El Dorado County is in Northern California, with its county seat in Placerville in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of Sacramento, and extending to South Lake Tahoe. We have both homebrew and commercial microbrew competitions, including mead and cider as well as beer. Homebrew and microbrew entries are judged the same day with some overlap between panels, but with separate homebrew and commercial best-of-show awards. Awards are based on merit rather than 1st/ 2nd/ 3rd in the panels -- like wine competitions. While the entries have been from Northern California, and direct email announcements are to California and Nevada, entries are welcome from anywhere. Details are at http://eldoradocountyfair.org/brew-competition.html. Questions can go to judging@hazeclub.org.