BREW OR CRY: Brewers Challenge 2017
The Brew or Cry started 5 years ago with a goal to push us all to brew better beer, learn new tricks and discover new styles. This year, we’re changing things up a little bit, and giving members a little more choice for what they’ll brew, while continuing the spirit of the challenge.
In 2017 we’re taking a cue from the Olympics.
The Rules
• There will be 3 regular rounds of competition, with 3 styles in each.
• The 4th and final round will be for the winning team and top individual brewers.*
• Each team will be responsible for at least one entry into each category, for rounds 1-3.
• Teams may submit more than one entry per category.
• Limit one entry per team member, per round.**
• Limit three entries per team, per category, per round.
• Styles are based on the 2015 BJCP Guidelines.
• Brewers must bring a smartphone with a reasonable battery charge for online scoring system.
• Brewers must submit 32-36oz. of beer for competition nights to ensure enough for judging process. Bring extra if you want to share with everyone.
Ideal packaging for your entries will be in non-distinct bottles, growlers (ie. no stainless steel, branded etc..)
– TWO 22oz generic brown glass bomber, or THREE 12oz generic brown glass bottles, or ONE 32oz swingtop brown glass bottle, or ONE 32oz growler
*Top individual brewers are invited to the final round as a way to recognize outstanding brewing prowess, despite an overall team loss. The final number of these invites will be determined at the conclusion of the 3rd round (historically 4-6 additional brewers make the cut)
**Collaborations are allowed, but might exclude you from judging if involved in 3 different style entries.
***The Brew or Cry Challenge is, and always has been voluntary. We hope that you want to have some fun, and that this new format is something that interests all members enough to participate.
Scoreboard
| Team | Score |
| Jason | 106 |
| Dan | 89 |
| Garry | 81 |
| Peter | 66 |
| Rod | 59 |
For detailed scoring round by round, scroll to bottom of page. If you find any errors, please email sunprairieworthogs@gmail.com
Judging
You will be seated with others who brewed the same style as you. If you collaborated, please make board members aware if there is a potential that a brew you were directly involved in, might be judged by you. We will reassign you to a non-conflicting category for judging night as you are not permitted to judge in a category you brewed in.
Scoring will all be done online. We will provide a link for each beer style. Judges must use their real name, erroneous entries will be audited and omitted if necessary.
Styles
The board has chosen these nine common styles for the 2017 competition. This provides a fair amount of choice to all competitors, in each round. The selection of styles increase in difficulty each round, while still leaving options for brewers of all skill levels.
| ROUND 1 – March 23rd | ||
| Origin | Styles | Level |
| American | American IPA | Basic |
| Irish | Dry Stout | Basic |
| German | Hefeweizen | Basic |
| ROUND 2 – May 25th | ||
| Origin | Styles | Level |
| American | APA | Basic |
| German | Kolsch | Intermediate |
| Belgian | Belgian Dubbel | Advanced |
| American | Sweet Stout | Intermediate |
| ROUND 3 – September 28th | ||
| Origin | Styles | Level |
| American | American Brown | Basic |
| British | ESB | Intermediate |
| German | Marzen/Okto Munich Dunkel |
Advanced Advanced |
*Additional beer styles may be added if club membership increases enough to necessitate expansion.
Scoring
Now that you’ve seen the styles, it’s time to see what they’re worth. As the difficulty increases, more points are awarded in scoring. In the later rounds this gives teams an opportunity to make up larger point deficits by attempting more difficult styles or more entries. Our scoring system is based on the BJCP scoresheet and categories. Appearance 0-2 points, Aroma 0-5 points, Flavor 0-10 points, Mouthfeel 0-3 points and Overall Impression 0-5 points.
| SCORING BY SKILL LEVEL | |||
| PLACE\LEVEL | Basic | Intermediate | Advanced |
| 1st | 10 | 12 | 14 |
| 2nd | 9 | 11 | 13 |
| 3rd | 8 | 10 | 12 |
| 4th | 7 | 9 | 11 |
| 5th | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| 6th | 5 | 7 | 9 |
| 7th | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| 8th | 3 | 5 | 7 |
| 9th | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 10th | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 11th | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 12th | 0 | 1 | 3 |
*The board reserves the right to reevaluate scoring system to maintain a fun competition, while continuing to challenge brewers.
Bonus Points
Individual bonus points can be awarded if you enter your beer from Round 1 or 2 into a BJCP sanctioned competition and submit your score sheets to sunprairieworthogs@gmail.com. These points will only count towards individual’s scores.
| BJCP Score | Bonus Points |
| 46-50 | 8 |
| 40-45 | 6 |
| 30-39 | 4 |
| 20-29 | 2 |
*The board reserves the right to reevaluate scoring system.
Teams
The exec board members have volunteered to serve as the 5 Team Captains. Teams were drafted and styles were chosen at the 2017 planning meeting. Since the board members are already communicating frequently, we made an executive decision to take on this additional role for the year. Here’s the lineup for 2017.
| PETER ZOELLNER | JASON MAYERL | GARRY PUZACH | ROD MELOTTE | DAN MICKELSON |
| Alan Oakland | Andy Atwood | Andy/Michelle Gerver | Brian Sellung | Alan Ledrowski |
| Brian Brockman | Charlie Marcotte | Andy Windstrand | Greg Schultz | Chris Erickson |
| Hannah Stoffs | Colin Hornig | Dan Nelson | Jim Albrecht | Dan Nieman |
| Jeff Scanlan | Gene Wittenheiler | Eric Bontrager | Joel Franke | Greg Vander Velden |
| Nick Skuban | Karl Siekart | Mary Jean Martin | Kevin Karls | Jason Boynton |
| Theron Issacson | Kris Hinzman | Nate Hughes | Ruben Mota | Josh Kurutz |
| Tom Thrun | Kyle Sauk | Zach Lee | Zak Holmes | Peter Schroder |
| Troy Bronk | Matt Boyd |
*As new members join, they will be assigned to a team at the discretion of the board.
** If you were drafted on a team and do not wish to participate in a single round, please inform a boardmember so we can make adjustments.
The Final Round
The winning team after 3 rounds will disband to compete against each other for the grand prize and bragging rights as the 2017 Brewer of the Year for the SPWH! Top individual brewers will be invited to final round at the discretion of the board.
*If a brewer on the winning team failed to enter a single beer in 2017 competition, they will be excluded from the final round.
The winner of Round 4 will go on to brew that beer at One Barrel Brewing Co. and have their beer released during Madison Craft Beer Week.
Scoreboard by Round
| ROUND | STYLE | TEAM | BREWER | SCORE | PLACE | LEVEL | TEAM Points | INDY Points | NOTE |
| 1 | American IPA | Dan | Peter S | 19.8 | 1 | Basic | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 | American IPA | Rod | Kevin Karls | 18.2 | 2 | Basic | 9 | 9 | |
| 1 | American IPA | Jason | Andy Atwood | 16.1 | 3 | Basic | 8 | 8 | |
| 1 | American IPA | Jason | Charlie | 14.9 | 4 | Basic | 7 | 7 | |
| 1 | American IPA | Garry | Nate Hughes | 14.5 | 5 | Basic | 6 | 6 | |
| 1 | American IPA | Peter | Jeff Scanlan | 13.5 | 6 | Basic | 5 | 5 | |
| 1 | American IPA | Jason | Kris Hinzman | 13.2 | 7 | Basic | 4 | 4 | |
| 1 | American IPA | Rod | Rod | 12.8 | 8 | Basic | 3 | 3 | |
| 1 | American IPA | Dan | Chris Erickson | 12.6 | 9 | Basic | 2 | 2 | |
| 1 | American IPA | Garry | Zak Lee | 10.9 | 10 | Basic | 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | American IPA | Dan | Jason Boynton | 10.3 | 11 | Basic | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Peter | Alan Oakland | 19.4 | 1 | Basic | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Garry | Garry | 19.1 | 2 | Basic | 9 | 9 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Dan | Dan Nieman | 18.4 | 3 | Basic | 8 | 8 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Garry | Mary Martin | 17 | 4 | Basic | 7 | 7 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Dan | Alan Ledrowski | 16.7 | 5 | Basic | 6 | 6 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Garry | Alex Benedict | 16.1 | 6 | Basic | 5 | 5 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Jason | Matt Boyd | 15.8 | 7 | Basic | 4 | 4 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Jason | Karl Siekart | 15.5 | 8 | Basic | 3 | 3 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Rod | Zak Holmes | 14 | 9 | Basic | 2 | 2 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Peter | Nick Skuban | 13.3 | 10 | Basic | 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Peter | Hannah Stoffs | 12.5 | 11 | Basic | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Rod | Jim Albrecht | 11.9 | 12 | Basic | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Jason | Colin Hornig | 10.1 | 13 | Basic | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | Irish Stout | Rod | Joel Franke | 7.4 | 14 | Basic | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | Weissbier | Jason | Gene | 18.4 | 1 | Basic | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 | Weissbier | Peter | Brian Brockman | 16.8 | 2 | Basic | 9 | 9 | |
| 1 | Weissbier | Rod | Greg Schultz | 16.1 | 3 | Basic | 8 | 8 | |
| 1 | Weissbier | Dan | Greg V | 15.4 | 4 | Basic | 7 | 7 | |
| 1 | Weissbier | Dan | Dan Mickelson | 14 | 5 | Basic | 6 | 6 | |
| 1 | Weissbier | Peter | Peter Z | 13 | 6 | Basic | 5 | 5 | |
| 1 | Weissbier | Garry | Gervers | 11.1 | 7 | Basic | 4 | 4 | |
| 1 | Weissbier | Jason | Jason Mayerl | 10.4 | 8 | Basic | 3 | 3 | |
| 1 | Weissbier | Rod | Brian Sellung | 4.2 | 9 | Basic | 2 | 2 | |
| 2 | APA | Garry | Andy Gerber | 20.7 | 1 | Basic | 10 | 10 | |
| 2 | APA | Jason | Charlie Marcotte | 17.3 | 2 | Basic | 9 | 9 | |
| 2 | APA | Rod | Kevin Karl’s | 13.3 | 3 | Basic | 8 | 8 | |
| 2 | APA | Dan | Dan Nieman | 12 | 4 | Basic | 7 | 7 | |
| 2 | Belgian Dubbel | Dan | Greg V | 20.3 | 1 | Advanced | 14 | 14 | |
| 2 | Belgian Dubbel | Peter | Jeff Scanlan | 20 | 2 | Advanced | 13 | 13 | |
| 2 | Belgian Dubbel | Jason | Jason Mayerl | 19.3 | 3 | Advanced | 12 | 12 | |
| 2 | Belgian Dubbel | Rod | Zak Holmes | 15.1 | 4 | Advanced | 11 | 11 | |
| 2 | Belgian Dubbel | Jason | Andy Atwood | 14.6 | 5 | Advanced | 10 | 10 | |
| 2 | Belgian Dubbel | Garry | Garry Puzach | 12.5 | 6 | Advanced | 9 | 9 | |
| 2 | Belgian Dubbel | Peter | Nick Skuban | 11.8 | 7 | Advanced | 8 | 8 | |
| 2 | Belgian Dubbel | Dan | Peter Schroeder | 11.6 | 8 | Advanced | 7 | 7 | |
| 2 | Belgian Dubbel | Peter | Alan Oakland | 8.2 | 9 | Advanced | 6 | 6 | |
| 2 | Kolsch | Garry | Nate Hughes | 20 | 1 | Intermediate | 12 | 12 | |
| 2 | Kolsch | Dan | Dan Mickelson | 16.6 | 2 | Intermediate | 11 | 11 | TIE |
| 2 | Kolsch | Dan | Jason Boynton | 16.6 | 2 | Intermediate | 11 | 11 | TIE |
| 2 | Kolsch | Jason | Matt Boyd | 15.4 | 4 | Intermediate | 9 | 9 | |
| 2 | Kolsch | Jason | Karl Siekart | 14.8 | 5 | Intermediate | 8 | 8 | |
| 2 | Kolsch | Jason | Gene W | 14.3 | 6 | Intermediate | 7 | 7 | |
| 2 | Kolsch | Garry | Alex Benedict | 14.3 | 7 | Intermediate | 6 | 6 | |
| 2 | Kolsch | Rod | Jim albrecht | 12.4 | 8 | Intermediate | 5 | 5 | |
| 2 | Kolsch | Peter | Peter Zoellner | 12.4 | 9 | Intermediate | 4 | 4 | |
| 2 | Kolsch | Peter | Brian Brockman | 12.3 | 10 | Intermediate | 3 | 3 | |
| 2 | Kolsch | Peter | Scanlan team zoellner | 9.4 | 11 | Intermediate | 2 | 2 | |
| 2 | Kolsch | Rod | Joel Frankie | 8.2 | 12 | Intermediate | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | Sweet Stout | Garry | zak Lee | 20 | 1 | Intermediate | 12 | 12 | TIE |
| 2 | Sweet Stout | Jason | Kris Hintz an | 20 | 1 | Intermediate | 12 | 12 | TIE |
| 2 | Sweet Stout | Rod | Rod Melotte | 14 | 3 | Intermediate | 10 | 10 |
•
(updated 1/17/2017)