Time to reveal the winner in the Best Beer contest at the 36th SOTS reunion. With a score of 4.9 the winner is my daughter Jeanny. This Saint Arnold Brewery beer from 2021 Pumpkinator series was outstanding. She gets her name on the annual winners plaque and gets an engraved Yeti koozie. It also was stolen from Ryan's beer stash. This transgression, although not technically illegal, cannot go unpunished. I therefore, am banning my own Riverroamers cook team from participating next year. Great competition, so many high fours were entered. Can't wait till next year.

We are at Whiskey River Ranch in Texas for our annual SOTS reunion. This is our 36th gathering on the Guadalupe river. This is entry number twelve into our best beer contest. This is the last beer and I believe my daughter cheated. Ryan did not help her, against the rules, but she did not go out to a store to buy a beer. She went to his beer collection and picked one. Ryan and I like the same beers so...... This is a 2021 Saint Arnold Pumpkinator aged in Bourbon barrels. Never had this one before. From the bottle this gave the pumpkin and bourbon aroma. Excellent. Flavor exposed both the pumpkin puree and an oak aged bourbon with equal clarity, balanced and complementary. The middle even brought along traces of raisin or dates. Never lost its intensity through the middle into the finish. Soft texture continued throughout and long into the finish. The 5 years in the bottle only seemed to enhance the flavors. I won't let her do this again next year. But that beer almost, almost got a five.