Come join us this Friday night as we celebrate the release of Pro-Am Tsunami IPA, a collaboration of fermentation between Thor McCammon, award-winning Brew Maui homebrew club home-brewer, and Maui Brewing Co. This Pro/Amateur India Pale Ale will soon travel to Colorado to compete in the 2011 Great American Beer Festival Pro-AM Beer Competition so don’t miss the awesome opportunity to look, sniff and savor this delicious beer with Thor and MBC brewers. Click here for our website and pub address.
Here’s a little background story about the creation of the Pro-Am Tsunami IPA by Thor:
My brewing addiction started sometime in the mid 1990’s and like many homebrewers my first batch was brewed on borrowed equipment. While drinkable, it was not something you would quickly reach for another.
Currently I hold the title of President of Brew Maui HBC. Brew Maui HBC is Maui’s only Homebrew Club. I speak for all of the homebrewers on Maui when I say that we truly appreciate the support that Maui Brewing Co. gives the homebrewers. It is because of the homebrew supplies that MBC goes out of their way to sell to us, that homebrewers like myself can make award winning beers.
Living on Maui, I had no idea how much hype Pliny the Elder had been getting on the mainland. By a stroke of luck I received a bottle of PtE and after drinking it, I knew I had to brew it.
My inspiration for this beer started with an article in Zymurgy(a homebrewing magazine) they interviewed Vinnie Cilurzo the brewer from Russian River and he explained in detail how to brew this amazing IPA.
After brewing several IPA’s based on this formula, I brought IPA #6 with me to Kona for the Kona Homebrew Contest. Where it won best of show and was suggested by many people that I send it to ‘Nationals’
Based on the suggestions of the Kona judges I sent it to Seattle for the first round of the AHA National Homebrew Competition. There it won 3rd place in it’s category before moving on to the final round in San Diego where it won 1st place in the IPA.
When Maui Brewing Co. asked if I wanted to brew this beer for Pro-AM at GABF** the first thing I did was “pinch” myself to make sure I was awake. The second thing I did was answer YES I would love to. The next step is to take this beer to Colorado for the Great American Beer Festival and show all of the people on the mainland that we brew great beer out here on the islands.
**All entries are brewed by professional craft brewers in collaboration with American Homebrewers Association (AHA) members. Homebrewer recipes are scaled up and brewed at a GABF entering brewery for submission into the competition. Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded to the professional and amateur brewers of the top three entries submitted to the competition. Pro-Am competition judges are from the same professional panel of world class judges that evaluated all beers at the Great American Beer Festival.
There you have it hop-heads! Come embrace and support the true joys of craft brewing culture at MBC this Friday night!
In the resounding words of homebrew demi-god, Charlie Papazian, “relax, (come) have a homebrew!”