We had a great turnout for our first BJCP sanctioned homebrew competition. We had 30 American Ales and 15 Stouts entered. We had a great panel of judges with BJCP judges Ken and Millie Carmen serving as head judges for the two categories. Also helping out was J. L. Thompson, president of the Bluff City Brewers, Jeremy Wickham, president of Golden Triangle Brewers, Richard Bryant, vice-president of Golden Triangle Brewers, as well as Jason Bridges and Jonas Outlaw of HBAMM.

Prizes were donated by Hops & Habanas, Sierra Nevada, the AHA, BeerSmith, Tin Roof Brewing, Northern Brewer, Midwest, Austin Homebrew, Niko Brew, Draft Magazine, and BYO.

The winners for the American Ale Category were:

1st Place: Mason Meeks with MPA8 (American Pale Ale)

2nd Place: Randy Louden & Paris Miller with Jimi's Hazed & Infused APA (American Pale Ale)

3rd Place: Nathan Harms with Hoptastrophe (American Pale Ale)

The winners for the Stout Category were:

1st Place: Andrew Speihler with La Vache Noire (Sweet Stout)

2nd Place: Andrew Oswalt with Freight Train Stout (American Stout)

3rd Place: Craig Hendry with Stout, And Then Some (Imperial Stout)

These six winners advanced to the Best of Show round where the beers were tasted again; but this time instead of being compared to the BJCP style guide, they were judged against each other to determine which beer tasted the best in general.

This produced an interesting result in which the first place beer from a category was not determined to be the best tasting beer overall. The overall winner of the Best of MS Homebrew Competition was Randy Louden & Paris Miller's American Pale Ale, Jimi's Hazed & Confused.

I want to thank every one who entered, served on the competition staff and volunteered food and beer for the event. It was a big success and I look forward to building on it next year.

Cheers!