There has to be a better way to do this. Jeff is still hauling casks around the cellar. And last night here it turned into a party of the local beer club - aka the guys from work that I am training to like good beer. Today was loaded up with things like digging out from a blizzard as we await tomorrow's blizzard while trees were obtained and ornaments were hung. When the heck did I leave myself the time to get these prizes awarded? Answer: I didn't. Never mind. All is joy and happiness around here now that the real weeks of work are over for 2008. Sure there might be some fire to put out but we are in the last stretch and come Monday the days even start to get longer. Making more time for one more snowman and one more eggnog by the time Christmas comes on Thursday.
Just one note on the winner of the prize from Beau's All Natural, Alastair Wilson of New South Wales. He wrote an email to explain his set of photos, another of which is above:
Here is the first (of five) pictures I'd like to submit to this year's competition. They are of the Kent Brewery site in Chippendale, Sydney. The Kent Brewery had been there since 1835, originally as part of Tooth and Co and then as part of the Carlton United (CUB) conglomerate from 1983. In 2003 it was sold to developers and finally shut in 2005, the beers formerly brewed there now being brewed in Victoria and Queensland. It will eventually be the usual mix of swanky apartments and retail/office space. Details of the closure announcement are here and more history than you might ever need to know is here.
I love that. It is beer photo journalism as well as a documentary of the moment this great brewery disappeared. That is one thing we need more of in 2009....but...you know, there were way more than twice the entries this year than in 2007. That means next year there could be over a thousand. How are we going to handle that?
| Picture | Artist / Notes | Prize | Given By |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Troy Burtch Toronto, Ontario | Lunch at the Stinking Rose and a VIP tour and tasting for four at the Brewery. | Church-key Brewing Ontario |
 | Ryan Hartigan Vernon, NJ | One Awesome T-shirt! | New Holland Brewing Michigan |
 | Matt Billings Washington DC | Two Widmer weizen glasses and a t-shirt | Widmer Brothers Portland, Oregon |
 | Dave Selden Portland Oregon | Two Widmer weizen glasses and a t-shirt | Widmer Brothers Portland, Oregon |
 | Bryan Kolesar Malvern, PA | Two Widmer weizen glasses and a t-shirt | Widmer Brothers Portland, Oregon |
 | Cyrus Mower Oxford, England | Cracked Kettle t-shirt, bottle of Westvleteren 12 | Cracked Kettle beer store Amsterdam |
 | Ben McLeod Hillsboro, Oregon | Subscription one year | All About Beer magazine |
 | Lars Marius Garshol Oslo, Norway | Subscription one year | All About Beer magazine |
 | Alastair Wilson Wollstonecraft, NSW, Australia | The Classique: a t-shirt and hat! | Beau's All-Natural Brewing Ontario |
 | Natalie R. Wilson San Antonio, Texas | Shipyard travel coffee mug Shipyard aluminum water bottle | Shipyard Brewing Portland, Maine |
 | Matt North Chicago, Illinois | "a growler and a sampler when they come in" | Flossmoor Station Brewing Illinois |