In Memory of Don

Brew Free or Die and Southern Maine Homebrewers held it's second annual New England Regional Homebrewers competition on November 3, 2007 in Manchester NH, raising $2000 dollars for the American Cancer Society in memory of Don Merkey.

Don always wanted BFD to get more involved with the running of a big homebrew competition. Well it brings a tear to my eye, but with two successful years of running this competition, it's clear we have finally done it! I think Don would be proud of us, as the NERHBC by all measures was a tremendous success!

Competition stastics:

• 250 entries (including beer, cider, and mead) from 16 states across the entire country.
  
• 36 sponsors including:
  
• Competition level sponsor - Gritty's
  
• Best of Show sponsor - White Labs
  
• Brewer of the Year sponsor - Boston Beer Co.
  
• Meadmaker of the Year sponsor - Sky River Mead
  
• Cidermaker of the Year sponsor - Gile's Family Farm
  
• We raised $2000 for American Cancer Society, in Memory of Don Merkey.

It took a combined effort of many members of both homebrew clubs to organize the competition, raise sponsors, catalog and process all 750 bottles.

Also we couldn't have done it without all the help from the stewards, BJCP (Beer Judge Certification Program) judges, and professional brewers who spent the day processing and judging all 250 entries, so that feedback could be provided to all the entrants.

Here are the top winners:

• Best of Show winner: Mark Healy with his Peach Cider.


• Brewer or the Year: Rick Rocheleau


• Meadmaker of the Year: Michael Fairbrother


• Cidermaker of the Year: Eric Sprague

For a detailed list of all the winners and sponsors vist http://www.bfd.org/NERHBC