ORWIGSBURG - Local homebrewer David Barber beat out thousands of others nationwide at the 35th annual National Homebrewers Conference in Philadelphia last week, taking home the Ninkasi Award.
Barber, 48, a biologist at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary who does research on turkey vulture migration, lives in Orwigsburg with his wife, Patti, and three dogs, Kestrel, Merlin and Cider.
"With the NHC being in my backyard, so to speak, my ultimate goal was to win Ninkasi and I dreamed of it but didn't think I would really win it," he said. "Remembering when they called 'First place, David Barber, Orwigsburg, Pa.,' still gives me goose bumps."
He said that after winning two gold medals, he knew he had a shot at Ninkasi and had two friends keep telling him, "Dude, I think you won the Ninkasi."
"When they finally announced my name for the Ninkasi Award, it was surreal," Barber said. "I really don't know why I started high-fiving everyone on my way up to the stage."
According to the American Homebrewers Association, the prize, named in honor of Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer, is given to the brewer who gains the most points in the final round of the National Homebrew Competition that is judged at the conference.
Points are gained from the brewer's winning entries in the 23 categories of beer and five categories of mead and cider and at least two points, meaning a bronze placement, must come from a beer entry.
For winning the Ninkasi Award, Barber won a 15-gallon brew pot, a bottle of Samuel Adams Utopias, a craft beer part of Boston Beer Co.'s Specialty Series and a package from Five Star Chemicals.
In the competition, he entered 14 brews and four made it to the final round.
Those beers included a hefeweizen, a German wheat beer; doppelbock, a relatively strong German lager; Flanders red ale, a light-bodied Belgian brew with reddish-brown colors known for its distinct sharp, fruity, sour and tart flavors that are created by special yeast strains; and an American barley wine, one of the strongest of the beer styles that's lively and fruity, sometimes sweet, and has a body that's typically thick, the alcohol will definitely be perceived and flavors can range from dominant fruits to resiny hops.
The hefeweizen in the German wheat and rye beer category and the American barley wine in the strong ale category won gold medals.
According to the results, there were 194 entries in the German wheat and rye beer category and 277 entries in the strong ale category.
Judging for the First Round of the NHC was held April 5 through April 21 in 11 U.S. cities, while the final round of judging took place June 27 at the conference and the winners were announced at the HBC Grand Banquet and Awards Dinner on June 29.
Barber has been attending the conference for the past six years and won awards for his brews the last four years with all different beer styles.
As for his winning beers this year, he said the barley wine was three years old, the Flanders red was four years old and the doppelbock was more than a year old.
The lighter beer styles he entered were brewed sometime in late winter or early spring.
"The hefeweizen was re-brewed after the first round because it needs to be fresh," Barber said. "It was only about four weeks old."
He said that he, along with others, always take the time element into consideration when entering a competition since some beers, like an India Pale Ale, do not taste right as they age.
The first year he entered a competition in the conference, he brewed a pale ale but didn't re-brew it for the second round.
"It just got killed in the second round," Barber said.
Gary Glass, AHA director, said this year, there were 7,757 total entries judged from 2,187 participating brewers and 894 entries were judged in the final round.
He also said about 3,400 people attended the conference.
"It was by far the biggest conference that we've ever had," Glass said. "It was also the first time we've ever been in a downtown location in a major metropolitan city. It was definitely a different feel for the conference. I think people really came to appreciate what a great beer city Philadelphia was."
Barber has been homebrewing on and off for 15 years.
The first few years, he was dabbling in it then got more serious when he moved to Pennsylvania 13 years ago and joined the Lehigh Valley Homebrewers club based in Bethlehem.
"I got into it because I used to live in Montana and moved to Florida, which was a beer desert," he said. "My wife brought me a homebrew kit for Christmas one year and that's been it."
When Barber joined the club in the Lehigh Valley, he switched to all-grain brewing, using malted grains instead of extract and also became a beer judge.
Barber was the Lehigh Valley Homebrewer of the Year for 2010-11 and at that time "was brewing a lot and entering a lot of competitions," but last year only entered the national competition.
"I brew at least once a month, sometimes every two weeks," he said.
In addition to his awards, this year his club also won the Gambrinus Club Award, named for King Gambrinus, the unofficial patron saint of beer.
The association said this award is given to the club having the most final round points per the number of entries from the club in the competition and to be eligible, clubs must have a minimum of five club members entering the first round and a minimum of two club members advancing to and at least one entry placing in the final round of the competition.