V V V V V w W. v w w 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."