Over three sessions this past weekend 555 beers were judged for the annual America’s Finest City homebrew competition by local club QUAFF. Scoring the beers were some serious heavyweights, including AleSmith founder Skip Virgilio, current AleSmith owner and BJCP Grand Master level 1 judge Peter Zien, Kelsey McNair of the upcoming North Park Beer Co., Paul Sangster, current co-owner at Rip Current Brewing and former Ninkasi Award winner (aka top national homebrewer), among many other accomplished brewers and beer judges.

Last night the awards were presented at Randy Jones BBQ in Hazard Center. You can view the full PDF of winners here; top honors included Peter Perrecone’s Best of Show Ruten Tuten Raspberry Fruit Lambic (watch for more of Perrecone’s creations at brewery-in-planning Toolbox Brewing), Bob Mac Kay’s Best of Show Cyser in the mead and cider category, and Brian Trout’s designation as “Brewing Machine” thanks to six medals — four gold, one silver, and one bronze. He sits atop the homebrewer of the year leaderboard with 29 points.