This one is for all of those homebrewers out there. If you’re looking to get some honest feedback on your beer, a homebrew competition is the best place to start. They’re going to give you informative feedback that can only help to improve your beer. Dan Stauder of the St. Louis Brews forwarded information on to me about this year’s competition:

The Happy Holiday Homebrew Competition is the St. Louis Brews annual homebrew competition. It is a fully sanctioned AHA and BJCP event. This year it will be held on December 9, December 11, 2009 and December 12, 2009.

The location of the competition & banquet is the Annunciation Church in Webster Groves, located at 12 West Glendale Road, just South of Hwy. 44 on Elm Avenue. Here is a link to a map. We are proud to be the final qualifying event for the Twelth Annual Masters Championship of Amateur Brewing.

2 bottles per entry
Fee is $6.00 per entry
Entries must be received by Friday, December 4, 2009

Please register on the web with a valid email address. The registration page will have all the details of where to send the entries. Local dropoff will be at the local homebrew shops.

Scoresheets will be scanned and emailed back to the brewer by the next day. Currently this is the only competition that I know that scans and emails scoresheets for quick feedback to the brewer.

I plan on entering a few beers this year just to get some feedback (and if they’re good enough maybe win an award.) If you’re a homebrewer I would strongly suggest that you do the same!

I missed this one last week, but luckily there is always the lovely invention called the “podcast.” Last Thursday, local NPR affiliate 90.7 KWMU aired a segment called Brewing in St. Louis on their St. Louis On the Air show.

The guests for the hour were Don Roussin and Kevin Kious two of the authors of “St. Louis Brews: 200 Years of Brewing in St. Louis, 1809-2009“. I haven’t had a chance to listen yet, but if the book is any gauge, it should be a very interesting hour of radio.

While Henry may no longer be with us, the show will go on. Tonight’s scheduled St. Louis Brews: 200 Years of Brewing in St. Louis 1809-2009 book signing event will still take place.

Authors Don Roussin and Kevin Kious will still be at the Schlafly Bottleworks tonight from 7PM-9PM.  If you don’t have a copy of this amazing book, you can purchase a copy at the Bottleworks retail center tonight.

Henry’s family will be in attendance for the event tonight and I’m sure there is going to be a pint raised in Henry’s honor.  If you can, go out to support this amazing book, some great authors and a great man.

Back in March, I let you know about what will probably be the definitive book about brewing in St. Louis, St. Louis Brews: 200 Years of Brewing in St. Louis 1809-2009. Well, the book is now available, and first off, you MUST pick this up.  It’s wonderfully detailed and full of amazing photographs from throughout the past 200 years of brewing in St. Louis.

This upcoming Monday, October 19 from 7PM-9PM, will provide you with the chance to get a signed copy of St. Louis Brews by one of the book’s authors Henry Herbst at the Schlafly Bottleworks.  I don’t know if any of you have been following along with Henry’s condition, but things aren’t going great.  But Henry is going to fight through hell and high water to attend the event.

If you have the chance to attend, I’d love for everyone to stop by and thank Henry for this book and have a chance to meet a legend of the St. Louis beer scene.

If you’re one of those people who’s always wanted to get their homebrew on, but never knew where to start tomorrow is your best opportunity to learn how to turn grains and hops into beer. May 7rd marked the 30th anniversary of National Homebrew Day and to celebrate homebrewers are going to do what the do best, brew beer!

Each year on the first Saturday in May, homebrewers unite non-brewing and brewing friends and family to celebrate National Homebrew Day, joining with thousands of homebrewers from around the world in brewing the same recipes and sharing a simultaneous toast at noon Central Time.

You may be asking yourself, “Hey Mike, we’ve already passed the first weekend of May!”  And you’re right, but with Microfest going on last weekend, the St. Louis homebrewing clubs decided that they were going to hold off a week to make sure there wasn’t competing events on the same weekend.  So, National Homebrewing Day will take place this Saturday, May 9th in St. Louis.

Locally the two biggest homebrew clubs will be celebrating in two different locations. The Garage Brewers Society will be celebrating the event at O’Fallon Brewery while the St. Louis Brews will be brewing up a storm at Worm’s Way. Both locations will be offering up great food, great discussion and of course plenty of homebrew.

This Fall will see the release on what will be the definitive book about brewing in St. Louis when St. Louis Brews: 200 Years of Brewing in St. Louis 1809-2009 hits store shelves.  This hardbound, full color book will feature over 330 pages detailing the history of beer and its importance to the St. Louis region.

This book was researched and written by local brewing historians Don Roussin, Kevin Kious and Henry Herbst.  (Henry will also be a featured player at this years St. Louis Craft Beer Week where he will be hosting a discussion about the History of Craft Beer in the United States.)

If you’re interested in obtaining a copy of this book be certain to buy your signed copy here or you can also pay by check via this PDF.  I have a feeling this will be on a lot of local beer nerd’s Christmas lists come this fall.

The St. Louis Brews, one of the local St. Louis homebrewing clubs will be holding their monthly meeting on Thursday, October 2nd at Provisions Market in Creve Couer. The meeting starts at about 7PM. This month’s styles are as follows:

Cat. 1 Light Lager

• 1D. Munich Helles
• 1E. Dortmunder Export

Cat. 2 Pilsner

• 2A. German Pilsner (Pils)
• 2B. Bohemian Pilsner

Cat. 3 European Amber Lager

• 3A. Vienna Lager
• 3B. Oktoberfest/Maerzen

Cat. 4 Dark Lager

• 4B. Munich Dunkel
• 4C. Schwarzbier (Black Beer)

Cat. 6 Light Hybrid Beer

• 6C. Kölsch Beer

Cat. 7 Amber Hybrid Beer

• 7A. Northern German Altbier
• 7C. Dusseldorf Altbier

It’s always an interesting experience and provides you with a lot of great feedback. If you’re looking to try some great beer tonight, this is your place.