For Edward Walkowski, it’s all about the alcohol.
Mr. Walkowski of North Abington Twp. walked away from the 2014 PA Oktoberfest at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs on Sunday with a fist-full of ribbons and awards for beating out the competition in the Crystal Lederhosen homebrew contest.
His German Kolsch, which was in the wiener dog class of lower alcohol beers, took the overall best in show against 147 homebrew entrants in 13 categories. Altogether, Mr. Walkowski, of the Scranton Brewers Guild, placed in six of the competition’s categories, including amber/ale, lagers, cider, wheat/rye, fall beers and the best in show in the wiener dog class
The Scranton Brewers Guild organized this year’s first Crystal Lederhosen homebrew competition where judges had been sampling an assortment of homebrew entries since 9:30 a.m. — “A great time to start drinking,” said guild member Sean Wolfe, who helped put the event together.
Entries, Mr. Wolfe said, were judged on beer certification guidelines based on qualities such as color, flavor and aroma.
Mr. Walkowski’s secret: the ingredients.
“My main thing is to try to get the best, freshest ingredients — just like a good chef would,” he said.
Mr. Walkowski started tinkering with wine recipes about 20 years ago. Now, as the art/science of homebrewing has swelled in popularity, he said he’s been in numerous competitions, including when the American Homebrewers Association awarded him first place as Cidermaker of the Year at the National Homebrewers Conference in 2011 and 2014.
“I was kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none,” he said. “I was just trying out a lot of different things. It’s a good hobby.”
Mike Conlon and Chris Francis, both of Peckville, entered their upstart home brewery, Ginger Dog, into the contest after toying around with brew kits seven months ago. Ginger Dog came in third for their Pumped’Kin Ale in the fall beers category and won first in the IPA category for their American style IPA Cluster Fuggin Shibb.
“I think people finally realize it’s not just Miller Lite and Coors Light out there,” Mr. Conlon said.
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jseibel@itizensvoice.com