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8B Wednesday October 26 2011 // The Statement
HOMEBREW COMPETITION WINNERS
By Stephen Ostrowski
rF Lua LEF :DadsFick, Nate Pikeydadatt F ojtik.
DAVID FICK, It took a "bigbeer" to be crowned
MATT FOJTI K, this year's big winner.
"I think the thing people notice
NICK COL L INS, most is that it's a really big beer,"
NAT E PI NCKNEY David Fick said of his group's victo-
rious Russian Imperial Stout. "It's
GRADUATE STUDENTS, around 10 percent alcohol ... It's
ELECTRICAL thick, it has like a roasted flavor to
ENG INEERING it, a chocolaty flavor."
The recipe's warm reception
at the Ann Arbor Brewers Guild's
monthly meetings also included a
IM P E R LA. second place at one of the Guild's
T "T "Brews Crews" competitions,
according to Fick.
NGR EDEENT: "Ours in particular is very
smooth, I think that's why people
aked barley, black at like it," Fick said. "It's just like avery
Malt, chocolate mait, crystW smooth, chocolaty flavor."
80 ma ;, Centenrial "hops The four group members all work
at the Michigan Integrated Circuits
Lab on North Campus. Fick credits
fellow graduate student Nick Col-
lins with not only cementing the
stout's recipe, but also with teach-
ing his three co-workers the craft of
home brewing last November.
The group makes sure to experi-
ment with new brews while also
sticking to old favorites.
"We've done a wide variety I
think already, so we're trying on
different things," Fick said. "Some
things we like coming back to."
Though Fick and his partners
have 27 batches to their name, he
claims they approached The Michi-
gan Daily's third annual home brew-
ing competition with a level head.
"You can't be too confident," Fick
said. "We thought we had a 10 or 20
percent chance (of winning)."
A AIMEE RICHARD
GRADUATE STUDENT, MICROBOLOGY
It wasn't his pineapple hefe-
weizen, nor was it his traditional
mead.
Instead, it was Matthew
Waugh's Irish Red Ale that notched
second place honors - a brew he
considered least likely to win, not-
ing disappointment with its begin-
nings.
"I wasn't happy with how it
turned out when I initially made
it because it was very malt light,"
Waugh said. "It didn't have as
much malt in it. It wasn't the alco-
hol concentration that I wanted."
Waugh's recipe, loosely inspired
by a home brewing kit, included his
own custom touches like integrat-
ing ginger into the ale.
The final brew marked a signifi-
cantly "mellowed" product with
a "spicy, effervescent aftertaste,"
Waugh said.
"It was getting on a month and
a half, two months old, and so the
flavor profile had changed a couple
different times," Waugh said. "I
cess, having won the Daily's home
brewing competition last year with 1
her first place, "Dog Days of Sum-
mer" whitbier.f
Richard described the maibock,
brewed last March, as a "clean and
crisp" lager. She utilizes an "allc
grain" method that extends the1
overall length of the brewing pro-
cess.
"Bocks are generally prettyt
malt focused, but the maibock isf
the most hoppy of that particular
group of styles;" Richard said. "I
When Aimee Richard submitted
her maibock lager, she didn't have
victory on her mind.
"I didn't think (the maibock) was
that great, but I wanted more feed-
back on it than anything," she said.
"I really didn't think it had any shot
at placing whatsoever."
But with a third place finish,
Richard - a three-year brewing
veteran with an alleged 25 batches
under her belt - exceeded personal
expectations and continued her
streak of collegiate brewing s-uc-
aRIN KIuKLANu/ Daily
MATTHEW WAUGH
GRADUATE STUDENT,
CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
guess it was because I was used
to how it was initially when it was
very, very strong... I guess it turned
out pretty well."
Waugh, who has been home-
brewing for eight months, appreci-
ates the beer-making process for
its practical academic application.
"I really enjoy it, because for
me it's a really good way to com-
bine my professional and personal
generally like to brew maibocks
because I think they're a really
good balance of a good malt pro-
file, backbone."
Given her recent triumphs, Rich-
ard's enthusiasm on the prospects
of professional brewing is not sur-
prising.
"Maybe down the line, sometime
in the future, it'd be great to get into
the brewing industry somehow,"
Richard said. "Whether it's owning
a brewery and being the head brew-
er or irsome othercapacity too."