Mendocino County Homebrew Festival 2017 wrap up

And that’s a wrap! The Inaugural Mendocino County Homebrew Festival was a blast. We had 30+ brewers bring over 50 beverages to sample. And these brewers really brought their A game – lots of truly outstanding brews.

We ended up with two People’s Choice categories – beer & cider, and Brewer’s Choice judged by Scott Jones brewmaster from Ukiah Brewing Company where the winning beer will be brewed & served, with the help of Tim 0’Meara brewmaster from O’Meara Bros. Brewing Company in Lakeport, Fal Allen brewmaster of Anderson Valley Brewing Company, and Bret Cooperrider original brewer at UBC.

We had over 300 attendees and raised over $8,000 for the Good Farm Fund all of which will be allocated to local farms for fire relief.

This wouldn’t have happened without the enthusiastic support of our sponsors, a big thanks to all of them.

We’ll be back even bigger and better next year!

And without further ado here are the winners:

Peoples Choice Winners

First Place
Mojo PB Milk Stout
Milk stout with Peanut Butter and Lactose
Joe Monostori

Second Place
Rye IPA
Rye IPA brew with Amarillo, Citra and Simcoe hops.
Jakob Foley

Third Place
Fog Bank IPA
With big late additions of Mosaic & Citra hops and flaked wheat & oats added to the grain bill this IPA has big tropical fruit notes with a mild bitterness and a creamy mouth feel. It’s a “juicy” “hazy” East Coast Style IPA. 6.3% ABV
Matt Brown

Peoples Choice Winners – Cider

First Place
New pilgrim hard pineapple cider
A hard cider made from 100% pineapple juice, with an ABV of 8.5
Joshua Holland

Second Place
Spilt Cider
Maple, spiced, apple cider. 7% ABV.
Paul Grijalva

We originally had more ciders signed up, but a few had to drop out. We expect to have a larger showing next year! But that doesn’t take away from these two, they both had good scoring from the crowd!

Brewer’s Choice Winner

First Place – to be brewed and served at the Ukiah Brewing Company!
Pacific Dark Star
Belgian Dark Strong – 9% A dark, complex, very strong Belgian ale with a delicious blend of malt richness, dark fruit flavors, and spicy elements. Complex , rich, smooth, and dangerous.
Jeremiah Konen

First Runner-up
Sempervirens DIPA
Big bold piney Double IPA with a simple malt bill and featuring Simcoe, Chinook & Amarillo hops. 8.5% ABV
Matt Brown

Second Runner-up
Milk the Funk
Plum Sour
Dustin Carver