What is an "Anchor Happening"? It's anything cool that you or the club has done throughout the year to spread the word and love of craft beer and homebrewing! For instance - win gold at a competition? let us know! Get written up on the web? Let us know! Leave a comment at the bottom of this page! Why do this? Because every year we compile all the cool stuff we've done, wrap it up in a neat little bow and send it to the fine folks at Anchor Brewing to let them know why we deserve to be Anchor Brewing's California Homebrew Club of the Year! The winning club is invited to the brewery for a great meal cooked by the staff and all the Anchor beer you can drink while touring the brewery. Of course, being the Falcons we can't help but turn it into an all weekend excursion of fun
Examples of Things to Tell Us:
- Won medals at Competitions
- Brewed an Experiment
- Taught beer / brewing
- Wrote an article
- Were the subject of an article / interview
- Did anything cool and beer related
Comments
CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE. Had a successful Christmas Toy Drive for the 4th straight year that benefited children all over Los Angeles County. This is the Spark of Love program run by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
I am including this here, because last year's report goes in too late to submit this, but we will be having a 2013 Toy Drive as well.
My Belgian Dark Strong Ale, The Grapevine (so named for the caramelized raisins I added to the boil), won Bronze in the Belgian Strong Ale Category at the 4th Annual Hangar 24 Homebrew Competition in May 2013.
I also received a Gold for Farmhouse Ales in Mayfaire 2013 for Poirot, my Summer Saison brewed with ginger.
- Jefferson Loftfield
Brewing accolades:
2nd (Belgian Pale) and 3rd place (American Brown) ribbons at 2012 LA county fair, 1st place (Wee Heavy) ribbon in first round of 2013 NHC, 1st place (American Brown) medal at 2013 Mayfaire.
Cheers,
Jason
In June, I had a beer booth at the Beverly Glenn Summer Fair. My live oak smoked porter and belgian summer ale went like hotcakes. It was a lot of fun!
I've started brewing just a year ago, and have come a very long way in a short period of time. In my first year, I've brewed 105 gallons of 5g batches. I've brewed beer for two different Oktoberfest parties (10g each) and 20g for a wedding. I had an awesome time pouring for, and camping with the club at the Southern Californian Homebrewers Festival. I earned my BJCP Provisional certification, and judged at our club's Mayfaire competition and at the L.A. County Fair Commercial competition. I judged at our L.A. Country Fair Homebrew competition (run by the Falcons) and the Ventura County Fair. I also attended a fantastic beer bus trip to the San Diego area, visiting Breakwater Brewery, Societe, White Labs, Ballast Point and Alesmith.
This year, I was fortunate enough to win first place in Stouts at L.A. County for my Chocolate Oatmeal Cream Stout, and a third place at Ventura County for the same.
For vacation this year, I went to Nova Scotia, Canada and attended a huge beerfest there with more than 200 beers on offer. Most of the people pouring were fest volunteers and knew little about the beers, I was able to talk to several brewers. I spoke with a rep from Flying Monkeys (Toronto), and brewers from local maritime breweries Rouge's Roost and the ever excellent Garrison (both from Halifax). The best beer of the day came from Garrison and was a Mango IPA that nailed the balance of fruit and bitterness, and tropical hop flavors. I met some homebrewers at the beerfest and we're going to be setting up a cross continent beer exchange. I then judged at the Pacific Brewers cup, and had a great time supporting out fellow brewers down south.
I scaled up to ten gallon batches, and brewed forty gallons in four batches for my families 28th annual Oktoberfest. Three of which I bottled and submitted a few beers to the California State Homebrew Competition, and plan on being up there to help judge in November.
It's been a busy year of brewing and beer!
L.A. County Fair Work.....
Was part of a great crew that helped check in over 350 entries for the Los Angeles County Fair. This entails making sure there are two bottles per entry, that they have not only their entry number at the top of each bottle, but then their description and classification number labels on the side of each bottle. It is a load of labelling! Not to mention, putting them all away in coolers til the actual judging takes place.
Big Kudos go out to our President, Steve Rosolio and VPs, Ed Kochanowski (king of the computer work on this comp), and Jeremy Hynd for their work in getting the beers from the various drop-off points, and working on the check-in. And posting on our website for getting judges and stewards for the judging day! Also with them were myself, Steve Cook and the ever helpful John Aitchison. Teamwork pays off again!
The Alewench (Reenie)
My Ordinary Bitter, OB 1, won a gold medal (or blue ribbon, or whatever 1st place for category gets) at the 2013 LA County Fair Homebrew Competition in the English Bitter Ale and Pale Ale Category.
BJCP and Judging
This year I have been pursuing BJCP certification. I passed the online entrance exam in April and plan on taking the tasting exam in November. Since passing the entrance exam I've judged the first round of the 2013 National Homebrew Competition, the 4th Annual Hangar 24 Homebrew Competition, Mayfaire 2013, the 2013 Orange County Fair Homebrew Competition, the 2013 San Diego County Fair Homebrew Competition, and the 2013 Ventura County Fair Amateur Beer Competition. I'm also registered to judge at the 2013 Pacific Brewers Cup. (Did I really need to mention that it was all 2013, ha!)
Pacific Brewers Cup 2013
I judged Category 7 - Amber Hybrids for the 2013 Pacific Brewers Cup.
I also won a Bronze in Category 8 - English Pale Ale for my Ordinary Bitter in the competition.
Pacific Brewer's Cup 2013
I judged the IPA category.
My Weizenbock took 3rd place in Category 15 - German Wheat and Rye.
-Andy Ziskin
LA Country Fair 2013
I judged IPA's and Belgian Style Sour Ales
My sour cherry cider won 1st place in the cider category.
-Andy Ziskin
Not sure if it is too late, but Don Liebig and I put together a serving "wedge" for our chest freezer. It was profiled in the gadget issue (Jan/Feb 2014, page 31) of Zymergy magazine.
My fellow Falcon, Christian Thomas, and I took 3rd place in the Wheat/Rye Ale category in this year's Antelope Valley Homebrew Competition for our dunkelweizen.
Will there be any future Anchor Happenings, or is it now a thing of the past?