Hardware

Brewing sometimes pays off with recognition. I entered quite a few beers in the Celtic Brew-Off as previously mentioned, and was pleasantly surprised to win a pair of ribbons this year (last year I won one ribbon in the Celtic). 

My "Stupid Shamrock Irish Stout" won third place in overall stouts, despite having a slightly "too-roasty" flavor.  Luckily there's still a little bit of that to go around and I may have to have a couple just to remind myself of what that one tastes like.  Might have to bust one or two of those out this weekend.

My "Shillelagh Whack Irish Red" did a bit better, picking up second overall place in Scottish and Irish Ales.  Special thanks to everyone that hung out the day that got brewed... Meredith, Dave, Melissa, Megan, and Cory, in no particular order (except Meredith who always gets first billing).  I have a feeling that most of this is now gone, but I may poke around and see if I can find a straggling bottle or two.  I think there are definitely some improvements that could be made on this one but I am glad to see that it was good enough to score some pretty high merit at a focused competition.

Finally, though it wasn't a medal-winner, I was quite pleased with the remarks I got on my mead.  Phrases like "well aged" and "spicy honey notes" were thrown around in the review sheets as well as some decent marks.  Obviously it didn't score well enough to beat out those focused mead recipes, but I was glad to see it have some positive feedback.