Shaun Newman, left, and Ed Stansel judge the Best in Show competition of the First Coast Cup event Saturday, July 29, 2023, at Ruby Beach Brewing in Downtown Jacksonville. | Randall Merideth
Published on July 31, 2023 at 11:24 am
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If you had walked into the Ruby Beach brewing in Downtown Jacksonville on Saturday, you would have been surrounded by cerevisaphiles – latin for beer lovers.
It’s here, at the tail end of the First Coast Cup event, that Judges are picking the overall best home-brewed beers of 400 entered from around the southeast U.S., including from local homebrewers of C.A.S.K. – the Cowford Ale Sharing Klub. Randall Merideth is a member:
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“That’s what this competition is about. It’s about beer geeks getting together to nerd out about the details of brewing and who does it the best,” he says.
Beer Styles are well-defined by the Judge Certification Program and range from American Light lagers to cream ales to California Commons. For weeks, judges have been ranking each on aroma, appearance, even mouth feel. The top three are named the Best of Show.
Amateurs can showcase their hobby of beer making with anything that strikes their fancy: fruits, vegetables. Merideth remembers last year a cream ale aged with pepperoncini peppers.
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“It was really good. I mean, it was a People’s Choice winner,” he says. “Everyone here drank those beers and chose that as the best tasting. I never would have even thought of doing that.”
Long-time judge Mike Lentz of Jacksonville is wary of fads and calls himself a traditionalist:
“Brewers are pushing the envelope and developing new things,” he says. “Some of them really really work, and some of them fall flat.”
CASK-member Fay Terrio of Woodbine, Georgia, says club members also talk about equipment and brands of brewing systems. She started by using her husband’s burner and pots but now prefers the ease of electric:
“Once you get your grain mashed in and whatnot, you start your boil, and it’s good to go. Everything’s all in one system,” Terrio says.
Marshall Cruz of Jacksonville – a founding member of CASK – has been a home brewer since 1993. Back then he tried a friend’s brew, told his parents, and they gifted him a homebrew kit for Christmas, and that began his journey. He explains why (unfortunately) he’s a Best of Show judge this time.
“I had a blackberry cider entered in this year, but it didn’t make it to Best of Show, or else they wouldn’t let me judge Best. Darn it.”
Maybe next year.
