The US Open Homebrew Competition will be held at Charlotte's Olde Mecklenburg Brewery on May 15. The winning recipe will be brewed on a commercial scale. Want to enter? See the press release below.

Charlotte, NC -- Homebrewers from throughout the Carolinas and across the US have an opportunity to showcase their original beers at the 20th annual US Open Homebrew Competition, on May 15^th, 2010.  The competition will be judged at Olde Mecklenburg Brewery in Charlotte.

The US Open competition will be open to 28 nationally recognized beer, mead and cider categories.  Prizes consist of ribbons for each category, with the winners of each flight then narrowed to three Best of Show awards.  Also to be awarded is the highly coveted Gambrinus Cup; the winning recipe of this prestigious competition will be brewed on a commercial scale by Carolina Beer & Beverage and offered to the public as a premium beer at the 2010 Carolina Renaissance Festival, Saturdays & Sundays, October 9^th – November 21^st.  This year’s Gambrinus Cup will be chosen from the top entries in the following beer styles: Extra Special/Best Bitter (8C) and English IPA (14A).

Arguably a more diversely flavored beverage than wine, beer is a complex collection of a wide range of ingredients.  Amateur brewers must carefully calculate the ratio of various malts, hops and yeast along with precision timing for boiling, cooling, fermenting, and storage.  Slight variation and any one of the many ingredients and steps in the brewing process can seriously change the beer’s flavor and affect the category in which the beer may be entered.  Judges in the US Open have undergone rigorous Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) training, enabling them to successfully identify top-quality beer by smell, appearance and flavor.

The US Open Homebrew Competition will be hosted by the Carolina BrewMasters, a non-profit club whose members are dedicated to the time-honored craft of beer brewing, and is sponsored by Carolina Beer & Beverage and The Carolina Renaissance Festival.  Amateur homebrewers who are interested in entering the competition can learn more online at www.carolinabrewmasters.com.

More information about Carolina Beer & Beverage can be found online at www.carolinablonde.com.  More information about the Carolina Renaissance Festival can be found online at www.royalfaires.com/carolina.