Commander SAAZ 2008 Final

By Club Activities, Commander SAAZ, Competitions
Commander SAAZ Interplanetary

Homebrew Blastoff 2008

Fab 14!!

Well folks, the sand has once again settled on beautiful Cocoa Beach. The entries have been judged, the prizes have been raffled, and the Splashdown party was a roaring success.


Once again team SAAZ came through and pulled together to put on one of the biggest and (IMHO) best competitions around. Once again friends came from all over the state to join in the judging and fun. From all reports everyone had a great time, I know I sure did. I especially loved getting the chance to sit around with folks after the Splashdown and share a beer or two in the hospitality suite and outside under the tiki hut. Way cool!!

As usual there are many folks to thank. Because without the support of a great team there is no way we could pull this off time and again…..

    • First of course are our sponsors. Without the generous support of these folks we wouldn’t have the amazing prizes for our raffle and to award to entrants. And this year we had one helluva raffle!! (Just ask anyone who was there!) Please visit the sponsors page and remember these folks support homebrewers (unlike our local Melbourne Brewery) so support them back. (And for anyone interested in those tie-dyed beers shirts Dani and I had on at the Splashdown, Mary & Mom on the sponsors page is the place we got them.)
    • Out of town judges – We asked and you all came to support us. With the added stress on the judging pool by having CASK so close I was a bit worried, but you all came through for us AGAIN! Hopefully you all had a good time and we made you feel appreciated. Special thanks to EVERYONE who helped out with early round judging. We really try to make sure to mix in judges from other clubs for all judging sessions to help alleviate any “club biases”.
    • Chet Sparks – perennial “Cooler Ape” and all around great guy. Chet once again opened his home for two weekends of critical judging, received all the beers, sorted, organized, toted, lifted and generally did anything that needed doing. There is no way we could have done it without him!
    • Steve Mitchell – Organizer extraordinaire. Steve had his fingers in just about everything, prizes, hotel negotiations, medals, food, beer tasting, you name it and Steve was there. He’s a big reason for the success of this years event.
    • Joe Kintyhht – Not only did Joe feed us all for the first two weekends, but he donated some AMAZING prizes to the raffle, including the biggest damn bucket of beer I’ve ever seen. All I can say is THANKS! And if anyone needs some housework done, give Joe a call (see add on sponsors page).
    • Dani Exline – Not only running the database (which is enough to drive anyone nuts), but organizing just about everything having to do with judge stashes. For those of you who made comment about Dani’s organizational skills, she has to make up for both of us on that front.
    • Mike and Michele Ellis – Pitching in everywhere, selling raffle tickets, stuffing ALL the results envelopes (which is a Herculean job all by itself) so they were ready for pickup at the Splashdown, stewarding, and anything else that needed doing.
    • Mac “Mac Daddy” Monroe – I’m still trying to find anyone with a good picture of Mac’s alter ego “Mac Daddy” who graced us at the Splashdown party as the evening’s MC. Mac was also responsible for that keg of OBP2 that showed up at the Splashdown party. A nice refreshing lite 11% ABV beer (what the hell did you all expect at SAAZ, the home of ‘Rocket Fuel’ )
    • Catherine Thompson – Graphic artist extraordinaire who designed the best commemorative beer logo EVER! (Luckily the beer we brewed was pretty good as well). For those who didn’t get to see it….
    • Sean and Anne Greg – for helping out with lots of things, but especially for stuffing all those buckets for the judge/steward stashes. (Oh and trimming all the *&%&&$ labels on the medals too!!!)
    • Ron and Paula Sup – All I can say is WOW!! I am SOOOOOO glad Ron and Paula decided to move down here from Ohio. Paula was everywhere, judging, organizing prizes, and showing us several better ways to do things. Ron also pitched in mightily AND (Shhhh this is a secret!) stood up there and sweated his butt off as Commander SAAZ!!
    • The Bennett’s – For wrangling case boxes when those scalawags at the Florida Beer Company reneged AGAIN on getting us case boxes. For pitching in wherever they were needed, and once again for lending a hand whenever asked or wherever they saw the need.
    • Everyone else who pitched in – You know who you are. THANK YOU!!

    • The Results are here.Thanks again to all who entered, and attended and congratulations to all the winners! Results and prizes will be mailed out this weekend.

    Cheers,

    Glenn Exline

    SAAZ Webmaster