Coming up in June we have some special beers being released and milestones to celebrate.  Guess what?  We’ve brewed 100 batches of Black Star Co-op beer!  In early June, we’ll be celebrating our 100th batch with an “evening brewing session” where you can watch the brewery in action (tentatively scheduled for Thursday, June 21).  I’m not sure what beer will fall into the 100th batch slot.  Could it be the never-before-seen Cul Sec; the soon-to-be quintessential Austin beer Waterloo; or possibly a classic like High Esteem or Vulcan?  Join us for Member-Owner Madness to see what’s brewin’ in YOUR brewpub.  Either way, we hope to have Cul Sec (spiced Belgian wheat beer) and Waterloo (sour peach American wheat) on tap by the end of June.

Late last year we challenged our Member-Owner homebrewers to brew their best barrel-aged beer for a chance to brew and serve it on tap in the brewpub.  We have another challenge for you.  We’ve had a lot of success with our “sour-mashed” beers (Rebellious Dockhand, Waterloo, Able) and would like to see what YOU can do with this technique.  So, Homebrew Challenge II:  brew ANY style of beer and perform a sour mash on it.  We will judge all the submissions for best beer and will brew that recipe on our system, to be tapped sometime around the end of Summer.  You can find a great article on how to sour-mash at home here:  http://www.byo.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/9-all-grain-brewing/893-how-to-make-a-sour-mash-techniques

Here’s the complete list of rules:

–Must be brewed by a fully-invested Member-Owner of the Co-op.

–Must use sour-mashing techniques and include technique in recipe.

–Must turn in recipe with at least two 12oz bottles of the beer to AHS by July 22nd.

–Judging will be done by brewer, Jeff Young, and a panel of beer-folk during the week of July 23rd.

–Entries must include contact information (Name, email, phone number), you will get a courtesy email saying your entry was received during the week of July 16th and if you placed in the top 2.

–Runner up gets $25 gift certificate; Winner gets $25 gift certificate and a chance to help brew the batch on the co-op’s system.

–Tasting notes will be kept for all the entries and will be available for pickup at the brewpub after winners are announced.

–The winning recipe will be brewed according to the co-op’s procedures and may be modified as seen fit by Jeff.  All final recipe/procedural decisions are at the sole discretion of Jeff.  No further compensation will be given to the winners.