beer and sweat party, is it what i think it is? Options

[HerrHiller]

is this what I think It is? I'm assuming its just a bunch of homebrewers that poured their sweat into making their special homebrew. and they bring a keg or 2 of it. and then they all get drunk off eachothers homebrew. am I right? wrong? how much homebrew does the average person bring?

[LaFours]

mmm, never heard of it Is it just a local brewclub event? I don't think a "beer and sweat" party is a standard term for something like a club brew, but I could be wrong.

Just sounds like a party to me.

[CRAZEBrain]

I don't know if there is more than one of these, but the Beer and Sweat that I have heard of (and I think the one that you are referencing from the thread re: beer classes) is a "Keg only Beer Competition" held by the Bloatarian Brewing League from the Cincy area.

http://www.bloatarian.org/content/blogcategory/16/48/

Rather than shipping in your two bottles for the competition you show up with your keg(s).

[Lagerdemain]

"beer and sweat" sounds unabashedly ghey to me.

http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=3404

[RobWestendorf]

Beer and Sweat is the World's Largest Homebrew Competition* (*by volume). It's held by the Bloatarian Brewing League every year on the third Saturday in August. The "Beer" part is obvious, "Sweat" is because it's held in August, and was originally outdoors. It was written up in Zymurgy last year, in the May/June issue (I think).

Beer and Sweat is an all-keg competition. That's right, you enter a keg. In 2007, there were 252 of 'em. And it's a big homebrew party, as big as anything you've ever attended. You can sample any entry, talk with any brewer, boogie with the band, and cheer for any and everybody when the awards are announced. The details from 2007 are still up at www.bloatarian.org .

It's actually a very serious competition. Since your kegs are out there with your name on them, people don't bring anything less than their best. There are many people who come from a few hundred miles every year - it's a very big deal!

[HerrHiller]

Beer and Sweat is the World's Largest Homebrew Competition* (*by volume). It's held by the Bloatarian Brewing League every year on the third Saturday in August. The "Beer" part is obvious, "Sweat" is because it's held in August, and was originally outdoors. It was written up in Zymurgy last year, in the May/June issue (I think).

Beer and Sweat is an all-keg competition. That's right, you enter a keg. In 2007, there were 252 of 'em. And it's a big homebrew party, as big as anything you've ever attended. You can sample any entry, talk with any brewer, boogie with the band, and cheer for any and everybody when the awards are announced. The details from 2007 are still up at www.bloatarian.org .

It's actually a very serious competition. Since your kegs are out there with your name on them, people don't bring anything less than their best. There are many people who come from a few hundred miles every year - it's a very big deal!

well do you HAVE to be a competitor to attend? I am very ameteur. I think itd be fun to try and make my best batch I could make up and keg it and try to enter it..but as serious as ur making this sound prolly wouldn't be the best idea. can you go as just a spectator though?

[RobWestendorf]

well do you HAVE to be a competitor to attend? I am very ameteur. I think itd be fun to try and make my best batch I could make up and keg it and try to enter it..but as serious as ur making this sound prolly wouldn't be the best idea. can you go as just a spectator though?

We have always allowed others in ($20 admission for non-entrants, includes a tasting glass), but that may change in the future. Too many people unrelated to the homebrewing community are showing up for "$20 all you can drink" excess. We plan, however, to always allow in anybody who is a member of a homebrew club, and therefore a bona fide brewer. Also, entrants get in free with their entry, plus a free guest, and judges get in free. Sign up to judge! (BJCP preferred, not required as long as you have judged before.)

Hope to see you in August!

[HerrHiller]

We have always allowed others in ($20 admission for non-entrants, includes a tasting glass), but that may change in the future. Too many people unrelated to the homebrewing community are showing up for "$20 all you can drink" excess. We plan, however, to always allow in anybody who is a member of a homebrew club, and therefore a bona fide brewer. Also, entrants get in free with their entry, plus a free guest, and judges get in free. Sign up to judge! (BJCP preferred, not required as long as you have judged before.)

Hope to see you in August!

hey man. its your brew club and all. so please tlell me. would it be frowned upon if some very ameteur brewer, who is stuck on all extract and never kegged before,winged it and entered one of his beers into the competition for the hell of it? or u feel like beer is beer the more the merrier bring it on and give it a try?

[CRAZEBrain]

hey man. its your brew club and all. so please tlell me. would it be frowned upon if some very ameteur brewer, who is stuck on all extract and never kegged before,winged it and entered one of his beers into the competition for the hell of it? or u feel like beer is beer the more the merrier bring it on and give it a try?

I can't vouch for the Beer and Sweat competition, but this is normally very much encouraged at competitions.

You learn from doing. Sometimes the incentive a beer competition is what it takes to get you to do something different. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Most brewers are a forgiving bunch as we have all been there and done that (says a guy who still considers himself a relative newbie after 5 years of brewing). In fact, beer and sweat would be better than a normal competition for something like this. You get not only judge feedback, but attendee feedback. You learn how to process the large assortment of opinions and produce some "lessons learned" from all the feedback.

Dang, now I have myself almost talked into thinking about making the 10 hour drive to Cincy for this.

[brrman]

OMG - I have never heard of this - even when I lived in Cincinnati.
I am still not far away - I think I will make that trip with a few kegs in tow!

How does it work - you bring your own setup?

[HerrHiller]

OMG - I have never heard of this - even when I lived in Cincinnati.
I am still not far away - I think I will make that trip with a few kegs in tow!

How does it work - you bring your own setup?

I'm curious about this too. do u just bring the cornys and hook to a tap system /kegerator there? or do you bring your own kegerator system? or how does that work? and how how many kegs does the average person bring?

[scrumdaddy]

If I recall correctly, you bring the co2 tank, regulator and a picnic tap. There are tubs there and long boards with holes for the picnic taps to go through. You are responsible for getting the correct pressure on the co2 and temp of the beer. Most guys will come with one or two entries, but I spoke to some that had 20-25 entries. That's alot of brewing and alot of hauling. Great party though, and some really tremendous beers. I was truly impressed with the overall quality of the offerings. For more info you really should check out the bloatarians website. If you wan to enter a beer, then at some point you will need a 2008 entry form.

Oh, btw, Cincy is hosting the National Homebrewers Conference, so if you come to that, I'm sure you will meet some of the Bloats. They will give you the lowdown.

This post has been edited by scrumdaddy: Feb 13 2008, 09:18 PM

[Salsgebom]

So.. what's the usual turn out at this thing? I'm picturing a homebrew bonnaroo but how crazy is it really. Surely still small enough that you can point out the guy that owns the keg, right?

[RobWestendorf]

At Beer and Sweat you need to bring your keg, a bucket to keep it in (no kegs directly on the floor - potential water damage), and serving equipment (CO2, hoses). We provide ice. There is a series of racks that you connect to. These racks have the tap number, and each tap gets a label with the beer name, and brewer's name and club. There's a good picture at http://www.bloatarian.org/index.php?set_al...=view_photo.php (I can't seem to figure out how to post the picture here. Sorry. Maybe somebody else can do it for me.)

Last year there were 252 entries provided by 75 different brewers, so an average of just over 3 kegs per entrant. However, there are some who enter only one, and some who enter more than 10. I think the most this past year was 16, but he swore he'd never haul that many again. The record is 20, and he hauled them from Pittsburgh- oof!

The average total attendance is in the 250 range, adding in spouses, judges, and friends. There are some walk-ins, but it's likely that will not be permitted any more. (We've been getting listed on some beer sites as a "Craft Beer Festival, $20 all-you-can-drink", and in reality we're not open to the public.) You'll need to be an entrant (or their one guest), judge, or a card-carrying member of a brew club to get in.

It's relatively easy to find the owner of a particular keg, as long as you're not too shy to ask a total stranger for help. It's likely the first person you ask will either know him, or will recognize his club name, and know someone from that club who can point him (her!) out. You can usually find anybody in 15 seconds.

There are always new brewers who enter, so I hope nobody's shy about coming!

[Listermann]

It should be noted that the "Beer and Sweat" competition is just about the only competition in the world where you can just about count on being able to taste the beers you are competing with. If you entered an oatmeal stout, you can find the others in that catagory and really get pissed off thinking yours was far better.