[caption id="attachment_3873" align="alignleft" width="250"] From the left, Jeremy Danner, Steven Pauwels, Tim Squires, John McDonald and Elizabeth Belden[/caption]

The first week of May we did something we’d never done before at Boulevard. We brewed 35 barrels of wort, the liquid that ferments to become beer, with no intention of fermenting it ourselves. Instead, we opened our doors to nearly 150 local homebrewers and gave the wort away five gallons at a time, simply saying, “make whatever you want.” The only stipulation was that we asked for each homebrewer to return a six-pack of finished beer for us to taste. That entire process, in itself, was pretty cool, but we wanted to take things a bit further.

This past weekend we gathered at our distribution warehouse to taste the 94 different beers that were returned to us. Employees from all departments of the brewery spent hours tasting saisons, I.P.A.s, brown ales, pilsners, and fruit beers before we identified a winner. Like any beer judging competition, it truly was grueling work, but don’t feel sorry for us as there were many great beers tasted. At the end of the day, a bright, fruity Belgian style beer infused with Sauvignon Blanc grape juice, citrus zests, and candied ginger stood alone. We’re excited to announce that we’ve invited Tim Squires, Olathe homebrewer, to come brew his beer on our original 35 barrel brewhouse along with a few Boulevard brewers later this year.

Tim’s recipe will be scaled up from five gallons to become a 1,085 gallon batch. That’s 75 full-size kegs! The resulting beer will be served exclusively in our Tasting Room where visitors to the brewery (and employees, of course) will have a chance to drink Tim’s beer after completing a tour. We’ll also host Tim and a group of his friends for a happy hour here at the brewery, where they can hoist a tulip of Tim’s winning beer.

We were blown away by the number of individuals who wanted to participate in this year's wort giveaway. We were also humbled by the time, energy and tasty beers produced by all of those who submitted entries. In the coming weeks we'll send judging sheets back to every entry so homebrewers receive our feedback. Stay tuned to a bigger wort giveaway program next year. We're already brainstorming on ways to include the homebrewers beyond submitting a six-pack. We raise a pint to all of their efforts to make our first-ever wort giveaway so much fun.