Best In Fest Brewery Competition 2018

The Best In Fest Beer Brewery Competition was held on Sunday, April 29th at the Bottle & Pint inside The Collection at RiverPark's Annex. All proceeds from the Best in Fest Competition benefit Casa Pacifica’s programs and services that protect and help abused and neglected children.

In preparation for the 25th Casa Pacifica Angels Wine, Food & Brew Festival a panel of seven beer judges got together and selected the “Best In Fest” winners for 2018. The 5th annual event had a new twist to it this year with an invitation only, limited seating of fellow beer enthusiasts to sample the craft brews along with the judges. A great way to get a first-hand taste of some of the beers that will be featured at the festival on June 3rd!

Curtis Taylor organized the judging and announced the results.

The Beer Judges included:

• Kevin Pratt, a Grand Master V Beer Judge as ranked by the Beer Judge Certification Program
• Erin Peters, The Beer Goddess blogger
• Jason Hendrick, General Manager at Barrelhouse 101 
• Jorge Alem, Owner of Ojai Beverage Company
• Lisa Monie Wickenden, Beer Specialist at Wine Warehouse
• Bec O’Neal, Sales Representative for Stone Distributing Co.
• Zach Rosen, The Beer Guy columnist for the Santa Barbara Sentinel.

And they wouldn't let them out until they picked the Best In Fest!

Being a Beer Judge must be challenging. They begin tasting early in the morning and work through twelve different craft brews and almost as many styles. Then they have to judge the beer relative to criteria of its style, not compared to all of the other entries.  I just ranked them according to which ones I liked, and even that was a little tricky, but good work if you can find it!

Bottle & Pint Owner Farshad Memarzia was happy to see everyone enjoying the beer and food tasting. He explained that patrons can visit any one of The Annex eateries and bring their food back to enjoy with a beer, or they can take their brew with them to anywhere in The Annex.

The Tasting Order:
1 Munich Style Helles Lager
2 Hefeweizen
3 Pilsner
4 Belgian Wit 6.3% tangerine zest 3
5 Saison
6 Hazy IPA
7 IPA-Rye
8 American IPA
9 IPA - West Coast
10 Double IPA
11 Belgian Tripel
12 Golden Ale

In addition to the twelve craft beer tastings there were small bites served from several of The Annex eateries: Gasolina Tapas, Scratch Sandwich Counter and Seoul Sausage Company.

The Seoul Chicken BBQ was spicy and went well with beer!

The Scratch Cheeseburger Sliders were good for lunch! I only had two, not four.

Hmmm, down to the final 3 brews. Much debate about the merits of each and then the Best In Fest honor went to Institution Ale for their Pilsner.

Best in Fest Winner 
Rx Pils | Institution Ale Company 
5.2% ABV, 25 IBUs, German-Style Pilsner. A light and refreshing craft lager. Rx is crisp with mild sweetness and light bitterness from German Magnum and Hallertau hops. Meant to be extremely versatile and easy-drinking with delicate malt flavors and mild floral hop aroma.

Honorable Mention 
IPA - Rye | MadeWest 
6.6% ABV, 38 IBUs, Hazy IPA dry hopped with El Dorado, Ekuanot, and Simcoe hops. Tropical, and stone fruit character with notes of pineapple, apricot and grapefruit. Flaked oats and wheat impart a smooth creamy mouthfeel in this hazy refreshment.

Honorable Mention
Chief Peak (American IPA) | Topa Topa
7% ABV, 75 IBUs, tropical, dank, grapefruit. Piney hops followed by tropical tones of passion fruit, orange, and gooseberry.

As usual, my conclusions and my top 3 were not even close to the judges' list. I thought the Hefeweizen had an interesting color, but if it was a wheat beer, I couldn't tell. And I did try to lose my bias for hoppy IPAs with Enegren's Munich Style Helles Lager, but not very much. :-)
1 Double IPA
2 Munich Style Helles Lager
3 IPA - West Coast
4 Belgian Tripel
5 Saison
6 Hazy IPA
7 American IPA
8 Golden Ale
9 IPA-Rye
10 White Ale
11 Pilsner
12 Hefeweizen

Wait! Can't I just click on the sign? (Maybe a QRC graphic would help.)

The audience of tasters had a chance to play the Brewery Matching Game where they tried to guess which brewery produced each brew to win a VIP ticket to Casa Pacifica's Wine, Food & Brew Festival. But first they had to prove they weren't already intoxicated by accessing a Google doc online by typing in an unwieldy URL (https://bit.ly/2vRXHZ7) into their browser. Surprisingly, several people got 11 out of 12 correct (and somehow managed to only get one wrong, not two...).

Raffle Prizes!

The Proud Winner of Cigars on a Stick

These are the beer descriptions that were provided online:
Beer #1: Munich Style Helles Lager
4.8% ABV, German Pilsner, German Munich Light, Hallertauer

Beer #2: Hefeweizen
5.4% ABV, 15 IBU's, blood orange juice, unfiltered.

Beer #3: Pilsner
5.2% ABV, 25 IBU's, German Style Pilsner.

Beer #4: White Ale
6.3% ABV, Pale Malt, Raw Wheat, Oats, Pixie Tangerine Zest, Orchard Blossoms.

Beer #5: Saison
5% ABV, Saison, Aged on zinfandel soaked french oak spirals with raspberry and hibiscus. Dry, slightly tart, and very refreshing.

Beer #6: Hazy IPA
5.7% ABV, 44.7 IBU’s, Hazy IPA, pineapple juice with hints of orange rind.

Beer #7: IPA-Rye
6.6% ABV, 38 IBUs, Hazy IPA dry hopped with El Dorado, Ekuanot, and Simcoe hops. Tropical, and stone fruit character with notes of pineapple, apricot and grapefruit. Flaked oats and wheat impart a smooth creamy mouthfeel in this hazy refreshment.

Beer #8: American IPA
7% ABV, 75 IBUs, tropical, dank, grapefruit

Beer #9: IPA - West Coast
7.8% ABV, 45 IBUs, A West Coast style IPA brewed with American 2-row malt, a touch of German and English specialty malts, and tons of piney, fruity, American Hops. Flavors of pine, citrus, berry, and tropical fruit hop character are balanced by a juicy malt backbone.

Beer #10: Beer Double IPA
10% ABV, 74 IBUs, C-hops, Warrior and Amarillo

Beer #11: Spice, Herb or Vegetable Beer, Belgian Tripel
8.2% ABV, 29 IBU's, Belgian Tripel brewed with hibiscus flowers
Tasting notes: Fruity esters, tart, pink hue.

Beer #12: Specialty Beer - Golden Ale
7.5% ABV, 23 IBUs, Roasted peanuts, pure liquid chocolate.

Don’t forget…
Sunday, June 3rd, 2018 is the Casa Pacifica Angels 25th Anniversary Wine, Food & Brew Festival at California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) in Camarillo.

The Men's Room at The Annex had an eye catching sign across from the sink area. The message was obvious when viewed in the mirror.

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