HAINES — The 24th Annual Haines Craft Beer and Home Brew Festival homebrew competition went to three Juneau brewers.
The beer judged as the Best of Show was an English-style barleywine aged on American oak, called Wooden Slacktide Barley Wine 2015, submitted by Matthew Barnaby of Douglas. Barnaby’s beer also received a Best of Division medal for the Dark Beers category. The other two Best of Division medals were won by Grant Ficek of Juneau for his wild specialty sour, Wild Orchard Sour, and Stephen Sorenson, also of Juneau, for his Belgian strong dark ale, Belgian Stout.
32 homebrewers entered 70 beers, ciders and meads for the judges’ consideration. Entries were judged based on technical merit and adherence to published style guidelines.
Most submissions were from Alaska, including entries from Haines, Douglas, Juneau, and Anchorage. Entries also came in from Whitehorse, Yukon, California, Washington, and Wisconsin.
The contest was organized by Beer Judge Certification Program national certified judge Rob Miller, and assistant organizer, Ardy Miller, also a BJCP certified judge of Haines. It sponsored by the Southeast Alaska State Fair and sanctioned by the BJCP and the American Homebrewers Association. Sixteen judges from Alaska, Yukon, and California, many certified by the BJCP, tasted, pondered, and discussed the merits of the entries, and provided written feedback on each.
Other winners include
• (starch)cubed by Thomas Albert of Long Beach, California, won the Spiced, Herb and Vegetable Beers category.
• Resting Bitch Face by Barnaby won the Fruit and Specialty category.
• American Stout by MaryJean Sebens of Haines won the Stouts and Porters category.
• Parent’s Night Out Barleywine by David Howard of Juneau won the Strong Beers category.
• Double Dog APA by Shane Hendrick of Anchorage won in the Session Beers catgeory.
• And Barnaby won the IPAs category with his Strong American Double IPA.
Medals were made by Rachael Juzeler of Juneau, from kiln-melted Alaskan Brewing bottles.
