The Northern California Homebrewers Festival is full of events, activities, and competitions, aside from tasting all the fabulous home brews at all the club booths. Be sure to check these out during the fest:
Club Keg Competition
Beer Comp Styles
NCHF 2025- “Vikings”
Note: The NCHF Beer Comp is not a BJCP sanctioned competition; it is more a “popular vote” event. The brewer has more latitude with style. Beers should be recognized in the style they are entered, possess the “hallmarks” of the style, and achieve appropriate balance as to malts, hops, alcohol, etc.
Sahti
Overall Impression
A sweet,
heavy, strong traditional Finnish beer with a rye, juniper, and juniper
berry flavor and a strong banana-clove yeast character.
Appearance
Pale yellow to dark
brown color; most are medium to dark amber. Generally quite cloudy
(unfiltered). Little head, due to low carbonation.
Aroma
High banana esters with
moderate to moderately-high clove-like phenolics. Not sour. May have a
low to moderate juniper character. Grainy malt, caramel, and rye in
background. Light alcohol aroma. Sweet malt impression.
Flavor
Strong banana and moderate
to moderately-high clove yeast character. Moderate grainy rye flavor.
Low bitterness. Fairly sweet finish. Juniper can add a pine-like flavor;
juniper berries can add a gin-like flavor; both should be
complementary, not dominant. No noticeable hop flavor. Moderate caramel
flavor but no roast. Multi-layered and complex, with kind of a wortiness
that is unusual in other beer styles. Not sour.
Mouthfeel
Thick, viscous, and
heavy with protein (no boil means no hot break). Nearly still to
medium-low carbonation. Strongly warming from the alcohol level and
young age, but often masked by sweetness.
Comments
The use of rye doesn’t mean
that it should taste like caraway (a dominant flavor in rye bread). The
use of juniper berries will give a flavor like gin (similarly flavored
with juniper berries). The juniper acts a bit like hops in the balance
and flavor, providing some counterpoint to the sweet malt.
Kveik Fermented
Instead of an actual style, this year we are having you brew your favorite beer with Kveik yeast
Kveik yeast quickly gained popularity in the brewing world due to it’s amazing ester aromas and quick fermentation time. Although it can be fermented in typical to high end ale temps (66F-72F), it really throws amazing tropical fruit notes in the high mid to high 80’s and even low 90F range. Typically an Ale yeast fermented up in that range would produce high levels of fusel alcohol. That’s what’s amazing about Kveik yeast, it can be fermented at high temps i.e. faster and produces a unique and very tasty beer.
On his blog Larsblog, farmhouse-beer historian Lars Garshol has discussed some of the most astonishing characteristics he’s encountered from kveik, which among these are its high heat tolerance. Kveik strains can produce beer with clean, farmhouse-qualities whether fermented at 68 degrees fahrenheit or 100 degrees fahrenheit, and usually finish after a day or two when fermented that hot. In addition, kveik is notorious for taking off quickly, and once done fermenting, will fall out of suspension and flocculate more than most common strains. These distinctive traits have encouraged brewers to begin working with kveik to produce commercial beers that blend Norwegian farmhouse profiles with familiar beer styles, like the West Coast IPA.
Preparing your beer for the Club Keg Competition
All beers are poured anonymously on our jockey boxes in the center tent (with the checkered roof, hard to miss!), with everyone in attendance voting for the winning beers in each style. The winning brewers and clubs get their names added to a trophy, on display for all to see each year at the beer competition tent. And of course, bragging rights!
A club can enter 1 beer in each category. So a maximum of 2 beers per club total, if entering both categories.
Clubs need to deliver their beers to the Competition Tent Saturday morning between 10-11 AM for check-in. If you have your keg in a fermentation-sized bucket on ice, that’s great. If not, we will put all the kegs in a cold box until hook up, then in bins with ice. We can accept 2.5gal – 5gal corny kegs–either ball lock or pin lock–no Sanke kegs!
The Club Comp has grown to be one of the most popular events at NCHF and this has necessitated a little more structure than what we have had in the past. Please note the following:
- The comp will be limited to 24 beers total between the two styles (this represents our jockeybox capacity)
- Competition slots will be allotted on a first-come, first served basis
- Competition registration will only be through registered Club Reps
- The Comp opens when the store opens.
- Clubs need to deliver their beers to the Competition Tent Saturday morning between 10-11 AM for check-in.
- Entrants are responsible for retrieving their kegs; this may done after conclusion of the final awards and raffle ceremony
- NCHO will provide CO2
Entrant must specify:
- Club name
- Style: #1 or #2
- Ball or Pin Keg (This is really important and speeds set up of the comp). No Sanke kegs!
Please go here and search for “keg”. Reserve this free product to register for the Keg Competition (One entry per club).
Hoppy Hour
Friday afternoon features Hoppy Hour which takes place in the Lake Francis “town square”. Hoppy Hour once again two fantastic clubs will be pouring some of their finest beers, in addition to some fantastic appetizers. This is a time for us to gather together and catch up with one another while we sample a beer or three.
Best Booth Decoration Competition
Each year, clubs decorate their booths, and often themselves, to reflect the theme of the event. What exactly does this mean? That’s up to you. Get creative! Every festival has been a great showing of creative talent from the clubs.
At the end of the day, Fest-goers vote for the best booth theme decoration, and a certificate is awarded.
Event Speakers
Saturday afternoon offers talks by nationally known speakers from the professional and amateur circles. Past speakers have included Fritz Maytag, Fred Eckhardt, Byron Burch, Fal Allan, Ken Grossman, Vinnie Cilurzo, and Matt Bryndilson, to name a few.
Best Booth Food Competition
One of the best features of the Festival, besides the amazing homebrew, is the food. Clubs pull out all the stops in their gastronomic treats. We acknowledge this effort with an award for Best Booth Food.