“I’m really doing it more to get some feedback and some positive criticism,” Woodson said about entering the competition.
The homebrews are ranked in multiple categories by accredited judges from the Dayton Regional Amateur Fermentation Technologists club, or DRAFT, said Allan Hess, executive director of the Clark County Fair and a homebrewer himself. Hess entered a cider and a bock beer into the contest.
The beers will have been judged before the fair begins, but the bottles and their placings will be displayed in the fair’s Arts and Crafts Building. In addition to Woodson and Hess, four other amateur homebrewers entered the contest. One is from Texas, Hess said.
He expects the homebrew contest to be an annual event and anticipates more entrants once the word spreads.
Woodson said he has long been interested in craft beers and then received a one-gallon starter kit for Christmas. The Springfield resident brewed his first batch in January.
“I was just hooked after that,” he said.
Since then, he also has brewed several all-grain batches. IPAs are his favorite kind of beer, he said, but his homebrew has included a variety of ales and stouts.
“It’s like starting out with a blank canvas, and four to six weeks later you have a masterpiece,” Woodson said.
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