The Sower’s Cup

Updated 10-9-2018

The Sower’s Cup
Homebrew Competition

Entry Categories:

We are accepting entries in all categories – including Beer, Cider, and Mead – from the 2015 BJCP Beer, Mead, and Cider style guidelines.

We will provide feedback using standard written BJCP Scoresheets. For more detailed entry information, refer to this page: Entry Limits

The Zipline Brewing Co. Best Of Show in Beer Award:

Celebrating the best of the best of the best! The best entry from each judging table will advance to Best Of Show, and will be sampled by our esteemed panel of expert beer tasters – After evaluating every table’s selection, they will determine which beer reigns supreme and wins the 2018 Sower’s Cup beer trophy!

The overall winning beer entry will receive a custom Best Of Show trophy, in addition to a prize package!

Thanks to our friends at Zipline Brewing Co. for sponsoring the 2018 Best Of Show-Beer award!

The Happy Raven Best Of Show in Mead Award:

The overall winning mead entry will receive a custom Best Of Show trophy, in addition to a prize package!

Thanks to Matt and the rest of The Happy Raven family for sponsoring the 2018 Best Of Show-Mead award!

The Glacial Till Vineyard Best Of Show in Cider Award:

The overall winning cider entry will receive a custom Best Of Show trophy in addition to a prize package!

Thanks to our friends at Glacial Till Vineyard for sponsoring the 2018 Best Of Show-Cider contest!

The Kirk’s Brew & Gifts “Saturday Morning Breakfast Cartoons” Specialty Beer Contest

This special contest changes each year based on input from our club members. The 2018 special style category is “Saturday Morning Breakfast Cartoons” – Beers brewed using breakfast cereal! Please be sure to specify a base beer style when entering your beverage so judges can properly evaluate your entry.

Judges are instructed to look for “evident or significant” breakfast cereal flavor & character in each entry, but these entries will also be judged by overall quality of the beer presented as well.

The Saturday Morning Cartoons category is not eligible for the overall Best Of Show contest, but the winning beverage in this category will receive a special award commemorating their achievement.

Entries may be submitted in regular beer categories and in the Saturday Morning Cartoons contest, but you must register these entries separately, paying both entry fees and shipping separate pairs of bottles for us to evaluate.

Pro Brewery Scale-Up Opportunities

Thanks to our friends at Infusion Brewing Company, 5168 Brewing, and Boiler Brewing Company for sponsoring these scale-up opportunities! The top three finalists in each of the following categories will be automatically entered in their respective Scale-Up competitions.

The scale-up eligible BJCP categories include:

Infusion Brewing Co. Scale Up Categories:

American Pale (18A/18B)
American Amber/Brown (19A/B/C)
American IPA (21A)
Belgian Ale (24A/B/C)
Specialty Fruit & Spice Beers (29B/29C)

5168 Brewing Scale Up Categories:

Saison (25B)
Standard Fruit Beer (29A)
Spice, Herb & Vegetable (30A)

Boiler Brewing Co. Scale Up Categories:

Imperial Stout (20C)
Specialty IPA (21B)
Double IPA (22A)
Wood-Aged Beer (33B)
Mead (All)

The winning brewer will be invited to brew a scale-up batch at the sponsoring breweries!

For more information on how to qualify for the scale-up, please visit the Scale-Up Competition page.

Featuring our 2018 Special Guest Speaker, Rodney Kibzey!

We’re tremendously excited to have Rodney Kibzey join us in Lincoln, NE for this year’s Sower’s Cup Homebrew Competition. If you don’t already know him, Rodney lives in Portland, Oregon, and is a member of the Oregon Brew Crew homebrew club.

He started homebrewing in 2002 when he lived in Chicago, Illinois, and became a BJCP Certified judge in 2003. His passion for recipe development has brought numerous accolades including medals in all 50 United States, Canada, and England. He is a two-time Samuel Adams Longshot competition winner, a Midwest Homebrewer of the Year, and winner of more than half a dozen medals in the National Homebrew Competition.

We are excited for Rodney’s presentation on “Flavor Profiles and Recipe Formulation” – We hope you will join us at the event to share in his wisdom!

2018 “Friends Of ABE” Presentation:

Nebraska Growers & Producers

more info coming soon!

Thank you to all of our guest panelists, we’re lucky to have you!!

Big thanks to ABE for sponsoring our educational panel again this year!

Grand Banquet Dinner & Beer Pairing
presented by Kros Strain Brewing Company and American Beer Equipment

Join us on Saturday for our annual Sower’s Cup beer pairing dinner – featuring an amuse bouche, salad, entree, and dessert course, and we’ve paired each course with a special complimentary beer!

Banquet tickets are $40.00 each.
Our Sower’s Cup Volunteers/Judges/Stewards receive a $5.00 discount for each judging session they work.
Volunteers/Judges/Stewards driving more than 90 miles get an additional $10.00 off of their ticket.
When you check in at the Banquet table, you’ll redeem your judging session discount tickets (if any) and then we’ll refund you for your discounts!

Check-In Begins around 5:45PM – Banquet Seating at 6PM

Catering provided by The Gilded Swine

Check them out! Their food kicks butt!

The Sower’s Cup Awards Ceremony:

After the banquet dinner concludes, we will wrap up the week by announcing winners at the Sower’s Cup Awards Ceremony and Grand Prize raffle drawings, to be held between 7:30pm-10:00pm. We will draw winners for our awesome Grand Prize Raffle items, including generous contributions from our sponsors. Then, we’ll announce the winners of each category, as well as our Best Of Show winners. Results will be live-tweeted on Twitter via @TheSowersCup for those following us from afar.

All Sower’s Cup volunteers, stewards, beer judges, Lincoln Lagers club members, competition entrants, and delegates from other Nebraska homebrew clubs are all invited to attend the ceremony – and it’ll be livestreamed and live tweeted as well!

Sponsorship and Our Current Sponsors:

The Lincoln Lagers are extremely grateful for all of the support we have received from our friends in the local community, craft breweries, brewpubs, industry and homebrewing equipment sponsors, and our volunteers. We’ve set up a special page to show our thanks and to provide you with links to each of their web pages. Please help us reward them for their efforts, and click on through to check them out!

Click here:

Thank You, Sower’s Cup Sponsors!!

Beer Judge, Steward, and Volunteer Information:

Please visit this link for judging & stewarding information:

Judge and Steward Sign Up Page

To assist us in a volunteer role, please sign up for your desired volunteer roles/shifts using this sign-up page:

Volunteer Sign-Up

Judging/Volunteering Perks:

All of our judges, stewards, and volunteers will be provided with delicious fare to reward them for their efforts.

– More specific meal details will be published later this summer. Stay tuned!

For each round that you work, you will receive raffle tickets to enter in our Volunteer prizes raffle.

We will also be selling tickets throughout the weekend for two additional prize raffles: our “Brew Swag Grab Bag” – a very large pile of merchandise and other brewing swag contributed by our competition sponsors – as well as our “Big Daddy Grand Prize Raffle”, which features massively awesome prizes.

One more thing: All judges/stewards/volunteers will receive a commemorative The Sower’s Cup Homebrew Competition beer glass to thank you for your contributions!

21+ Only – ID REQUIRED!

Our Safe Alcohol Consumption Policy:

1. All participants must be at least 21 years old. State Identification will be verified for any participants under 40 years of age.

2. All participants will wear a name tag they receive at the check-in table after their ID has been verified.

3. All participants will sign a Judge Waiver Form or a Volunteer Waiver Form when they check in at the event.

4. All judges & stewards agree to a Code of Conduct upon registering for their participation:

My participation in this judging is entirely voluntary. I know that participation in this judging involves consumption of alcoholic beverages and that this consumption may affect my perceptions and reactions.

By checking this box, I am effectively signing a legal document wherein I accept responsibility for my conduct, behavior and actions and completely absolve the competition and its organizers, individually or collectively, of responsibility for my conduct, behavior and actions.

5. Signs will be posted in the Beer Tapping area reminding participants to drink safely & responsibly.

6. Signs will be posted at building entrances stating ‘No Alcoholic Beverages Beyond This Point’.

7. Information on taxis, Uber/Lyft, or other safe transportation options will be posted at the event.

8. Tapping and adjusting beer kegs will be performed by experienced competition staff only.

9. Dispensing of beer will cooperatively be monitored by the Competition Organizer, Head Steward, Head Judge, and a designated State of Nebraska/Lancaster County Certified Beer Server on staff.

We care about our volunteers’ safety! Drink responsibly!

Entry Judging Locations & Dates:

Pre-Event Judging Sessions:

Pre-Event Judging Session information will be published at the beginning of October. Depending on our entry count & table sizes, early judging rounds might take place on the evenings of Tuesday 10/9, Wednesday 10/10, and Thursday 10/11. Watch for more information coming soon.

Friday & Saturday Entry Judging Sessions:

This year’s Sower’s Cup Homebrew Competition will be held on October 12th and 13th at the IBEW Local 265 Banquet Hall, which is located at 1409 Old Farm Rd., Lincoln, NE.

Further details, including parking options, will be published soon.

Parking & Lodging Information

For detailed information on parking at IBEW Local 265 Banquet, where to stay, and our Beds For Brewers program, click here: Parking & Lodging

Watch or follow our awards ceremony live on October 13th at 7:30pm Central!

Facebook Event Page:

https://www.facebook.com/TheSowersCup

Twitter Feed:

Follow us at @TheSowersCup

Important Dates & Schedule:

Entry registration opens: Sunday, August 12th, 2018
Entry registration deadline: Wednesday, September 26th, 2018 or once entry limit is reached.

All Entries must be received by 9/29/2018.

Tentative Beer Judging Pre-Sessions: Tuesday 10/9, Wednesday 10/11, and/or Thursday 10/11/2018 – Times and Locations are TBD.

Friday Judging Session – tentative check-in time by 5:30pm. Beer & Cookie Pairing to follow after judging!

Saturday Morning Judging Session – tentative check-in time 7:30am. Breakfast provided!
Saturday Afternoon Judging Session – tentative check-in time 12:30pm. Lunch provided!

These dates & times are always subject to change as we gain a better idea of how many entries, in what categories, need to be judged. We will do our best to keep the most current and up-to-date information posted here on this web page, at http://www.lincolnlagers.com/sowers-cup/.

Copied from www.homebrewersassociation.org:

Event Details

Date: Saturday, Oct. 13th, 2018
Event Type: AHA/BJCP Competition
Entry Fee: $8.00
Entry Deadline: X/X/2018

Posts from our Twitter:

Tweets by @TheSowersCup

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