Making its third public appearance, the HCHBC traveling bar was once again quite the hit. In a room full of jockey boxes, we really stood out. The tower was set up as a self serve, and it seems as though most people served themselves Tom's Belgian Blond from the Half Moon Big Brew. This one used the Ardenes yeast. Both the Bourbon Barrel Stout & the Sweet Stout went over quite well too.
Larry & Jeff did the hauling of the bar and all its acoutrement and with the help of their wives Susie & Jean and a helpful Eric, got things set up in no time at all. With only one minor spill as the lines were hooked up, everything went smoothly until it was discovered that Larry had forgot to open the check valves on the CO2 lines. The pours started to get really slow, then kind of stopped all together which is what tipped us off.
As the awards portion of the evening began, we were joined by Cary & his wife Kris and Jon from the Half Moon. With 20 entries from the HCHB this year, we were either the 3rd (as announced) or 4th as the number of club entries were read off. MECA, as usual, dominated the evening having entered more than 100 beers. We broke their string however with a 1st for Larry's Oktoberfest, Marzen Dotes and Dozy Dotes.
The professional catagory kept calling out the same names as well but Jon was there for Kokomo with a bronze for his porter and a silver for the hazelnut.We were all a bit disappointed at missing out on a ribbon for the bourbon barrel competition. Having the chance to sample many of the entries, we all felt we should have placed well. But that was not to be. After talking to several of the clubs, it appears as though most left their beer in the barrel much longer than we did. One club even added the bourbon to the beer to really enhance the bourbon prescence. Ours was much more subtle.
For our third year at the awards dinner, the Howard County Homebrew Club is really making a name for itself. Even members from MECA are starting to take note. Brew on!
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