McLean DRS Tournament III

We concluded another fun year last night with the Third Annual McLean DRS Tournament.  The rules are as follows:

Two brackets, four beers in each bracket.
Round 1 – taste and rate the four beers in each bracket (1-4, 1 being the best).  The two most enjoyed beers in each bracket will move on.
Round 2 – taste and rate the two remaining beers in each bracket (1-2, 1 being the best).  The most enjoyed beer in each bracket will move on.
Round 3 – taste and rate the final two beers, deciding the 2012 Champion.

The beers were randomly grouped by pulling numbers out of a hat.  The groups were:

Group Pretzel

1) Uinta Hop Notch IPA (Stand in for Appalachian Brewing Hoppy Trails IPA)

2) Morland Old Speckled Hen

3) Devil’s Backbone Vienna Lager

4) Ice Cave Nanobrewery's Unknown:  Sassy Giraffe, Vintage 2012

Group Potato Chip

1) Anchor Breckle’s Brown 

2) Weyerbacher Winter Ale 

3) Flying Dog Dogtoberfest

4) Anderson Valley Amber (Stand in for Anderson Valley Summer Solstice)

Uinta Hop Notch IPA and Morland Old Speckled Hen made it out of Group Pretzl and Anchor Breckle’s Brown and Weyerbacher Winter Ale made it out of Group Potato Chip.  Uinta Hop Notch IPA then met Anchor Breckle’s Brown in the Championship.  Uinta Hop Notch IPA won a 4-2 vote.  Very close.  

All the beers were good.  Below are the condensed results.

Last Place: Flying Dog Dogtoberfest; Anderson Valley Amber; Devil's Backbone Vienna Lager

Fifth Place: Ice Cave Nanobrewery's Unknown:  Sassy Giraffe, Vintage 2012

Tied for Third: Weyerbacher Winter Ale; Morland Old Speckled Hen

Second Place: Anchor Breckle's Brown

Winner: Uinta Hop Notch IPA

Plans for the New Season Are Underway

First of all, a congratulations is owed to Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse Mian Grunes for winning the inaugural drS Beer Club Tournament. The competition was certainly delicious and...um...competitive but in the end, there was one clear choice for winner. The decision was unanimous and reasonably so. So unto you Schneider Wiesen Edel-Weisse Mian Grunes, we bestow the drS Blue Ribbon and retire your label for the near future. For details on the voting, please view the 2011 drS Beer Club Tournament page.

Now on to the new season...

drS management have met for the first time to discuss this season's themes. We are going to design the themes so that both major paradigms of beer are represented in this season's championship: ales vs lagers. Currently, the ale themes are going to be Belgian, Irish, British, and German. The lager themes are going to be
Octoberfest, Bocks, Pilsners, and American Lagers. We'll stagger the ales and lagers so that they'll alternate months. A PDF will be posted to help guide a meeting's hosts to buy the proper beer. A new rule was discussed to help keep the competition open to new beers. We would like to exclude beers that have made the previous season's tournament or in other words, won their theme from the prior season.

The first meeting is looking to be Feb 16.

I will be following up later with more documentation. The PDF I mentioned earlier will be posted as well as a mission statement.