Northern Ale Stars

ELIGIBILITY

The competition is open to any homebrewer from within the United States. Affiliation of entrants with AHA is NOT a requirement. Contestants will be considered as an individual entrant on the basis of person's name appearing on the registration form. Combinations of brewers should appear in the same order on all entries. Applicable entry fees and entry limitations shall apply.

Homebrewer may not use homebrewing facilities other than their own, unless brewed with the help of the owner of other homebrewing facilities. Furthermore, in this case, the beer must be entered under the name of all brewers who helped. Beers brewed in commercially licensed facilities, brew on premise, whether for commercial research or production, or for any other purpose, are ineligible.

Beer entries will be judged in classes and subcategories listed by the AHA/BJCP.  Some categories may be collapsed for judging purposes due to lack of entries.  Each entry should be entered according to the latest AHA/BJCP style guidelines.  Entries must be referred to by category and subcategory letter.

HOW and WHAT to ENTER

Entry Fees: Entry fees for this competition are $5.00 per entry. The registration form can be accessed from this web page beginning January 12th, 2009.  All checks should be made payable to the Northern Ale Stars and sent with your entries and your registration form to Great Northern Brew-Ha-HA, c/o Walt Pittack, 5979 Birchway Rd., Duluth, MN 55810. Judges and Stewards can register by clicking the "Volunteer, Judge or Steward" button which will appear on this page beginning January 12th 2008 or may register by sending an e-mail to northernalestars@hotmail.com. 

Entry Requirements: Bottles must be 10 to 16 ounce glass or plastic of ANY style and clean and free of any labels (inked, paper, or otherwise). Entrants are encouraged to use brown, long-neck bottles for maximum protection from light and breakage. Use a rubber band to attach bottle label form to each bottle. The use of tape or glue to attach forms is not acceptable. For the competition, homebrewing competitors must enter two bottles for each subcategory entered. Soft drink or other printed crowned caps are acceptable; however, they need to be blacked-out with a black marking pen to assure anonymity in all judging situations.   Only 1 ENTRY per Sub-Category will be allowed. You can find a list of all BJCP catagories along with style guidelines at http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2008_Guidelines.pdf (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view).

Recipe: By submitting an entry to this competition, brewers agree to provide a recipe if requested.

All entry fees, names of competitor, address, phone number, Class and Subcategory entered must accompany entries when submitted. No entries will be returned whether received late or otherwise. All entries become property of the Northern Ale Stars Competition Committee.

Use official registration forms (or copies) when possible though other registration forms such as ProMash will be accepted.

Beers will be disqualified for entry requirements infractions. These entries may still be judged but will be ineligible for awards or prizes.

WHERE and WHEN to ENTER

Ship your entries early to arrive between January 12th to January 30th, 2009 to Great Northern Brew-Ha-Ha, c/o Walt Pittack, 5979 Birchway Rd., Duluth, MN 55810.  Entries can also be dropped off at the Thirsty Pagan Brewing, 1623 Broadway, Superior, WI or the Upper Mississippi Mashout (January 23rd - 24th 2009 http://mashout.org/ ) and they will be transported to Duluth free of change. Entries will be refrigerated upon receipt, thus helping to preserve the quality that we receive them in. No entries will be accepted after January 30th, 2009. Sorry, we cannot make any exceptions.

Out-of-State Entries: Please send deliveries to Great Northern Brew-Ha-Ha, c/o Walt Pittack, 5979 Birchway Rd., Duluth, MN 55810. It is legal to ship your entries via UPS, FedEx Ground or air freight. The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the Internal Revenue Service says it's legal. Usually you will be asked the contents of the package; your reply should be: "Bottles, but they are double-boxed and padded well." We recommend you not send entries via US Postal Services due to issues we have experienced in the past (smashed boxes, broken bottles).

PACK YOUR ENTRIES WELL: Line the inside of your carton with a plastic trash bag. Partition and pack each bottle with adequate packaging material. Clearly state "GLASS-FRAGILE. THIS SIDE UP" on the package. Your package of NON-PERISHABLE FOOD should weigh less than 40 pounds. It is not necessary to state specific contents of your package of non-perishable food. Send entries as soon as possible. Entries must be received by 5 PM, January 30th, 2009. No late entries will be accepted.

JUDGING

AWARDS and PRIZES

There will be medals awarded for first, second, and third place in all BJCP catagories. A minimum of 25 points must be obtained to receive a medal.  Other prizes will be awarded, hopefully something in all categories for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, Best of Show. In case of a tie, tie breaks will be determined at the discretion of the competition coordinator.