1999 Michigan State Fair Homebrew Competition Winners Circle

There were 274 entries in the 1999 Michigan State Fair Homebrew Competition. Winners were announced Saturday, August 28, 1999 at Best-of-Show Judging and Awards Presentation.

The 1999 Best-of-Show Winner was Stephen Schopen, who brewed a wicked Pale Ale he calls "Anglo-American Pale Ale" Nice going Steve! All judges and others who tasted the beer after the judging were impressed. Nice use of hops!

The Rex Halfpenny Award is a new award for 1999 sponsored by Five Star Products. This award goes to the brewer with the most winning beers in the Homebrew Competition. The award is named in honor of Rex Halfpenny, a Michigan beer activist and publisher of the Michigan Beer Guide. Rex has been actively involved with Michigan beer for years and played a key role in getting Michigan House Bill 4850 passed, which officially made homebrewing legal in the State of Michigan. Rex is a BJCP Certified Beer Judge and is currently serving a two year term as BJCP Regional Director. He also founded the Michigan Brewers Guild and serves as its Executive Director.

The 1999 Rex Halfpenny Award went to Rick Georgette, who had seven winning entries out of the thirteen he entered in the competition. Great job Rick! Keep brewing, you nut!

The Winners Circle 8150 English Pale Ale/IPA/Bitter Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  Sandy Barris Hop Head IPA Pontiac Brewing Tribe 2  Scott Yoder Amber Me Ale AABG 3  Paul Williams & Pat Landis Welch Water IPA   8151 American Ale/California Common Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  Stephen Schopen Anglo-American Pale Ale 2  Rick Georgette Amber Ale   3  Richard Scott Poor Richard's Ale Downriver Brewers Guild 8152 Mild / Brown / Scottish Ale Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  Rob Torrance Loose Kilt Ale Tumbleweed Brewing 2  Hal Buttermore Hal's Brown Ale AABG 3  Rick Georgette Scottish Export Ale   8153 German Ale and Wheat Beer Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  Rick Georgette Kölsch   2  Jeff Hittinger & Brian Dumont Bayrischer Weizenbock   3  Al Rose Verboten   HM  Alan Pearlstein Spalt Alt   8154 Porter Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  Jim Racine Cool American Porter F.O.R.D. 2  Mike Winnie Bishop's Brown Porter   3  Paul Mann Panacea Porter   8155 Stout Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  Thomas Plunkard Imperial Stout AABG 2  Phil Wilcox 6 Malt Stout Prison City Brewers/AABG 3  Thomas Plunkard Irish Dry Stout AABG 8156 Barleywine / Old Ale / Strong Scotch Ale Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  Richard Scott Wee Heavy Downriver Brewers Guild 2  Rick Georgette Strong Scotch Ale   3  Alan Pearlstein Big Macher Barleywine   HM  Sandy Barris Pure Comfort Pontiac Brewing Tribe 8157 Belgian Ale / Lambic / French Ale Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  John Applegarth Belgian Wit Primetime Brewers 2  Jim Rice & Brenda Criss Crystal Bay French Ale F.O.R.D. 3  Reed Conner Ommigan Again C.R.A.F.T. HM  John Applegarth Flanders Brown   8158 German Light Lager / Pilsener / American Lager Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  Rick Georgette Munich Helles   2  Bob Scholl Big Brew American Pilsener AABG 3  Rick Georgette Dortmunder Export   HM  Gregory Brown Light-Hearted Helles   HM  Phil Wilcox & Troy Rerucha Poison Frog Bohemian Pilsener Prison City Brewers/AABG HM  Jeff Carlson Pine Street Pilsner Primetime Brewers HM  Thomas Plunkard Golden Meadow AABG HM  Michael Zammit Pat's Lighthouse Lager   8159 German Dark Lager / Octoberfest / Bock Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  Thomas Plunkard Helles Bock AABG 2  Rick Georgette Oktoberfest   3  Phil Wilcox Poison Frog Eisbock Prison City Brewers/AABG HM  Tom Stelman Stellar Doppelbock Pontiac Brewing Tribe HM  Phil Wilcox Dendrobates Dunkel Prison City Brewers/AABG HM  Patrick Wheeler Dangerous Dunkel   HM  Frank Lucken Lückenlager Munich Dunkel   HM  Colette Harris & David Brown Bear Paw Schwarzbier   HM  Fred Goeldi Schwarzbier   8160 Fruit and Vegetable Beer Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  Colette Harris & David Brown Wildcat Cherry Schwarzbier   2  William Wamby Cherry Stout   3  Eric Fouch Ol' Punkinhead   HM  Hal Buttermore Cherries in the Snow AABG 8161 Smoked / Herb & Spice / Specialty Beer Place Brewer's Name Beer Name Club Name 1  Judith Riley & Ron Citkowski Red Ryeder   2  Tom Stelman Stellar Honey Wit Pontiac Brewing Tribe 3  Hal Buttermore Pumpkin & Spice AABG 1999's Prizes Best of Show engraved 6 gallon glass carboy 5 gallon stainless steel brewing kettle from pico-Brewing Systems gift certificate for dinner for two at Arbor Brewing Company 1 year membership to the American Homebrewers Association 1 free entry into the 2000 National Homebrew Competition 1 lb of whole leaf hops Rex Halfpenny Award Five Star Homebrew Cleaning Kit engraved mug engraved pocket knife 1 lb of whole leaf hops 1st Place Ribbon 1 liter engraved mug 2 tickets to Arbor Brewing Company's Style Night beer tastings a pack of hops and a hop booklet from Hopunion 2nd Place Ribbon 1/2 liter engraved mug a pack of hops from Hopunion 3rd Place Ribbon 1/2 liter engraved mug a pack of PBW cleaner from Five Star Chemicals Honorable Mention (for beers scoring 38 or higher) Ribbon

1999 WINNING RECIPES:

Click here for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place RECIPES

We would like to thank our 1999 sponsors, who made this competition possible:

Pat Babcock	Mike Bardalis	Bat Bateman	Doug Beedy
Larry Bell	Pete Bellecy	Doug Bowman	Hal Buttermore
Chuck Elmer	Patrick Flahie	Eraca Francis	Chris Frey
Rick Georgette	Rex Halfpenny	Bill Holmes	Ken Joy
Len Lescosky	Ed Lustnader	Dan McConnell	Arnold Neitzke
Mike O'Brien	Gabrielle Palmer	Bill Pfeiffer	Bob Scholl
Ken Schramm	Jim Suchy	Spencer Thomas	Phil Wilcox
Duncan Williams	Mike Winnie	Craig Wolfangel	Scott Yoder