2026 National Homebrew Competition
For the 2026 National Homebrew Competition we submitted a Belgian Dark Strong (Jeff the Pirate), a Lichtenhainer (Licht ‘Em Up), and a Fruited Berliner Weisse with Cherries (Kirsch Kuss). We shipped our entries to Tampa for the first round, crossed our fingers, and hoped for the best. Judge feedback from Bluebonnet Brewoff was encouraging, so we had hope.
Jeff the Pirate
Our Belgian Dark Strong, was not a judge favorite and did not advance to the final round. This was the first time that I’d bottle conditioned beer from the fermenter, and the clarity suffered. I should have refrigerated the bottles after allowing them to carbonate. The 34-point score and feedback are fuel for improvement for the next batch.
A very enjoyable and warming malty and fruity/spicy beer. Somewhat short of complex maltiness for style. The borderline hot alcohol and high carbonation give it a bit of a bite, and there is a hint of solvent on finish. Seems like a great recipe but I would watch yeast handling and fermentation temps to let the malt complexity shine through more.
Licht ‘Em Up
This was my second time brewing a Lichtenhainer. The gory details are here Lichtenhainer. The BJCP style guide serving the beer young. Ours was about 6 weeks past Bluebonnet judging for the Tampa regional round, but was drinking great.
Let’s see now… smoky aroma medium vs. moderately strong. Smoke is present, but a touch low for style. Bready graininess is appropriate for the malt character. Citrus, lemon-like flavor is also appropriate to the style. Carbonation needs to be increased to hit “high carbonation” as specified in the guidelines. Keep brewing!
That feedback was unexpected, but quite awesome. We’d scored an MHP frustrating 42, but we were going to the NHC Finals!!
Six weeks later, and an 968 miles later, judging concluded in Ashville, NC. When the emcee announced our beer for a silver medal for Table 31 - Smoke-Flavored Beer we were gobsmacked. Other beers that had scored well in regional rounds got torched by NHC judges, so expected more of the same.
Seeing Gordon Strong’s name as one of the judges also dropped my jaw 🤯
Kirsch Kuss
The base beer was our first ever Berliner Weisse (and third kettle sour), which scored a 35 at Bluebonnet. To create the fruit beer, we freeze distilled Montmorency Cherry juice and Dark Cherry juice to concentrate the fruit flavor. Bench trials of different sweet to dark ratios followed. We took out favorite blends to a Horsemen of the Hopacalypse meeting for feedback.
Folks agreed that our #2 blend need more dark cherry flavor and felt that the #3 blend was too much dark cherry and the Berliner Weisse character was getting clobbered. Thus was born Blend 2.5 which we shipped off to contests.
Delightful beer, the cherries are evident throughout without overshadowing everything else. The cherries are complex too with some woody and tannic notes to go along with the dark cherry flavor. I wished for some more character from fermentation to add complexity, but what is there is well done.
This scored a 43 in Tampa and advanced to the NHC Finals!! The other judge in the pair suggested more cherry character for the aroma and flavor. With that in mind, we sent the #3 blend to finals.
Unfortunately, blend #3 was not as well received in Ashville as its sybling was in Tampa. We managed to score a bit above the average for the table and garnered no hardware.
A very nice beer, with the cherries worked in very well for this style. They play between the tart beer and the cherries gives a little bit of a cranberry juice character but not quite that bitter or tart and in a pleasant way that meshes with the cherries. There is perhaps a bit more body than desired and this could be just a bit dryer for style. Also, for a Berliner, it could be a bit more tart, and the malt doughiness is a bit prominent so perhaps dial that back a touch, But very good work!