Winners of last 2009 competition

Confusion about the rules of my own competition have made the Papazian Cup / Protz Shield rather broader than intended. But what the hell. Never before have I awarded so many prizes. (And probably never will again.)

There's a very special prize up for grabs: 1909! This pre-release version of my collaboration with Kristen will never be available for sale. And only 10 copies have been printed.

The standard of entries was very high. Hence the superfluity of prizes. Here are the winners:

Matt gets two prizes for these entries:

"I was more interested to know whether Protz's claims that Russian Imperial Stout was heavily hopped to "withstand the rigours of the long sea journey" and brewed with Pilsener malt that came back in empty barrels from the Baltic and - at "only 7%" abv - Sam Smith's version is 'not true to style' are correct."

and

"Porter began as a mixture of brown, stock and pale ales but disappeared by the end of the nineteenth century, although the weakest version became mild ale which when bottled is known as brown ale".

and

"Most modern bitters are too dark and too weak to be considered true members of the IPA or pale ale family."

Steve seemed to have an even flimsier grasp of the rules than me. But is still a deserving winner for this delightful piece of fantasy:

"Several people have asked the origins of stout and porter. Back in the 13th century, it was a Belgian ale called Stout Porter, being named after an old stout porter who worked at Waterloo. This beer, being the original, was 100% true to style - which is strange, as it was a completely clear liquid (this was due to the Belgian Purity laws which dictated that all brewing had to be totally transparent).
In the 14th century it was brought over to Britain, but the style immediately became less than 100% true due to small mammals being added to the mash to provide extra fizz and fermentation (English brewers had misheard the Belgians' accent as "stoat porter"). No matter, because Danish brewers in Northampton quickly went to court and stopped this ale being sold due to it being too like their own lager - almost colourless, fizzy and with a slight whiff of polecat wee. It wasn't until the 20th century that the beer took on the dark colouring we associate with it today. Brewers had started adding clinker to the mash, which gave it a smokey flavour. Coal Porter, as it was known, became a success. Inspired by this, more variants were invented: Nyree Dawn Porter, which came to the UK from New Zealand. Gail Porter, which had a great body and a smooth head. Stout Yeoman, made with freeze-dried mashed potato, and finally Alec Guinness - which looked quite weak, but had a force which was strong."

Rod also gets two prizes for these gems:

"Hodgson consciously invented a new style of beer, which he immediately christened India Pale Ale, in the knowledge that only this extra-high gravity, extra-high hopped ale would survive the passage to India and actually mature wonderfully, and with the intention that it would be diluted down upon arrival to render it true to traditional Pale Ale style."

and

"The Czechs invented pilsener beer in the town of Plzen in the late 19th century."

First Stater gets a book for this:

"Origin of barrel-aging?

While barrel-aging has been going on for a long time, as others have stated, I believe this was mostly for sour beers. This is less used to impart characteristics of the barrel, but more as a vessel to carry the bugs and bacteria that sour the beer."

And finally Oblivious wins for a lovely piece of BJCP flim-flammery:

"The term "IPA" is loosely applied in commercial English beers today, and has been (incorrectly) used in beers below 4% ABV."

Winners just need to contact me at the email address on my website and their prizes will be in the post in a jiffy.