2009 World Cup Afterparty Recap

Saturday was supposed to be a very busy day for us. It still ended up being pretty busy, just not in the way I had originally planned. Sammy and I were supposed to start our day over at the Firken Festival at Triple Rock. We had gone last year and had a good time so we put it on the calendar again this year. Well, we didn’t make it there. At the last minute, I changed up our plans so that we could hit up this new… landscape/garden store that had its grand opening on Saturday. Sammy is a big fan of garden so I thought I’d surprise her by taking her there. She’s always doing beer stuff with me and I thought I’d return the favor. Of course it doesn’t hurt that I’m into gardening stuff as well.

We then made the trek up to Berkeley for the 2009 World Cup after party. As with last year, Trumer Pils was the spot for the after party. Judging took place inside of their keg warehouse while the majority of the festivities took place outside. The weather was awesome, sunny with a slight breeze, that having the party anywhere but outside would’ve been a crime. I’m not sure if they did it again this year but last year, we got a tour of the brewery. That was fun. From what I’ve been hearing, Trumer Pils (Berkeley) recently beat out a lot of the traditional German Pils breweries for best Pilsner. Good to see that world-class examples of a traditional European style are being made domestically.

We were running a little late and thought we were going to miss out on some of the homebrewed beer as well as the results but it looked like we were just in time. When Sammy and I went last year, I was taking the BJCP study group with John Watson the first time around. As a result, we knew almost no one there. This year it’s almost like night and day. We knew a lot more people this time around, the majority of them BJCP judges as well. The judging community is fairly small. After sometime, you start to see the same faces at each competitions. Some of the larger competitions become reunion-type affairs as judges will come from all over the state (or even out of state).

Some of the familiar faces we saw ended up placing in a couple of categories. It’s good to see the people we know be rewarded for their hard work by a placing in their respective categories. While it’s always nice to hear from people that they like your beer, it’s especially rewarding to have that honor bestowed to you by a group of your peers. I would liken it to the NBA All-Star game. The 5 starters are voted in by the fans (popularity contest), which is cool, but the reserves are voted in by coaches. I’d rather be voted in by the coaches as these are the people who know something about something.

What’s cool about World Cup is that if you win (or place) here, you not only get a ribbon (standard for most competitions) but you also get an extra set of prizes. This year saw t-shirts and/or hats as well as beer glassware and growlers. While this may not seem like a lot, the majority of these prizes have been furnished/donated by local breweries and homebrew shops. World Cup is one of the larger homebrew competitions but it’s always nice to get a little something extra.

Sammy and I ended the day by taking a slight detour to Cactus Jungle, just a few blocks from Trumer. Despite the look and feel of the website, the plants most available at Cactus Jungle were cacti and succulents. That didn’t stop us from picking up a few herbs, tomatoes and ornamental plants as well.

So the day didn’t go as planned, big deal. The most important part was that Sammy and I enjoyed ourselves. We each got to do something we both enjoyed.

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