We at Bel Air Brewing were very blessed, i.e., got lucky again this year with 5 beers that made it to the mini Best Of Show judging round, two in the BOS round, and two gold Medal, 1st Place winners.
Our entries were:
1. German Pilsner (42 points) mini BOS
2. Festbier (39 points) BOS judging round - 1st Place Gold
3. Schwarzbier (39 points) mini BOS
4. English Barleywine (38 points) BOS judging round, 1st Place Gold
5. Vienna Lager (41 points) mini BOS
6. Imperial Stout ( 32 points)
We would be happy to share the above recipes, if anyone is interested. Our German Pilsner (the only one with treated water) was probably the best of the bunch. We are surprised it did not place. But they lump so many sub-categories together, so it is a challenge at best as I am not only competing against other German Pils (5D), but all of the beers in the Pale Bitter European Lager category, 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D.
There were 1,267 entries, 3,800 bottles of beer, from 24 states.
My Imperial Stout was not thick enough, or heavy enough, even though it was at 10.4% ABV. A brewing friend told me it needs to be like 40 weight motor oil. That is what the judges are looking for.
One judge commented it was a good beer, but more like between a Big Brown Ale and a Stout.