Lexington, KY - Those who call themselves fans of beer aren't often known as early risers on the weekend. But shortly after sunrise Saturday at the Kentucky Ale Brewery, more than a dozen members of the American Homebrewers Association set up their own micro-breweries to compete against each other in the Third Annual Kentucky Brew-Off.
Competing for a trip and entry into the Great American Beer Festival this September in Denver, and for Kentucky Ale to make a commercial-sized batch of their homebrew, members of the Brewers of Central Kentucky and others from as far as Ohio came to make their favorite beer - or the multi-grain recipe that they think will give them the best chance at winning.
"A lot of math and chemistry," is involved in making the beer, according to Chris Vandergrift, president of the Central Kentucky association. What started with a store-bought kit for most has turned into a complex hobby for the local brewers.
"Somebody bought me one of those kits at Liquor Barn as a gift and I tried it and it turned out OK, just OK, and I ran into some of these guys and they (told me about the club)," Vandergrift said. "The more you learn about it, the more you ramp up the technical aspect of it," he said. While kits that contain pre-mixed ingredients run in the $50-$100 range, Vandergrift figured some of the more intricate setups in use Saturday run well into the thousands.
"Once you get into the science, if you use grain instead of a kit you can do a lot more of it; you can flavor it the way that you want it," he said.
Though the competition at the brewery is only in its third year, the club has used the parking lot outside Kentucky Ale's Cross Street facility for a number of years to do one of a handful of full annual group brews, as the association is most of the time confined to small gatherings due to the space needed.
The brews usually take two to three weeks to get to the point where they are beer. On June 15, the 17 brews that were made will look to become the next to represent Kentucky Ale at the Great American Beer Festival, joining in with the previous two winners, a Bavarian Hefeweizen by Bill Caldwell in 2007 and an English IPA by Kevin Patterson last year.
The winning beer will be available on draft around town and a few cases will be sent to Denver to compete.