Drink-a-Pint

I’ve had a couple people say to me that I should bottle and sell some of the homebrewed beer I’ve mixed up over the past couple years. And, while hearing that always makes me smile from ear to ear, there’s always the little things to think about: licensing, production, marketing, distribution, financials… yikes… I’m fine doing it up one case at a time, thank you.

But, the guys at Samuel Adams are here to make that dream happen with the Longshot – American Homebrew Contest. Each Spring, a couple of lucky homebrewers actually get to see their beer on liquor store shelves from coast-to-coast, without having to worry about all the stuff it takes to make that happen.

The entries are sent to regional competitions where the beers are judged. When the top brews from the regionals are chosen, they’re sent to the Boston Beer Company for more tasting and judging. The top five finalists are then flown out for the Great American Beer Festival where Jim Koch announces the winners.

As cool as that is, Jim Koch is a company man at heart, so he encourages his employees to step up to the plate and brew their own beer to enter into a seperate company wide contest.

Boston Beer then takes the final winners, converts the original recipes for large scale production, and brews a batch of each that are sold as a 6 pack the following year.

Curious who’s in the running for this year? Sam Adams just annouced the four finalists who are heading out to Denver for this year’s Great American Beer Festival:

• Alex Drobshoff of California – Traditional Bock
• Michael Robinson of New Hampshire – Espresso Stout
• Aaron Schenk of North Carolina – German Pilsner
• Chad Waner of Massachusetts – English Brown Ale

Congrads to everyone! Looking forward to drinking one of your beers in 2009…