MASH Club-Only Competitions are a friendly way to encourage club members to brew competition-worthy creations and to encourage participation and feedback at club meetings. We host several competitions each year where MASH members can bring their entry to our monthly meeting and see how their brew stacks up against other members. Each competition has a specific theme, style, or other guidelines that brewers must follow for their entry.
2025 Competition Calendar
March – Big Beers, One Year Later
Bring your now one year old BJCP Category 17 or 22 beer that you brewed for our 2024 Strong Ale Competition to see how well it aged vs. the competition.
June – SMASH Beers (Single Malt And Single Hop)
Make your best SMASH beer, any style. Be sure to use just one variety of malt and one variety of hops in your beer. Choose any yeast and any adjuncts to make your beer unique and give it that winning edge.
July – Can You Brew It? British Brown Ale
Brew your best clone of Sam Smith’s Nut Brown Ale
August – Brandon Hurr Memorial Kolsch Competition
Fill Brandon’s extraordinary shoes and brew your best version of his amazing and multi-award winning Kolsch. His recipe will be distributed to club members in April so entrants have time to prepare and brew.
November – Xerox of a Xerox
Brew your best version of Rich and Steve’s fantastic Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale Clone, of 2024 Club Advent Calendar fame. Recipe to be provided.
Prior Year’s Competitions and Results
——— 2024 ———
February
Big Beers: Brew your best big beer from BJCP Categories 17 or 22
Winners:
🥇 Marc Berman
🥈 Andrew Joyce
🥉 Jordan Margetich
March
Brew your best lager using 34/70 yeast
Winners:
🥇 Brandon Hurr
🥈 Ray Monahan
🥉 Dan Perrigan, Micha Stark, Paul Jones
June
Brew your best ale using US-05
Winners:
🥇 Eric Blaine
🥈 Brandon Hurr
🥉 Dan Perrigan, Paul Jones
August
Refreshing beers of summer: Brew the ideal beer to drink on a beach day at Sandy Hook
Winners:
🥇 Chris Johnson
🥈 Rich Cohen
🥉 Keith Blanchard
——— 2020 ———
August
Anything Goes: Any BJCP Style – Socially Distant CoC
——— 2019 ———
April
BJCP 3- Czech Lagers
June
BJCP X Rated – Dorada Pampeana, IPA Argenta, Italian Grape Ale, Catharina Sour, NZ Pilsner
September
BJCP 13 – Brown British
——— 2018 ———
April
British Bitters: BJCP category 11. The family of British bitters grew out of English pale ales as a draught product in the late 1800s. Traditionally served very fresh under no pressure (gravity or hand pump only) at cellar temperatures (i.e., “real ale”). Most bottled or kegged versions of UK-produced bitters are often higher-alcohol and more highly carbonated versions of cask products produced for export, and have a different character and balance than their draught counterparts in Britain (often being sweeter and less hoppy than the cask versions). Several regional variations of bitter exist, ranging from darker, sweeter versions served with nearly no head to brighter, hoppier, paler versions with large foam stands, and everything in between.
June
Trappist Ales: BJCP category 26. Trappist is a protected legal appellation, and cannot be used commercially except by genuine Trappist monasteries that brew their own beer. However, we can use it to describe the type or styles of beer produced by those breweries and those who make beers of a
similar style. Trappist type beers are all characterized by very high attenuation, high carbonation through bottle conditioning, and interesting (and often aggressive) yeast character.
September
Iron Brewer Collaboration with the WHALES
——— 2017 ———
April
American Stout: BJCP category 20B. A fairly strong, highly roasted, bitter, hoppy dark stout. Has the body and dark flavors typical of stouts with a more aggressive American hop character and bitterness.
June
Fruit Beer: BJCP category 29A. A harmonious marriage of fruit and beer, but still recognizable as a beer. The fruit character should be evident but in balance with the beer, not so forward as to suggest an artificial product.
September
German Beer: All BJCP Categories that originate from Deutschland!
——— 2016 ———
April: Cider
Following an enthusiastic response in our first cider buy (more than 120 gallons of Jersey apple juice), we’re excited to taste how MASH members interpreted this versatile beverage. All MASH members are invited to enter one cider in any BJCP Cider Style for our first Club Only Competition to be held at our April meeting at Poor Henry’s.
Brush up on how to talk about these delicious beverages here.
June: SMaSH Iron Brewer Challenge
We’re keeping it simple with our June Club Only Competition to celebrate Single Malt and Single Hop beers (SMaSH), with an Iron Brewer twist. There really is no better way to get to know your ingredients than using one at a time. As the name implies, SMaSH recipes consists of one (base) malt and one hop variety, which can be used for multiple additions. Here’s some tips from the AHA on SMaSH brewing.
Stay tuned to learn more about the Iron Brewer twist.
September: Autumn Seasonal
Autumn Seasonal Beers are beers that suggest cool weather and the autumn harvest season, and may include pumpkin or other squashes, and the associated spices. Give in the the hype and brew your best pumpkin beer.
——— 2015 ———
April 2015
Historical Beers: Historical Beers is a new category in the Draft 2014 BJCP Style Guidelines. It contains styles that either have all but died out in modern times, or that were much more popular in past times and are known only through recreations. Currently defined examples: Gose, Piwo Grodziskie, Lichtenhainer, Roggenbier, Sahti, Kentucky Common, Pre-Prohibition Lager, Pre-Prohibition Porter, London Ale. Read the full style descriptions here.
Winning brewers: Todd Townsend took first with his London Brown, Tom Jambor took second with his roggenbier, and Meghan Jambor took third with her sahti.
June
Wheat Beers: Get ready to brew some summer beers and enter them in our June Club Only Competition featuring Category 6 Light Hybrid or Category 7 Amber Hybrid at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 16 at Poor Henry’s in Montville.
Winning brewers: Karl Weiss won with his kolsch, Chris LaSpada took second with his American Rye, and Taylor Kamp took third place with his Dusseldorf altbier.
September
Mead: For our third and final MASH Club Only Competition of the Year, we’re taking on the oldest fermenting beverage in the world. Whether you like it sweet or dry, with fruit or spiced, burnt or mixed with maple syrup, this is your chance to learn the sweet craft of mead making.
Winning brewers: Chris Johnson won with his semi-sweet mead, Todd Townsend took second with his Coffee Mead (Metheglin), and Tom Jambor took third place with his Fruit Mead.