History was made at the May 2007 Draughtboard 15
Home Brew Challenge when 26 year old Rich Shannon
prevailed over a dozen experienced brewers and walked away
with the Gold Medal. Not only is Rich is the first brewer to win
two medals in DB15 history, he did it in two consecutive
contests - the very first two he entered in his brewing career!
This brewing phenom was first brought into the world of quality
beers while in his senior year at Northeastern University in
Boston. Before his quality beer epiphany Rich had grown up in
a strict Budsweiser family, so, as he said, "I had little to no
knowledge of micro, or craft brews before getting to Boston.
The thought of a full bodied beer just never crossed my mind."
Rich's credits his enlightenment to a "tour (or three) of the Sam
Adams Brewery and a few pints at the Boston Beerworks."
After that "I was daily refining my palate, and desiring more
flavor and complexity out of the beer I was drinking."
Rich did however know good beer from the macro brews
popular with his college crowd. "My favorite beer in college
was Guinness. Easily. However, after my Sam Adams and
Beerworks experience my taste for beer really expanded. It
was then I began to think about trying homebrewing."
"I started brewing because I really wanted to have brews that I
love readily available, and also to be able to try beers that I
would normally avoid in the liquor store. I figured if I made the
beer myself I'd be able to adjust them to my taste."
Rich's only exposure to homebrewing was watching his
godfather make beer in his basement over 10 years ago. "If I
remember correctly his beer was received rather poorly."
With only a basic homebrew kit, Rich then " scoured the
internet for recipes and variations on using the ingredients we
were given for the Draughtboard15's IPA challenge. I was
going to enter the first brew I ever made in the contest."
Making beer for the first time can have its problems even for a
natural like Rich. "There were three big obstacles in the
process", he said. "First was the fact that the smell of boiling
malt and hops makes my wife gag. Legitimately gag. So I
needed her out of the house for the day to get going. Second
was that I didn't have a scale for weighing ingredients. I still
don't. I pretty much approximate everything. Each of the beers
I've made has been quite good by my standards and I only
have approximate measurements recorded in my recipe
book. For the alt, my third big obstacle was not having space
in my fridge for my secondary fermenting." Overall however,
home brewing for Rich "was easier than I thought it was going
to be. I was pretty nervous, not knowing much about the
process."
So how did Rich actually lean to brew? "I took to the 'tru-brew'
instruction book, which, I felt took a lot of basic knowledge for
granted. I would be quite remiss if I didn't mention Captain
Mike's 4 part book for first time brewers on Beernexus.com
(Beginning Brewing Tips) . Mike broke things down further for
me and explained away things that I wasn't to clear on just in
time for my first brewing day."
Rich's fledgling brewing career almost came to an abrupt
ending shortly into his brewing adventure. "About 5 days into
primary fermentation I checked on my fermenter and freaked
out because it looked like my airlock threw up. It took me
about 3 hours of research to find the problem to be a minor
one, but they were 3 pretty nervous hours. "
With his very first brew in hand Rich boldly went where few
novices dare tread - he entered a highly competitive home
brew contest. "I was completely surprised with my first win.
Before that, I was completely shocked that my first beer tasted
like beer! I'm usually not one for IPA's, and I'm certainly not a
fan of large amounts of hops in my beers. However, I really
enjoyed drinking my IPA, and felt confident that I wouldn't come
in last, but the 1st place finish(it was actually a tie with DJ
Soboti's Three Ring IPA, which was fantastic) was definitely a
shock. "
When Rich heard that the next competition was for an Alt, he
was "really excited because, my taste was and still, is venturing
upon more balanced, bavarian style beers. Being pretty new
to the DraughtBoard15, I had no idea that no one had won
twice, and I definitely was not expecting to do so. I was so
happy with my alt upon trying it, I kind of didn't want to share it.
But I had to show up and prove that I wasn't a one hit wonder."
With two consecutive gold medals, we can all agree Rich is
truly a talented newcomer to the world of brewing. His beers
defeated not only an array of award winning home brewers but
over a half a dozen well known commercially produced
products. Whether he continues as a home brewer or moves
to a professional career the Draughtboard 15 only asks that he
keep brining his great brews to our meetings!
Home Brew Challenge when 26 year old Rich Shannon
prevailed over a dozen experienced brewers and walked away
with the Gold Medal. Not only is Rich is the first brewer to win
two medals in DB15 history, he did it in two consecutive
contests - the very first two he entered in his brewing career!
This brewing phenom was first brought into the world of quality
beers while in his senior year at Northeastern University in
Boston. Before his quality beer epiphany Rich had grown up in
a strict Budsweiser family, so, as he said, "I had little to no
knowledge of micro, or craft brews before getting to Boston.
The thought of a full bodied beer just never crossed my mind."
Rich's credits his enlightenment to a "tour (or three) of the Sam
Adams Brewery and a few pints at the Boston Beerworks."
After that "I was daily refining my palate, and desiring more
flavor and complexity out of the beer I was drinking."
Rich did however know good beer from the macro brews
popular with his college crowd. "My favorite beer in college
was Guinness. Easily. However, after my Sam Adams and
Beerworks experience my taste for beer really expanded. It
was then I began to think about trying homebrewing."
"I started brewing because I really wanted to have brews that I
love readily available, and also to be able to try beers that I
would normally avoid in the liquor store. I figured if I made the
beer myself I'd be able to adjust them to my taste."
Rich's only exposure to homebrewing was watching his
godfather make beer in his basement over 10 years ago. "If I
remember correctly his beer was received rather poorly."
With only a basic homebrew kit, Rich then " scoured the
internet for recipes and variations on using the ingredients we
were given for the Draughtboard15's IPA challenge. I was
going to enter the first brew I ever made in the contest."
Making beer for the first time can have its problems even for a
natural like Rich. "There were three big obstacles in the
process", he said. "First was the fact that the smell of boiling
malt and hops makes my wife gag. Legitimately gag. So I
needed her out of the house for the day to get going. Second
was that I didn't have a scale for weighing ingredients. I still
don't. I pretty much approximate everything. Each of the beers
I've made has been quite good by my standards and I only
have approximate measurements recorded in my recipe
book. For the alt, my third big obstacle was not having space
in my fridge for my secondary fermenting." Overall however,
home brewing for Rich "was easier than I thought it was going
to be. I was pretty nervous, not knowing much about the
process."
So how did Rich actually lean to brew? "I took to the 'tru-brew'
instruction book, which, I felt took a lot of basic knowledge for
granted. I would be quite remiss if I didn't mention Captain
Mike's 4 part book for first time brewers on Beernexus.com
(Beginning Brewing Tips) . Mike broke things down further for
me and explained away things that I wasn't to clear on just in
time for my first brewing day."
Rich's fledgling brewing career almost came to an abrupt
ending shortly into his brewing adventure. "About 5 days into
primary fermentation I checked on my fermenter and freaked
out because it looked like my airlock threw up. It took me
about 3 hours of research to find the problem to be a minor
one, but they were 3 pretty nervous hours. "
With his very first brew in hand Rich boldly went where few
novices dare tread - he entered a highly competitive home
brew contest. "I was completely surprised with my first win.
Before that, I was completely shocked that my first beer tasted
like beer! I'm usually not one for IPA's, and I'm certainly not a
fan of large amounts of hops in my beers. However, I really
enjoyed drinking my IPA, and felt confident that I wouldn't come
in last, but the 1st place finish(it was actually a tie with DJ
Soboti's Three Ring IPA, which was fantastic) was definitely a
shock. "
When Rich heard that the next competition was for an Alt, he
was "really excited because, my taste was and still, is venturing
upon more balanced, bavarian style beers. Being pretty new
to the DraughtBoard15, I had no idea that no one had won
twice, and I definitely was not expecting to do so. I was so
happy with my alt upon trying it, I kind of didn't want to share it.
But I had to show up and prove that I wasn't a one hit wonder."
With two consecutive gold medals, we can all agree Rich is
truly a talented newcomer to the world of brewing. His beers
defeated not only an array of award winning home brewers but
over a half a dozen well known commercially produced
products. Whether he continues as a home brewer or moves
to a professional career the Draughtboard 15 only asks that he
keep brining his great brews to our meetings!
| Gold Medal Brewer Rich Shannon by Vince Capano |
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