Twas a day of beer

knowing it was going to be a long day, I got the water ready for the mash, and on the stove the night before. I woke up early and turned the stove on .... and I was off. To make a long story short I rebrewed my IPA that I lost in "the incident during all incidents." (same recipe and all, so I won't repost) I've been without an IPA on tap for tooooooo much time. It was a ten gallon batch again. because of timing and all of that, I decided to keg the wit and ginger (and clean the damn carboys) because I needed the carboys to ferment in. I also decided to keg the pilsners and transfer one of Alison's beers that had been sitting way to long. ... and it was a requirement to taste some of the other beers sitting around and aging (the Palo Santo is coming along spectacularly I might add! :-)). That's a long day 10 gallons brewed. 4x 5 gallons kegged, 1 batch transferred, and all the cleaning/tasting in between. Thanks to work for requiring me to edit and finalize a poster, Alison for needing a ride to the airport, and John and Beth for coming over for food, all of which broke up the day! :-)

So, not to be outdone, Kari (sis; the following day) had a day full of beer. She judged in a pro-am competition --- best in show to brew their beer at Left hand brewery in Longmont CO. Anyway, she judged some random categories and was judged for her Bucky Badger Brown ale (I added the Bucky part to the name). In the end, her ale took first place in the American ales category and it then won best in show! so she gets to brew it at Left hand. SOOOO AWESOME. Unfortunately she was so surprised she left the building without telling anyone her contact info ... but I think they'll fix that.

Here are the prizes... medal for the brown ale and trophy for best in show! I once gave her a brown recipe, I don't know if that's the beer she based it on or not. I'm saying it is. Congrats Kari!
So there is a pro-am in Seattle soon. I'm trying to figure out which beers I need to submit. I am digging the ginger, maybe that'll be the one. Only fitting if I end up winning based on one of her recipes! :-)