Uncle Billy’s Keep Austin Beered Pro-Am

I just spotted this on Facebook. Homebrewers, clean out your equipment and get to it:

This year's competition style will be...drum roll please...

Pale American Belgo-Style Ale!!!

What it is:

• The Austin ZEALOTS and Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que present the Uncle Billy’s Keep Austin Beered Pro-Am.
• Brew a beer in BJCP category 23 (special category selected: Pale American Belgo-Style Ale) and if you win, Brian Peters and Amos Lowe at Uncle Billy’s will brew your recipe and enter it into the 6th Annual GABF Pro-Am.

The Rules:

• All homebrewing entrants must be members of the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) at the time the original homebrew entry is submitted for competition as well as when the Pro-Am entry is judged (mid September, 2011).
• You cannot be a professional brewer. Only homebrewers are allowed to enter.

What you need to do:

• Brew a beer in Category 23 of the BJCP guidelines
• Pale American Belgo-Style Ale; see GABF Style Guideline in category 17A for more details.
• Bring your 2 bottles (11 to 16 ounce bottles) to the Austin ZEALOTS meeting on June 11, or take/mail them to Austin Homebrew Supply between June 10 & 19. (9129 Metric, Austin, TX, 78758).
• Entry fee $5. Pay cash or make checks payable to “Austin Homebrew Supply”
• Print and fill out the recipe form and include with your entries. Uncle Billy’s will make all efforts to convert the recipe to a production level. Uncle Billy’s reserves the right to make reasonable substitutions.

Details:

• The judges will select the best representation and the winner will be informed by email or phone. Note: Uncle Billy’s will use either Wyeast 3787 (Trappist High Gravity Yeast) or White Labs 530. The beer will be brewed at Uncle Billy’s and will be entered in the GABF Pro-Am competition.
• The 2011 GABF will be held in Denver, Sept. 29-Oct. 1. More details at the Brewers’ Association.
• The winner of this contest must sign a licensing agreement, which limits and protects the way the GABF trademark is used, prior to the submission of entries to the GABF.
• GABF Pro-Am entries submitted by breweries will compete in a best-of-show style judging, during the regular GABF judging. The GABF Style Guidelines and GABF judge panel will be used for the judging.
• Judges will determine the top three entries in the GABF Pro-Am Competition, which will be awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze GABF Pro-Am Competition medals during the GABF awards ceremony. Medals will be issued to both the winning brewery and the winning homebrewer.
• You can be disqualified at any point for not following all of the rules. Questions? Contact Dan at dandew3@att.net.

So Homebrewers ... Let's start brewing some beer!!

My Latest Beer News Column

Hey all, the latest version of my "Beer Flights" column is in today's Austin Chronicle.

This month's topics:

• A remembrance of Pierre Celis
• A brief update on beer bills in the Texas Legislature
• The launch of the Austin Beer Guide.

Please check it out.

New Belgium Takes Over Draught House Today

Message from Josh over at the Draught House:

The phrase of the moment is "tap takeover" and who are we to resist. This wednesday (the 27th) we will be taken over by New Belgium and be pouring eight of their beers. We are happy to have both Love, the unblended base for La Folie and other sour beers, and Super Cru, their 20th anniversary ale, to serve. In addition, we will be pouring Le Terroir, La Folie, Fat Tire, Mothership Wit, Ranger IPA and Somersault, their new spring seasonal. PLUS, with any beer purchase, a globe glass is FREE.

But that's not all. We will also have cheese samples gratis with some (perhaps all) of the beers. And to top it all off Miss Lauren Salazar, sensory analyst extraordinaire, will grace us with her presence. BE THERE!

In other news, later in the week we will have Ranger Creek port barrel La Bestia Aimable, which should prove to be quite good from what I've heard. And, this Firkin Friday we will tap a cask of Great Divide Expresso Oak Aged Yeti.

Random Photo

Back during the winter holidays, we had our customary family trip to Kansas City to see my in-laws, and attended a great party thrown by a beer club called the Gents at a great bar called The Foundry, at the invitation of fellow beer blogger Bull E. Vard. Some entertainment website called Nightlife KC decided we were photo-worthy. I have no idea why. (That's me on the left, my lovely wife, and then Bull on the right). Much to my shame, I think that's water that I'm drinking.

Yes, this is a totally lame post. Sorry, I'll try to do better next time. (But it was a great party.)

Another Reason to Abolish the Monarchy

No beer will be served at the royal wedding because it "isn't really an appropriate drink to be serving in the Queen's presence." Well hey, to hell with her!

Seriously, Kate, are you sure you want that woman to be your grandmother-in-law?

Amy's Ice Cream Makes Black Metal Stout Flavor

Oh hell yeah.

Twisted X Party for Cinco de Mayo

One thing you don't see too much of among microbreweries are ones crafting Mexican-style beers. Twisted X, which I wrote about in my round-up of new Austin-area breweries last year, aims to change that. Check them out on Cinco de Mayo at the Dig Pub, the best beer bar in the 'burbs. Announcement of the event from Dig Pub:

Introducing Twisted X on Cinco de Mayo!

Thursday, May 5 @ 7:00 p.m.

We are super excited and proud to host the beer release party of Cedar Park's first, very own microbrewery, Twisted X! The folks at Twisted X are the pioneers of the TEX MEX BEER revolution! The revolutionary masterminds, Jim Sampson and Shane Bordeau, will be available for a meet & greet, and they will obviously be bringing some beer: a Mexican lager, a Vienna lager, and a jalapeno pilsner. There will be a glass giveaway, a naming contest (where your suggestion could end up being the official name of the beer), live music from Drew Womack, and food specials from The Dig Pub.