The top finners are: 

First:  Brett and Alex Gholson with "Pere Et Fils" a toasted Pilsner addition (this beer also won first place in the 30th Annual Oregon Homebrew Festival in the French and Belgian Ale category.

Second: Matt Housley with "Funky Frenchman" with Brett. lambicus 

Third: Ben Nielson with his elderberry flower, "Elder Garde"

Forth: Chad Tomich and "Essayez d'a bard

Honorable Mention:  Danny Crawford "Vie" Toasted Oak and Dan Berrett's "Nanna's Farm"

Father and son duo, Brett and Alex, will move on to brew the winning recipe at Block 15 later this year!  Look for their Biere de Garde to be on tap sometime this summer!

There were 24 entries submitted to the 4th Annual AleChemist Homebrew Challenge, sponsored by Block 15 and Corvallis Brewing Supply, and each one was very well crafted with regard to the Biere de Garde style.  Since the style is not well-known with few readily available commercial examples it was a challenge to know how to brew the style.  Based on available commercial examples all of the entries fit the category,  especially when taken into consideration the high alpha acids found in Magnum hops.  The brewer’s choice ingredient played an interesting component into the entries and the six judges found the use of a BC to be well-played and balanced whenever used by a brewer.    The following is a list of Brewer’s Choice Ingredients for those who chose to utilize this option.  Chateau Aromatic Malt, Brettanomyces lambicus, honey, 12.% grist Crystal Rye, 5.3% grist Special Aromatic, 1/4 oz. rose hips late kettle addition, 4 tsp. French tarragon added to secondary,  Fenngreek seeds, 1 oz. Black Patent malt, Wheat malt, 2 points star anise, 0.4% of grist Black malt, 5% of grist Special Aromatic, 1/2 oz. crushed Corriander seeds at 5 min, 1/2 lb. toasted Pilsner malt, 1 oz. dried elderberry added late kettle, late kettle addition Cascade hops, 6 oz. aromatic malt, fermented on 1 oz. med toast French oak, 1-1/2 Tsp. black pepper corns, 4 oz. French oak added to secondary and my favorite, 1 lb. Unicorn tears

There were also some special processes that a few brewers opted to try:  single decoction, step mash, long boil, lagering and the addition of wort from a sour mash added to secondary for conditioning.  The most adventurous water chemistry was: 1 gram salt, 2 gram baking soda, 2 gram chalk, 3 gram calcium chloride and 5 grams gypsum which created a very soft yet minerally-rich profile.  The majority of the beers entered were brewed as blonds, a third were ambre and only 3 were bruins.

The judges for this event were Nick and Kristin Arzner, Dan Bailey, Max Engel-Streich, Kendall Staggs and Erik Salmi.  Joel Rea proctored.

Saturday, April 7th

Doors will open 1 hour earlier than our normal 10:00 am opening (for those short on math skills, that means 9:00 am)

Stone/Ninkasi/Alchemist - More Brown than Black IPA

Speakeasy - Butchertown Black Ale *Limited Release*         

Firestone Walker - 15th Anniversary Ale (14th available sparingly)

Upright - Billy the Mountain Old Ale

Hop Valley - V.I.P. Porter

Stillwater - "Debauched" Scandinavian Farmhouse Ale

Mikkeller - Sorachi Ace IPA

Oakshire - Skookumchuck Wild Ale

Cheers!

CBS Crew

Russian River Salvation- Belgian Strong Dark Ale

Deschutes Black Butte XXIII- Imperial Porter w/chocolate, orange peel and peppers.

Boon Mariage Parfait- Oude Geuze

21st Ammendment Hop Crisis- First can of 21st Ammendment that we've ever enjoyed! Nice double IPA.

Oakshire Line Dry Rye- Quaffable summertime pale ale brewed with honey.

...and the cheapest 40's of PBR in town! Just kidding, those are for Nate to bottle condition in...

Also, I (Drew) am out of town tomorrow. Saturdays tend to be the busiest at the shop, and it's just Nathan and Nate tomorrow. Please don't call them asking about Hellshire tomorrow. I was completely in charge of it, so they don't have any info on the release. I'll try to get to everyone's emails before tonight, but if you don't hear from me, feel free to call Tuesday. Otherwise, I'll reply to emails as soon as possible.

Thanks for the orders and patience.

Cheers,

Drew

If you missed it the information, we will release Hellshire I, a Bourbon Barrel Aged Barleywine in 22 ounce Wax dipped bottles starting at 8AM on Saturday May 7th.

LIMITED AVAILABILITY. WE WILL RUN OUT.

$15/ bottle.  CASH ONLY. We will set the limit when we see the number of people in line at 8AM.

Live local music starts at 10 AM.

Complimentary coffee from Cafe Pacori.

Devour will be onsite providing Breakfast sandwiches. CASH!

Special beers on draft as well in full pints and half pints. $4/$2.

If you are traveling to Eugene and looking to trade with fellow beer folks, please just trade. We aren’t allowed to let you open your own beer on our property. We’ll have plenty for you to enjoy.

You don’t want to miss this party.  But come early and stay late, This one will fly out the doors.

I've received lots of emails showing interest in acquiring this beer, both from local customers, and others that would like us to ship it to them in states nationwide. This is an extremely limited release, and the first in a new series of rare beers, which makes it even more sought after. Very little will be distributed outside of the brewery, but we are lucky enough to be receiving a few cases. However, we won't be selling any in-house this year.

One reason we're getting more than other places is our ability to legally ship. We expect to get our allocation next Wednesday. So, we'll be taking pre-orders all this week through next Tuesday for mail orders outside of Oregon only. Only 30 bottles available for shipping with a one bottle limit. Any left over will be sold in-house, and our other case that is not set aside for shipping will be put away for upcoming Easter Vintage Beer Sales.

Our reasoning: If you live in Oregon, we want you to go down to Oakshire and support this awesome event, and Eugene Beer Week in general, not come pick up your bottles from us. Plus, we were lucky enough to get a sample bottle of Hellshire I, and it's very good now and a great candidate for aging. So go down there and get as much as possible. 

If you sent me an email in the last few weeks about getting Hellshire I from us, please send me another email to get you on the pre-order list. I fell ill two separate times in the last week and I fear some of your emails didn't get responded to.

Cheers,
Drew