Ken Carman of Beaver River and Tennessee has beckoned 100 homebrewers from across the United States to enter the Old Forge Old Ale Competition that will be held at the Back Door Bar on Saturday, October 4th.
The competition is sanctioned by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) and the Ameri-can Homebrewers Association (AHA), and is one of over 500 registered events throughout the U.S. and Canada this year.
According to the competition’s rules, entrants must be amateur homebrewers ages 21 or older.
All entries needed to be handcrafted products, containing ingredients available to the general public, and made using private equipment by hobbyist brewers.
It’s a serious competition, Carman said, with brews judged in 26 different categories.
“A brewer needs to be both a chemist and a biologist to produce a good product,” he said.
Closed judging will begin at 11 a.m. at the Back Door. The event will open to the public at 4 p.m.
Should there be a need, the judges will reconvene at Carman’s Beaver River camp on October 11 to determine the winners.
Carman, a beer aficionado who has been “homebrewing since Jimmy Carter made it legal in 1979,” has been a certified judge since 1998.
He was most currently a volunteer judge of the NY State Homebrew Competition at the New York State Fair in Syracuse.
In order to get the barrel rolling on this local inaugural event, Carman waived the contestants’ entry fee.
But next year he hopes to elevate it to festival status to attract a larger number of homebrewers, and of course, a vast crowd of beer lovers.