BREWER, BRIDE TO TOAST VICTORY.Byline: Don Conkey Daily News Staff Writer Is it more exciting to get married, or to find out you've just won a national beer brewing competition? Not a tough answer for Meleq Kacani of Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. . Especially when the beer victory brews up a second honeymoon Second Honeymoon was a game show modeled on The Newlywed Game in which three couples & their children answered questions to win (as the title says) a second honeymoon. . On Friday, Kacani was notified that he'd been named lager category winner in the second annual World Homebrew Contest, sponsored by the Boston Beer Co. ``I got married on September 28, after I'd gone to Boston for the competition,'' Kacani said. ``When I got the call today that I'd won, the first thing he said to me was `Am I talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to a married man?' Then, he said `Congratulations. Are you sitting down?' '' Top winners in each category receive an all-expenses paid, two-week trip to anywhere in the world that has a brewing history. ``We're going to Bavaria,'' Kacani said. ``That's where my favorite My Favorite is an independent synthpop band from Long Island, New York. They released two CDs: Love at Absolute Zero and Happiest Days of Our Lives. My Favorite broke up on September 14, 2005, when singer Andrea Vaughn left the band. styles of beer are brewed. ``After we were married we drove up the coast, to Monterey, Carmel, San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden ,'' Kacani said. ``And, yes, once I made the semifinals, we thought it would be really cool because it would help us pay for the wedding, and it could be a second honeymoon. A European vacation.'' The wedding payment comes from another prize for winners: Their brews will be bottled and distributed under Boston Beer's Long Shot label, and Kacani will receive $5,000 for each year that it happens - likely one, perhaps two. ``Winners will receive their $5,000 when it comes out on the shelf in the spring,'' said Boston Beer Co. spokesperson Kate Begley. ``We did winners' beers from all three categories last year.'' Kacani defeated two other semifinalists in the lager competition with his traditional German bock Noun 1. bock - a very strong lager traditionally brewed in the fall and aged through the winter for consumption in the spring bock beer lager beer, lager - a general term for beer made with bottom fermenting yeast (usually by decoction mashing); originally . Jonathan Rocks of Camarillo was a semifinalist in the ale category, but Robert Gordash of Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale (lô`dərdāl), residential, commercial, and resort city (1990 pop. 149,377), seat of Broward co., SE Fla., on the Atlantic coast; settled around a fort built (c.1837) in the Seminole War, inc. 1911. , Fla., was announced Friday as first-prize winner. Rocks' efforts, however, will not go unrewarded: He will receive $2,000 in travel vouchers to be applied either toward a trip to the 1997 Great American Beer Festival The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is a three-day annual event hosted by the Brewers Association held at the end of September or the beginning of October in Denver, Colorado. in Denver, or the American Homebrewers Association The American Homebrewers Association is a division of the Brewers Association focused on homebrewers of beer, cider, and mead. The AHA was founded in 1978 by Charlie Papazian in Boulder, Colorado. National Homebrewers Conference in Cleveland. Rocks and Kacani were among 800 entrants in the three categories: ale, lager and specialty. Kacani started brewing his own beer about five years ago, and now sees his lager thoughts hopping past the immediate prizes. ``I'd like brewing to become a profession for me, and this helps gets my name out there,'' he said. ``I do have a knack for it.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1--ran in SIMI and CONEJO) Simi Valley's Meleq Kacani won first place in a beer brewing contest. Andy Holzman/Special to the Daily News (2--ran in SIMI and CONEJO) Johnathan Rocks of Camarillo was a semifinalist in the ale category. Tina Gerson/Daily News |
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