Forging A Head

First a little update in the Japan home brewing world. The All-Japan Home Brewer's Competition (locally known as the - ahem - Wancup) was held earlier this month. As the fates and the probably inebriated judges would have it, I managed to come away with a silver medal for my American Hefeweizen, of which I have posted previously.


The fact that I also was a steward for the competition did not have anything to do with my achievement, I assure you. All bribes proferred to the judges were promptly pocketed without them being aware that they were being bribed; I'm pretty sure when I said, 'Just in case there's anything you can do to expedite the decision,' they thought I said, 'Why don't you use this to go buy yourselves some Jim Beam later,' or something along those lines. Nevertheless, the final word of the judges stands, and my place in Japanese brewing history is now forever etched in history, or at least in the gray piece of paper that has my name on it, under the words 'Wancup', and 'second place' and 'Light Hybrid Category'. There were 6 other contenders in my category, out of a total of 126 entries... Eat that, other 5 contenders (not including the gold medalist)!

I jest, but it really is a great thing to be recognized, after many a moon of hard work, and not to mention the mental gymnastics that it takes to make math work for one such as I, just to get a beer out the door that you can choke down your craw. So to win an actual, or even virtual medal is like. garsh. Pretty swell.


Pictures from the event:

Here's fellow steward Neil (not his real name). One of the perks of being a steward is that you get to drink the half empties after you haul them away from the judging tables. Needless to say, we're pretty useless by the end of the day.

These judges are so hard at work, holding glasses of IPA, gazing at them studiously, suppressing bodily noises, and thinking about how cool they look, they barely even notice the hapless steward taking the picture with one hand and waving large bills at them with the other.

The big board. Much like the final moments before the end of the Superbowl, events are planned for and recorded in near real time, on this chintzy 'Wite-Bord'. What a thrill!

It's down to the grand finale, folks. One gold medalist from each of 26 categories, times 6 finalist judges, times 10 minutes per glass, times an unending stream of commentary from all of them at the same time, times, for god's sake, decide already!

And the aftermath. Ten hours later, the grand champions, dubbed 'Yokozuna' and 'Ozeki' after the two top ranks in Japanese Sumo have been decided. The top two home brews by the top two home brewers in the land have been decided. What a day. See the website for details!