Stone's 2010 March Madness Homebrew Competition & AHA Rally

You may recall this tasty little collaboration brew we whipped up last year: Ken Schmidt/Maui/Stone Kona Coffee Macadamia Coconut Porter. Its big beautiful flavor certainly lived up to its lengthy name! This gorgeous, nationally acclaimed beer was based on Aloha Plenty, Ken Schmidt’s winning entry from last year's March Madness competition. That’s right, the winner from last year’s rally and competition got to brew his personal recipe on our brewhouse, and even took it all the way to the Pro-Am competition in Denver during the GABF!

Ken has been an avid homebrewer and Stone fan for years, in addition to just being a really nice guy, and we thoroughly enjoyed our opportunity to work with him. Inspired? Get brewing!

The Rally

As part of the continuing effort to forge a strong connection between homebrewers and craft brewing pros all across America, we’ll be hosting our annual American Homebrewers Association Membership Rally in our Gardens on Saturday, March 13th at 1 pm. If you’ve always wanted to brew your own beer, or if you’re homebrewing all by your lonesome, this is a golden opportunity to make new friends and join the club—literally!

For $33 you will get:

A one-year renewal for current AHA members at a discounted rate (or a brand new one-year membership!)
The chance to taste some of the most awesome homebrews in Southern California—and you get to judge which ones are the best.
The opportunity to win cool raffle prizes
Your very own vintage Stone Anniversary Celebration tasting glass
The priceless experience of hanging out with veteran homebrewers and industry professionals!

The Homebrewing Competition

Homebrewing clubs will submit the two most stellar brews created by their members to the competition. Beginning at 1 pm on March 13th, we will open the gardens to all participating AHA members, new and old, and the fun will begin! AHA members will sample competing beers and then vote for their favorites, narrowing the entries down to four brews. A panel of Stone judges will then hold a blind tasting of the four finalists and choose the winning beer.

After that things get really crazy—the Stone brewing team will have the distinct honor of brewing the winner’s personal beer recipe on our high-tech brewhouse. That’s right, we want to brew and bottle your beer! But wait, there’s more—winning this competition and having your beer brewed on our system earns you right to enter the resulting collaboration brew in the Pro-Am competition at this year’s GABF! Yes, fame and fortune can be yours, but first, PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES (below) to get all your facts straight, and for god’s sake - START BREWING!

You must be located in one of the following counties: San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Bernardino or Riverside.*
You must submit the registration form for your club’s two competing beers by Friday, February 26th. NO BEERS WILL BE ACCEPTED ON THE DAY OF THE EVENT THAT HAVE NOT BEEN PREVIOUSLY REGISTERED.
After February 26th, the competition will be open to everyone, with or without a club affiliation. The deadline for individuals to submit a registration form is noon on Wednesday, March 10th. A maximum of 40 entries will be accepted.
You must be an AHA Member to enter or to taste and judge the day of the rally. Wouldn't you know it? You can join at the door!
You must submit six 22oz bottles or twelve 12oz bottles for judging. Submitting on draft is allowed, but you must bring your own draft system or bronco pump.
Bottles: All bottles must be brown or green glass with no paper labels. Raised "No Deposit" or bottle manufacturing codes are acceptable. Raised brewery names on bottles are permitted but not encouraged. Obliterate any lettering or graphics on the cap with a permanent black marker. Corked bottles will ONLY be accepted with a crown cap crimped over the cork. Stoppers with wire cages are also acceptable. Bottles not meeting these requirements will be disqualified.
It is not guaranteed that the winning beer will be the exact beer that we make on our brewhouse—for example, if the winning entry is a sour beer, it is unlikely that Stone will be able to brew it. Regardless, the winning brewer will select the recipe and work directly with Mitch Steele on the collaboration beer.
We cannot accept recipes for fruit beers, bacterially soured beers, Brettanomyces beers or beers requiring extended aging (more than 60 days) for brewing on our system.

* If you live outside of these five counties, we are sorry, but we can’t accept your entry. Don’t despair—you still have options: contact the AHA and get the ball rolling for a rally closer to home! http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/

We strongly encourage participants to fill out the online form and to drop off their beers prior to the day of the rally at the Stone Company Store. See store hours here. You will sign a statement that we have received your beers once they are checked in.

If you cannot turn in your beers beforehand, please be sure to show up early on Saturday, March 13th, so we can check you and your beers in on time.

Sunday - Thursday: 11am - 11 pm
Friday & Saturday: 11am - midnight (reservations strongly encouraged)
Kitchen closes @ 10 pm every night
1999 Citracado Parkway, Escondido, CA 92029 - GOOGLE MAPS
tel 760.294.7866 • stoneworldbistro.com