The results are in: No ribbons this year.

Saturday the local homebrew club, Keystone Hops, held their annual homebrew competition at the Iron Hill Brewery in North Wales, PA. My chocolate stout was not an award winner this year. Winning is nice as they do hand out some nice prizes, and bragging rights are a plus. I’m not disappointed. The judges scored my entry at 34 out of 50 possible points. This is squarely in the middle of the “Very Good” range. None of the judges gave any negative feedback, so there were no flaws of any importance. I’m very happy with that.

I think the reason I didn’t place, other than that those who did scored higher, was the category in which it was entered: Spiced, Herb, or Vegetable Beer. The addition of unsweetened cocoa powder puts it into this category. This category is open to all types of ales and lagers that have spices, herbs, or vegetables in them. I think if I were just up against stouts I might have placed.

On to next year! I might reformulate this chocolate stout. Instead of starting out with an Irish stout recipe, I’ll try either a milk stout (addition of lactose) or an oatmeal stout recipe, or a combination of both. The oatmeal will give it more mouth feel, and the lactose will sweeten it just enough to balance the bittersweet chocolate.

While waiting for the results at the brewpub, I just had to partake in a few pints, just to pass the time, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. One of the selections was a habanero porter. Oh my! I thought I’d died and fell into a vat of beer! Excellent, excellent, excellent! I know what you’re thinking – “Habanero chilies in beer?! What the heck does that taste like?! Who’s crazy enough to do such a thing?!” Believe me, after a few sips you’d be hooked too. I ended up drinking two more pints of it before heading home. Taste: it tasted just like a good porter, no chili taste at all. However, it did leave some heat in my mouth. A heat that could not be quenched with further sips. It wasn’t an overpowering heat, one that would make one stop drinking it or make one break out in a sweat. It was a lasting heat that begged one to drink more.

I was talking to another home brewer and asked if he’d tried it yet. No, and he ordered one once he finished that lager he was drinking. He loved it too. Once we got a couple of chairs at the bar, we spoke to others who either were drinking it and loved it, or wanted to try it. At our recommendations, they eventually did and came back for more. So if you’re ever in the Philly area and need a good beer, that’s my recommendation.