Urban Knaves of Grain (UKG) Club-Only Competitions

Six times a year, we are allowed to select just one brew to represent our club in an American Homebrewers Association-sponsored club-only competition with a theme, such as stouts, pale ales, wheat beers, or pilsners. Each competition is hosted by a different homebrew club.  (The UKG hosted the Extract Only competition in 2008 and the Weiss is Nice in 1997.)  The winner's recipe is published in Zymurgy, and the winning club earns points toward the Homebrew Club of the Year Award.

The UKG selects our entry in our own informal mini-competition, with the help of volunteer members, who practice their judging skills while evaluating the entries. Just as in a real competition, they return judging forms full of constructive comments to the entrants.

Whenever possible, our judgings are held at monthly UKG meetings. To enter a beer, just bring one bottle to the meeting. Remove any labels and black out all markings on the cap. You should keep two more bottles in reserve.

If your beer wins the judging, you will be responsible for following the AHA's entry instructions and shipping those two bottles to the club-only competition. The instructions include links to the entry form and bottle labels.  Fill out the entry form and put it and a $7 check payable to the AHA into an envelope.  Rubber-band a label to each bottle, and rubber-band the envelope to one of them.  Pack them up securely (individually wrap each bottle with bubble wrap, then put them in a tightly cushioned box), and send them via UPS to the shipping address shown on the AHA club-only competition schedule.  Save your shipping receipt; the UKG treasurer will reimburse you for the shipping and the entry fee at the next meeting.

If you have questions about entering a club-only competition, or if you would like to help in our informal judging, please contact .


This is the schedule of club-only competitions in the 2011-2012 season and beyond.  All competitions will be based on the 2008 BJCP Style Guidelines.  (Judging dates marked as tentative may be adjusted if the competition deadline turns out to be earlier or later than expected.)

DateCompetition
July 27, 2011
(hosted Aug. 27 by
Prairie Homebrewing Companions of Fargo, ND;
entry deadline:  Aug. 20)
Mead.  BJCP styles:
  • 24a Dry Mead
  • 24b Semi-sweet Mead
  • 24c Sweet Mead
  • 25a Cyser (Apple Melomel)
  • 25b Pyment (Grape Melomel)
  • 25c Other Fruit Melomel
  • 26a Metheglin
  • 26b Braggot
  • 26c Open Category Mead

Judging will be conducted at the monthly meeting.

Winner:  Bryan Ballard, Traditional Mead
Sep. 28, 2011
(hosted Oct. 29 by
Brewers United Zany Zymurgists (BUZZ of PA);
entry deadline:  Oct. 15)
Specialty/Experimental/Historical beers.  BJCP styles:
  • 23 Specialty Beer

Judging will be conducted at the monthly meeting.

Winner:  Matt Klausner, Vanilla Bourbon Robust Porter
Oct. 26, 2011
(hosted Dec. 3 by
Foam Blowers of Indiana (FBI);
entry deadline:  Nov. 25)
Hail to Hefeweizen.  BJCP styles:
  • 15a Weizen/Weissbier
  • 15b Dunkelweizen
  • 15c Weizenbock
  • 15a Roggenbier (German Rye Beer)

Judging will be conducted at the monthly meeting.

Winner:  Matt Klausner, Weizenbock
Jan. 25, 2012 (tentative)
(hosted Jan/Feb by
Silverado Homebrew Club in St. Charles, IL;
entry deadline:  TBD)
Dark Lagers.  BJCP styles:
  • 4a Dark American Lager
  • 4b Munich Dunkel
  • 4c Schwartzbier

Judging will be conducted at the monthly meeting.

Winner: 
Feb. 29, 2012
(hosted March 24 by
Rock Hoppers of Parker, CO;
entry deadline:  March 17)
Stout.  BJCP styles:
  • 13a Dry Stout
  • 13b Sweet Stout
  • 13c Oatmeal Stout
  • 13d Foreign Extra Stout
  • 13e American Stout
  • 13f Russian Imperial Stout

Judging will be conducted at the monthly meeting.

Winner: 
April 25, 2012
(hosted May 19 by
Brown Bottle Club of Arlington, TX;
entry deadline:  May 10)
Scottish and Irish Ale.  BJCP styles:
  • 9a Scottish Light 60/-
  • 9b Scottish Heavy 70/-
  • 9c Scottish Export 80/-
  • 9d Irish Red Ale
  • 9e Strong Scotch Ale

Judging will be conducted at the monthly meeting.

Winner: 
July 25, 2012 (tentative)
(hosted Aug by
Snake River Brewers of Nampa ,ID;
entry deadline:  TBD)
Porter.  BJCP styles:
  • 12a Brown Porter
  • 12b Robust Porter
  • 12c Baltic Porter

Judging will be conducted at the monthly meeting.

Winner: 
Aug. 29, 2012 (tentative)
(hosted Sep/Oct by
St. Louis Brews of St. Louis, MO;
entry deadline:  TBD)
Light Hybrid Beers.  BJCP styles:
  • 6a Cream Ale
  • 6b Blonde Ale
  • 6c Kölsch
  • 6d American Wheat or Rye Beer

Judging will be conducted at the monthly meeting.

Winner: 
Oct. 31, 2012
(hosted Nov. 17 by
Ann Arbor Brewers Guild or Ann Arbor, MI;
entry deadline:  Nov. 10)
Ant Hayes Memorial Burton (Olde) Ale.  BJCP styles:
  • 19a Old Ale

Judging will be conducted at the monthly meeting.

Winner: 


Past winners representing the UKG:

May 2011 Angel's Share Tom Fitzpatrick, Bourbon barrel Russian Imperial Stout
Apr 2011 Bock Darrell Proksa, Traditional Bock
Feb 2011 Bitters John Laubenstein and Joe Catalano, Ordinary Bitter
Dec 2010 Strong Ale Doug Newberry, Old Ale
Sep 2010 Sour Ale Ron Stazuk, Flanders Red Ale
Aug 2010 Mead Bob Kay, Other Fruit Melomel (blueberry/blackberry/açaí)
May 2010 Extract Beers Bob Leffel, Saison
Apr 2010 American Ales Ken Jones, American Amber Ale
Feb 2010 The Session Challenge - English Brown Ales Matt Klausner, Northern English Brown Ale
Dec 2009 Belgian Strong Ales Joe Catalano, Belgian Tripel, and Shane Coombs, Belgian Golden Strong Ale
Oct 2009 European Amber Lagers Bob Kay, Oktoberfest
Aug 2009 Amber Hybrid Beers Greg Cardelli, California Common
Mar 2009 Extract Beers Ed Seaman, Extra Special/Strong Bitter
Feb 2009 Beers with OG > 1.080 Doug Newberry, Imperial Stout
Dec 2008 Belgian and French Ales Tom Dennis, Saison
Nov 2008 Celebration of the Hop Steve McKenna, Imperial IPA
Sep 2008 Imperial Anything no entry
Jun 2008 Mead Rich Janevicius, Cyser
May 2008 Extract Beers Ed Seaman, Belgian Golden Strong Ale
Mar. 2008 Perfect Porter Challenge Ed Seaman, Brown Porter
Feb. 2008 Dark Lagers Rob Miller, Dark American Lager
Dec. 2007 Pilsner Ed Seaman, Classic American Pilsner
Oct. 2007 Bock Joe Formanek, Doppelbock
Aug. 2007 Strong Ale Ed Seaman, Old Ale
Apr 2007 Extract Beers Ed Seaman, Bavarian Weizen
Mar 2007 Scottish Ale Rodney Kibzey, Scottish Light 60/-
Feb 2007 Low Gravity/Session Beers Andy Stumpf, witbier
Nov 2006 Light Hybrid Beers Ed Seaman, blonde ale
Oct 2006 Stout Calvin Rowland, dry stout
Aug 2006 Mead Joe Formanek, cranberry mead  3rd place winner
in the national club-only competition!
May 2006 Extract Beers Tom Seiler, doppelbock
Apr 2006 American Ale Ron Stazuk, American Pale Ale
Feb 2006 Big Beautiful Belgians Tom Dennis, Belgian Golden Strong Ale
Nov 2005 Baltic Porter Joe Formanek
Oct 2005 European Amber Lager Bea Jones, Oktoberfest
Aug 2005 Belgian and French Ales Ken and Bea Jones, saison 1st place winner
in the national club-only competition!
May 2005 Extract Beers Steve Gurski and Aimee Brucks  3rd place winner
in the national club-only competition!
Apr 2005 In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lambic Shane Coombs
Jan 2005 Irish Red Ale Rodney Kibzey and Liz Lerch
Nov 2004 IPA Mark Neil
Oct 2004 Smoke-Flavored & Wood-Aged Beers Eric Duske
Aug 2004 Wheat Beers Rodney Kibzey and Liz Lerch
Apr 2004 Extract Beers Tom Dennis
Mar 2004 Mead Rich Janevicius
Nov 2003 Barleywine and Imperial Stout Shane Coombs
Oct 2003 Kölsch and Altbier Dave Andrew
Aug 2003 Specialty/Experimental/Historical Beers Mark Neil  1st place winner
in the national club-only competition!
Jun 2003 European Pale Lager Joe Formanek
May 2003 English and Scottish Strong Ale Joe Formanek  2nd place winner
in the national club-only competition!
Apr 2003 Brown Ale Tom Tipton
Jan 2003 Bitter and English Pale Ale Joe Formanek
Dec 2002 Fruit and Spice Beer Darrell Proksa
Oct 2003 Strong Belgian Ale Zemo
Aug 2002 American Lager Shane Coombs
Apr 2002 India Pale Ale Jeff Hertz
Feb 2002 Porter Shane Coombs
Jan 2002 Scottish Ales Mark Linton
Nov 2001 Mild Rich Cullotta
Sep 2001 California Common John Kleczewski
Jul 2001 Witbier Ted Grudzinski
Apr 2001 Bockanalia Shane Coombs, doppelbock
Feb 2001 Stout Joe Formanek, foreign extra stout
Jan 2001 Dunkel & Schwarzbier Dave Hahne, Munich dunkel
Nov 2000 Historical Beers Zemo Holat, gruit
Oct 2000 Best of Fest George Dailey, Oktoberfest
Jul 2000 Best of Big Brew Zemo Holat
Apr 2000 Weiss Is Nice Zemo Holat, Bavarian weizen
May 2000 Belgian-Style Lambic Shane Coombs, gueuze
Dec 1999 My Barley Doesn't Whine John Mains, American barleywine
Nov 1999 Winter Warmer Mike Uchima, strong Scotch ale
Aug 1999 Porter!Kevin Spealman, robust porter
July 1999 It's a Mead, Mead, Mead WorldZemo Holat, still traditional mead
April 1999 Bockanalia Jay Kash, helles bock.  1st place winner
in the national club-only competition!
Feb 1999 Why Don't We Do It in the Robe Joe Formanek, tripel
Jan 1999 You're Special to Me Shane Coombs, espresso imperial stout
Nov 1998 If It's Not ScottishShane Coombs, strong Scotch ale
Sep 1998 Best of FestShane Coombs, Oktoberfest
July 1998 Weiss is NiceShane Coombs, Berliner weisse
Apr 1998 Classic PilsnerJay Kash, Bohemian pilsner
Feb 1998 Stout BoutJoe Formanek, imperial stout
Jan 1998 Hale to AleMike Uchima, India pale ale

Questions? Contact .