Byggvir's Big Wrap-Up Ceremony

So the dust has settled, (literally...we are talking Renfest here...) and the final award ceremony for Byggvir's Big Beer Cup took place last night at Town Hall Brewery.  They had the whole back end of the restaurant set aside for us and we did a pretty good job of filling up that space!  Several of us showed up early to have some great pub grub before the festivities.  They had a fantastic Mild on tap and also the Twisted Jim Whiskey barrel aged barleywine.  Later on they brought around some sample cups of the Twisted Reality and Wee Heavy that weren't even on tap yet!  We dragged my poor mother-in-law, who hates beer,with us to this event but she was a trooper and hung in there. 

Gera gave a little speech and Jonathan read off the award winners.  I was surprised how many of the winners were present, and it was nice to be able to cheer for them.  Several winners were new to competitions entirely.  I was sad to not see Eric-Bob and Brett there though.  We ended up getting our prizes and medals a-la-end-of-Star-Wars.  I won a first place for my English Barley Wine (EBW) and third for my Flemish Red (Sour Loser.) 

The finale was the announcement by Mike Hoops about the winner of the Brewer's Choice Award:  To get a chance to brew your beer with Mike for the next year's GABF Pro-Am competition.  All of the first place medalists had a chance to win this one, so my EBW was in the running.  I certainly wish I had won this, but am extatic that the award went to fellow JAB member Tim Roets for his kolsch! 

I took the craziest pic of Tim I could find and put it through a 1970's filter as a passive-aggressive Minnesotan way of saying "I wish I could have won this..."  Congrats Tim!

For Day 4 of Octoberfest madness I had the Victory Festbier from a bottle, opened and tried while brewing in the garage.  This beer pours a very pretty deep amber to orange topped with a white head made of fairly large bubbles.  Aroma is malt and toast with a slight sulfury lager zing.  Flavor is bready malt but not incredibly sweet.  Very complex flavors.  Hop bitterness and lager crispness keep the sweetness down and this one is very well balanced.  Subtle noble hop flavor.  Ends dry but not astringent with a slight roastiness as it warms.  Body is medium to full.  Overall this is the best version I've had so far.  They use a traditional decoction and the hopping is restrained.