off against each other.
There is lots of details to figure out but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas based on John's questions above.
Personally I'd love to put my APA or AIPA up against the AHA and teach him a thing or two (or get a dressing down!)
I'd love to get some feedback on this idea.
We'd have to have it in Iceland to be fair to all 🤣
Quote from: Pheeel on May 30, 2018, 08:31:59 PM
We'd have to have it in Iceland to be fair to all 🤣
I was thinking that myself.
Ha ha, and maybe get WOW air to sponsor it.
Brilliant. I love spanking a Yank
RE: shipping, I wonder if any Irish craft breweries that ship to the US, or importers that ship from the US could help?
We have plenty of NHC members who fly to the US for work. Wouldn't be too much effort to pay for an extra checked bag.
Quote from: Pheeel on May 30, 2018, 08:31:59 PM
We'd have to have it in Iceland to be fair to all 🤣
They're Bobby Fischer and we're the Soviets
I think it's an excellent idea.
We don't really have a final round with the nationals right now, so it could be an interesting idea to have all the medal winners go through to a brewoff for this with the best entries going head to head internationally with this Ryder cup format.
Quote from: irish_goat on May 31, 2018, 10:09:06 AM
We have plenty of NHC members who fly to the US for work. Wouldn't be too much effort to pay for an extra checked bag.
If a member was willing to drag a bag full of beer around the airport. Also I need to check the legal terms of bringing alcohol into the States. We don't want to end up on the US watchlist.
I'll do some digging on this and see if I can get a private shipping company or courier to clarify rates/terms etc.
Quote from: molc on May 31, 2018, 10:19:47 AM
I think it's an excellent idea.
We don't really have a final round with the nationals right now, so it could be an interesting idea to have all the medal winners go through to a brewoff for this with the best entries going head to head internationally with this Ryder cup format.
Yeah I hadn't thought about how exactly the brewers would be picked. Perhaps past champion brewers could be asked or BOS brewers. Maybe a lottery or we pick from brewers that finish with beer above a certain threshold? The finer details need to be hammered out but I guess coming up with a proposal to bring to our American friends is the first step.
You're a glutton for punishment 🤣
Quote from: imark on May 31, 2018, 01:26:21 PM
You're a glutton for punishment 🤣
I am a fool :D
What about each club nominating one of their members. That way all clubs are represented?
Quote from: danger_zone on May 31, 2018, 03:57:58 PM
What about each club nominating one of their members. That way all clubs are represented?
Couldn't have put it better myself!
Quote from: danger_zone on May 31, 2018, 03:57:58 PM
What about each club nominating one of their members. That way all clubs are represented?
Great idea. It's about getting the best brewers nationally so I'd be more in favour of having some kind of internal competition or process so only the best brewers are involved. If it turns out that they're all from cork, Galway or Dublin then so be it. But to be clear, this opportunity is open to all brewers but only the best will represent the club... That's my take on it anyway but again I'm looking for ideas and I'm open to any suggestion
Surely the Ryder cup is Europe v. the USA.
This would be Ireland v. the USA*
*Footnote:
Most brewer's roots in USA are from Europe!!
Think this is a great idea!
Maybe we could ask Barack Obama [of the Whitehouse Brewery's Inc fame] for the trophy?
Two beers max per member. Each club does a mini comp. We do a mini nationals based on those beers
Or we just used the best beers from the nationals
It depends what time of year it'll be held. The hoppy beers are likely to suffer most with the travel
Quote from: Pheeel on June 01, 2018, 12:30:00 PMThe hoppy beers are likely to suffer most with the travel
We should maybe adjust the recipe, increase the OG and add more hops to help it survive the journey. I hear that style is popular in India.
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Quote from: Pheeel on June 01, 2018, 12:30:00 PM
Two beers max per member. Each club does a mini comp. We do a mini nationals based on those beers
Or we just used the best beers from the nationals
It depends what time of year it'll be held. The hoppy beers are likely to suffer most with the travel
I'd go with using the nationals, as it's already in place and filters the best beers from the country to the fore. All those winners can be invited to brew a beer to be put forward and those are then judged, with the winners shipped to the states.
It also helps with the question of how to grow the nationals and generate more buzz.
That's a great idea Colm
Quote from: molc on June 01, 2018, 02:46:50 PM
Quote from: Pheeel on June 01, 2018, 12:30:00 PM
Two beers max per member. Each club does a mini comp. We do a mini nationals based on those beers
Or we just used the best beers from the nationals
It depends what time of year it'll be held. The hoppy beers are likely to suffer most with the travel
I'd go with using the nationals, as it's already in place and filters the best beers from the country to the fore. All those winners can be invited to brew a beer to be put forward and those are then judged, with the winners shipped to the states.
It also helps with the question of how to grow the nationals and generate more buzz.
Yeah this is probably the best way as all clubs should be represented at the nationals. It also means that we will have a lot bigger pot of beers/brewers to choose from.
What do you guys think of the format? i.e. Irish style beers brewed by both and American style beers brewed by both and we face off that way?
Where is judging going to take place? US or IE?
How about the 'muricans ship to here also.
Anonymise on both sides of the Atlantic.
We judge late in the day, they judge early - scores produced at the same time more or less.
Combine the scores.
If the bottle spec is a giveaway the beer may have to be pitchered first.
Quote from: molc on June 01, 2018, 02:46:50 PM
Quote from: Pheeel on June 01, 2018, 12:30:00 PM
Two beers max per member. Each club does a mini comp. We do a mini nationals based on those beers
Or we just used the best beers from the nationals
It depends what time of year it'll be held. The hoppy beers are likely to suffer most with the travel
I'd go with using the nationals, as it's already in place and filters the best beers from the country to the fore. All those winners can be invited to brew a beer to be put forward and those are then judged, with the winners shipped to the states.
It also helps with the question of how to grow the nationals and generate more buzz.
I would suggest a standalone comp would be better. Judge the beers ourselves and post them off to the US the same week so they're all in top condition and we 100% know the beer is good.
Club can fund this cost I'm sure ;)
Stouts I think we can trounce them on. Reds I'm not so sure. They're not a favourite style for homebrewers to make here. Now if we were to allow Imperial Reds I think we have a fight on our hands!
On the red front it depends if you are true to style (read that as bland)
There are some tasty reds - At the risk of being shot down Porterhouse, OSullivans and OHaras spring to mind as good examples.
Folks, I want to get back to our American friends about this competition. What about we merge the ideas from the previous posts. We use the nationals as a "qualifier" for this international competition. This way all members can get a chance to enter. The winners of the categories that we are entering against the Americans get to brew their winning entries for the competition and we can send these off when they are at their freshest. We might consider a wildcard or two to keep our options open.
Any issues with this plan?
Sure, let's give it a lash
Good plan
Sounds good Mick!
*thumbs up*
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Just got the following from John Moorehead from the AHA ...
....
QuoteGood feedback so far. So is the plan to have this competition next year after Nationals Final Round? Our final round will be in June, so it'd have to be sometime in August to allow for rebrew. If we do the first round, that'd open up the entry count but would include winners from all 12 sites. If we do the Final Round, we could choose the top 3 medal winners in those categories to enter. 15A and 15B are in the same category, 18B and 21A are in different categories, giving us 9 entries total (3 from each).
If it's such a small competition, I'd say we'd look to have higher ranking judges (national and up) judge the competition for prestige. As far as travel is concerned, that's something that would have to be decided by Gary Glass, the AHA Director. However, if we can finalize a legitimate plan in the coming week, our annual planning meeting is next week and I can present this idea to the group.
So the idea was that we would have the National medal winners in the categories that we are competing in to submit their entries for this competition as well as having maybe 3 wildcard entries. Any feedback is welcome. I will be replying to John tomorrow afternoon so if you have comments please let me know before then.
Mick
Great job Mick and sounds like a workable plan to allow the comp to get off the ground.
Andy
Any idea of the time frame for this?
Shanna
I'd say it will be August 2019 but talks are still at a very early stage still.
Ah so would probably need to repeat the trick of winning another medal in next year's competition then. Good love a challenge 😁. Time to make stout, practice makes perfect.
Shanna
Just to let you all know that this is not dead it's just proving to be an extremely slow process. Got the following from the AHA this morning ...
QuoteHey Mick,
Sorry for the getting back to you so delayed. I pitched the idea to Gary, my manager, and waiting to hear back his initial thoughts. I think it has potential to create some great competition between clubs (if the Ryder Cup format is ever reached) and grow the connections between the international homebrewing community and the U.S. homebrewing community.
I'll update you soon!
John
Quote from: mick02 on October 19, 2018, 08:04:17 PM
Just to let you all know that this is not dead it's just proving to be an extremely slow process. Got the following from the AHA this morning ...
QuoteHey Mick,
Sorry for the getting back to you so delayed. I pitched the idea to Gary, my manager, and waiting to hear back his initial thoughts. I think it has potential to create some great competition between clubs (if the Ryder Cup format is ever reached) and grow the connections between the international homebrewing community and the U.S. homebrewing community.
I'll update you soon!
John
Nice!