It’s been quite some time since my last post. Having no one to answer to but myself, I felt no real pressure to try and update this site the past few days. In my own defense, I got sick. Sick enough to call in to work, sick enough to have a fever. So I did something I never would’ve done in the past: rested. No computer, very little TV, a whole lot of fluids. Just good, old fashioned rest. As a result, I was ready to judge the 2nd Annual National Organic Brewing Challenge (NOBC) sponsored by 7 Bridges Cooperative.
This officially sanctioned AHA/BJCP event was held at the Gordon Biersch brewpub in downtown San Jose. I was fully expecting to have to drive down to Santa Cruz to judge this event but it was very nice to have it practially in my backyard. Dan Satterthwaite, the brewmaster at Gordon Biersch, is also one of the owners of 7 Bridges. That bit of information should help connect the dots between 7 Bridges and Gordon Biersch.
The judging turnout was pretty good. I’d have to say, off hand, there were about 24 or so judges ready to put the 115+ entries to task. 115 entries may seem like a small number and in truth, it is. By comparison, this year’s entries quadruples the number of last year’s entries. This is a very positive sign that organic homebrewing is gaining momentum and that word of the challenge is getting out.
Why do they call this a challenge? As I was told, brewing organic is a challenge. Theoretically, there should be no drop-off in anything because the ingredients are still the same: water, hops, malted barley and yeast. Yet, because of the stringent criteria needed to become certified organic, not every ingredient is available for every style. There are quite a number of styles that use various adjuncts, some of which are organic, some of which aren’t. A bit challenging for the organic homebrewer.
Another thing of note was that we were instructed to judge these beers according to the BJCP guidelines. I guess that because of the lack of certain raw materials, not all beer styles could be replicated authentically and some “fudging” may have been necessary. I don’t know, I didn’t enter any beers and cannot honestly speak to whatever challenges the organic homebrewer may have. Do organic beers taste noticably different? Do they suck ass? The first beer from my first flight arrived a little after 10am and my question would soon be answered.
I can’t say what I scored each of the beers I judged that day. First of all, I didn’t write down what I scored in my notepad. I did enough writing that day on my judging scoresheets that I didn’t want to write more. Secondly, I think revealing what I wrote here would be in poor taste and would show a lack of judgement and ethics on my part. These homebrewers will get their scoresheets soon enough so no need for me to announce things here.
I can say that overall, I was pleasantly surprised by all the entries. The first flight of beers I judged consisted of 7 entries covering a blonde ale, a few kölschs, a weizen/weissbier and a few dunkleweizens. Out of the first flight, two scored above 30 (out of a possible 50), which is pretty good for homebrewing. In the second flight of beers I judged, we covered a Belgian Blonde, Dubbels, Tripels, and Belgian Dark Strong Ale categories. This was a much stronger flight with quite a few beers scoring above 30, some in the mid-30s. Very well made, solid beers in this flight.
Similar to the San Mateo County Fair Home Brew contest, my table of judges consisted of 3 judges of which I was the least experienced. The other two judges were named Randy and Jonathan. Randy I already knew from past events while this was the first time I met Jonathan. Jonathan, coincidentally, was already familiar with me. Well, not me directly but my beer as he judged my märzen at the Bay Area Brew Off this year. The more competitions I judge, the more I start to realize that the beer judging community is pretty small. Some faces are new while others become more and more familiar each and every competition.
At the end of the second flight of judging, Gordon Biersch brewmaster Dan Satterthwaite was kind enough to bring us downstairs to give us a tour of his brewery. The Gordon Biersch brew pub in downtown San Jose is a pretty big location. The restaurant can seat 600+ people easily. With those kinds of numbers, it’s easy imagine that you need to brew a lot of beer to keep the place running smoothly. I was surprised by what I saw downstairs.
The brewhouse for the San Jose Gordon Bierch is only a 7 BBL (barrel) system. 7 BBLs! That’s it. By comparison, Firehouse Brewery & Grill in Sunnyvale has 20 BBL system and Coors in Golden, Colorado has a 615 BBL system. Okay, maybe the Coors reference may have been a little gratuitious but I’m just trying to make a point about how small 7 BBL is.
Dan has two 7 BBL kettles that are dual purpose. He mashes in the first, then lauters in the second. He then transfers the wort back into the first kettle to boil, then back to the second kettle for whirlpool. For every batch of beer he brews, he needs to clean his system twice! That’s a lot of work. Dan then showed us his cold room where some of the beers are kept.
Then he brought us over to the base of the “tanks”. If you’ve ever been to the Gordon Biersch in San Jose, right to the right of the bar are 3 highly visible stainless steel tanks. Those are 20 BBL fermentation tanks house the Gordon Biersch beers in various states of completion. What’s amusing about those tanks is that they are not conical like most other tanks. Instead, they’re a little flat. The biggest disadvantage of that design is that it is very difficult to harvest yeast. To get around this, Dan buys yeast from the Gordon Biersch production facility on Taylor street, near Japantown. Buy yeast? Aren’t they the same company? No. The chain of Gordon Biersch restaurants is owned by some restaurant group while the production facility is still owned by Dan Gordon.
Another disadvantage of those tanks is that they were built on a concrete slab that Dan Gordon himself built. Serving no other purpose other than to raise the tanks high enough to be seen from the main dining area, the tanks can be a pain in the ass to work with. A more scrutinized look at the Gordon Biersch San Jose brew pub brew house reveals a system that is slightly undersized and not well designed. Apparently Dan Gordon designed the brewhouse himself. This just goes to show that great brewers aren’t necessarily the greatest brewery designers. On the flip side, San Jose was only their second location. I can’t imagine I nailed any one of my designs on the second try either.
After the tour, we arrived back in the auxiliary building where the judging was being held to find they were wrapping up the Best of Show (BOS) flight. If I remember correctly, 15 beers had made it to the BOS. The winner of the National Organic Brewing Challenge BOS award went to an American IPA made by Keith Antul of Massachusetts.
What was also cool about this even was they had a separate competition for craft brewery entries. In other words, they invited professional brewers to send in their organic beers to be judged. The winner of the craft brewery competition was Uncommon Brewers of Santa Cruz. The brewmaster is Alec Stefansky.
You can view the rest of winners here.
Sammy and I settled in for the remainder of the evening. Dan Satterthwaite and Gordon Biersch were having another one of their beer tapping events right after the competition. This time we would be celebrating the tapping of an organic version of their Festbier. This beer was only available that night so if you didn’t get there, you missed out. Frankly, I couldn’t really taste much of a difference. Granted I should’ve done a side-by-side but by then, our friends had arrived and after thinking about and juding beers all day, it felt good to just sit there and drink without thinking about the beer’s aroma, flavor, mouthfeel, blah, blah, blah.
Overall, I think this was a great event. It was nice to see the “local” brewery hosting an event and even better that it was organic. While I am not convinced that organic is better than non-organic, I appreciate the efforts of 7 Bridges and will support them whenever I can. The staff of Gordon Biersch were friendly and it was very nice of them and 7 Bridges to have the competition catered for the judges. All the judges at any beer competition are volunteers. It’s nice to have our efforts recognized by getting fed and given a couple of beers on the house.
My only complaint would have to be against the organization of the competition. It could’ve been run a little more smoothly but in their defense, it was only the second year. With any event that happens only once a year, it can be hard to remember what happened the prior year. Still, it wasn’t the worst competition I’ve judged at.
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