Do you know how to drink a beer? Summer comp this Sunday

This Sunday, Feb 20 is competition judging day. To run a club comp we need as many members as possible. Whether you’re BJPC or can raise your arm with a glass to your lips, you can judge. Register in the portal so you can be allocated. https://comps.sabrew.com. If you can’t use it, just send us an email at info@sabrew.com

We can’t hold competitions if we don’t get the support to run them, especially with judging. If you’re new to the club and think judging is beyond you, don’t worry. Have a go. We’re not in it for sheep stations. 

The location is at Unit 3/77 O’Sullivan Beach Rd Lonsdale in a new brewery.  

If you can’t be there from 12, come along at 3.30pm and bring one or two beers to share around. We’re making it a social event too where we’ll announce the winners. Here’s a Facebook event for it.

Of course, you can still enter your beer for the competition. Bottle drop on the day from 11.30am, at this week’s meeting or BeerBelly by 5pm Friday 18th. Entries close on Thursday 17th February

This Wednesday’s meeting is at the Wheaty from 7pm. Again with numbers probably lower, we’re getting out and supporting a local business that does appreciate us being there.

As always, if you’ve got a beer to share or an idea to raise, bring it along.

We need your help to judge summer comp – there’s also a social event too

The competition is running on Sunday, Feb 20. The event is up and entries are coming in — now we need your help. 

As always we need judges. Even if you’ve never judged before, we need your help. It’s just drinking beer after all. 

Register in the portal so you can be allocated even if you’ve entered. We place you in a different style or flight. https://comps.sabrew.com

Don’t be nervous. It’s fun, you’ll be with other experienced judges and you’ll learn a lot that benefits your own understanding of tasting and brewing beer.

The location is in Lonsdale in space that will become a new brewery. So you get to see it in development. 

Social event.

We can also welcome members to come to the venue for the winners’ presentation and share a beer or two. Bring one or two to share around. It’s a social event too.

Of course, you can enter your beer for the competition too. There are limits on the number of entries and entries per style.

Bottle drop will be on the day, at the meeting the week prior and at BeerBelly by 5pm Friday 18th.

The categories are;

  • Hop forward beers (IPA, pale ales etc)
  • Dark/Stout
  • Sours

One beer from each category will be crowned the winner with medals for second and third.

Entry is only open to SABC financial club members, including new financial members who join the club. There can be one entry per category and a maximum of three entries. There will be a cap on total entries..

Entries close on Thursday 17th February. Judges and stewards will be needed. Register your availability in the portal.

We still hope that the winning beer will be brewed by a commercial brewing company and released on tap at our very own stand at the July Beer & BBQ festival.

Here we go again…

Despite the pandemic, goddamit we will have a regular meeting next Wednesday at The Wheaty from 7pm.

After seeking you opinions in a poll, we know many are hesitant about meeting and are waiting for booster shots to soak in so we’ll keep it simple. Catch up with brewing buddies and bring a beer if you’d like to have it assessed. We thought about cancelling but we also don’t want to let down The Wheaty who are also doing it tough.

If anyone wants to present either a beer or a topic, drop us a line. We’re into it.

Be aware, the Wheaty will have capacity limits and restrictions we must follow.

It’s likely we’ll also do an Australia Day Zoom meeting. Stay tuned for that.

Summer competition update.

We know you are as disappointed as we are that the summer comp has been postponed. We would like this to go ahead and we propose provisional judging on the weekend of 19-20th February. We may need to extend this to the following weekend in sessions to minimise exposure numbers for gathering etc.

We know a lot of people will want to avoid larger gatherings and keep a low profile but to run it we do need help from the community with a suggestion for venue. Preferably outdoors and undercover (at least spacious), close to facilities and central. It’s likely bottles will need to be dropped on the day and maybe at the meeting in the week prior.

We also hope to be able to offer the best beer to be pro-brewed and served at the winter Beer n BBQ (if that happens).

Can you also indicate in an email or vote/ comments on the Facebook poll if you would consider judging or stewarding?

Final meeting of the year Wednesday

This Wednesday is our last meeting of the year and as usual, it’s a casual affair with nothing planned except we’ll get in some pizzas.

Bring a bottle of homebrew to add to the ‘secret Santa’ swap.

We’ll also be presenting the club award to SABC Brewer of the Year.

Reminders: Summer Comp closes before judging at Homebrewed on Saturday, Jan 25. That’s only six weeks to brew a beer in the styles being judged.

It’s also only eligible for current financial members — as are all events, meetings, pizzas, barrels and extras the club offers — so if you’re reading this and your membership has lapsed, it’s time to log in and renew. What better gift for the beer lover mate or family friend.

From us at SABC have a merry Christmas and a safe New Years.

SUMMER COMP 2022. GAME ON!

Bring your best home-brew to Beer & BBQ Homebrewed festival for summer comp 2022. We are excited to announce our biggest and best Club competition in our ten-year history.

The 2022 SABC summer competition will judge three styles in an exciting collaboration with the Homebrewed Beer and BBQ Festival.

The categories are;

  • Hop forward beers (IPA, pale ales etc)
  • Dark/Stout
  • Sours

One beer from each category will be crowned the winner.

Each winning beer will be brewed by our commercial brewing partner(s) (TBA) and released on tap at our very own stand at the July Beer & BBQ festival.

Beers will be judged at the summer Homebrewed festival on Saturday 22nd January at the Showgrounds and announced on Stage on Sunday 23rd January. 

We expect a large number of entries this year. Entry is only open to SABC financial club members, including new financial members who join the club, at no cost per entry. There can be one entry per category and a maximum of three entries. There will be a cap on total entries (TBC).

Entries close on Sunday 16th January. Judges and stewards will be needed. As a reward, they will receive complimentary weekend passes for the festival.

Indicate your intention to participate via the SABC entry portal when this opens. As well as a commercial release, Beer & BBQ Homebrewed will also be sponsoring additional prizes to be announced. For full competition entry conditions, please see previous competitions announcements here.

Christmas get-together at Shapeshifter reminder

If you missed our plans, we’ve decided to keep the Christmas event simple and head to Shapeshifter Brewing Co and see their new home on Crittenden Rd Findon for a Sunday afternoon get together.

  • Date: Sunday 5th December
  • Time: 1 – 6pm
  • Location: Shapeshifter Brew Co. – Unit 2/54 Crittenden Rd, Findon

There will be a food truck on-site for eating and a wide range of head brewer James McCall’s delicious beers.

Facebook event for RSVP here so we can gauge numbers.

Meeting this Wednesday

At our meeting this Wednesday at the Wheaty from 7pm we’ll be tasting some of the national AABC medal-winning beers from club brewers and hearing from them about how they were made and any tips on taking a good beer to great. Get your questions ready.

Beer Bingo is on as usual. Bring a bottle of your beer and take another one home. It’s slipped a bit recently so make the effort to bottle something and bring it along. It’s rewarding to get someone else’s beer to enjoy for a change. Judging by our recent successes in competitions, you might get a winning beer.

Say this out loud: Hey Google | Hey Seri, remind me to take a beer to the club meeting on Wednesday afternoon at 6pm.

Christmas event

Our Christmas event this year is a simple affair. We’re going to visit the new home of Shapeshifter Brewing Co on Crittenden Rd Findon for a Sunday afternoon get together.

  • Date: Sunday 5th December
  • Time: 1 – 6pm
  • Location: Shapeshifter Brew Co. – Unit 2/54 Crittenden Rd, Findon

There will be a food truck on-site for eating and a wide range of head brewer James McCall’s delicious beers.

We’ll still have a regular monthly meeting for our annual pre-Christmas pizza get together and secret Santa beer swap (ie beer bingo in a brown paper bag) at the Wheaty on Wednesday, December 15.

Club meeting this week

On Wednesday for our regular monthly meeting at the Wheaty we’re again giving the opportunity for members to have their beer anonymously assessed by the members in small judging groups.

Bring in a beer, ideally in an unmarked bottle, and let the members guess the style and give feedback. You can fess up if it’s yours or not. We only need one 750ml bottle or a couple of stubbies.

Bring in beers for bottle bingo too. Leave a bottle and take another one.

New members welcome.

If you missed the announcement about our 2022 summer comp… it will be a banger, trust us. The only styles being judged will be: 

  • Hop forward beers (IPA, pale ales etc)
  • Dark/Stout
  • Sours

Read more here.

Summer competition 2022 and November meeting

The club’s 2022 summer competition will be a banger, trust us. The only styles being judged will be: 

  • Hop forward beers (IPA, pale ales etc)
  • Dark/Stout
  • Sours

You can make anything you like in these BJCP styles below.

Tip: your beer must be able to be rebrewed, all-grain and able to be replicated and consumed within three months. Ideally not super high abv or aged. We strongly encourage you to keep detailed notes on your recipe, process and brew day. You may want to go all out to win this one. There will be limits on entries per brewer and an overall cap on entries.

Open to financial club members who are amateur brewers. 

  • Dates: Entries close: Sunday 16th January 2022
  • Drop off and portal opening details TBA
  • Judging: Saturday 22nd January 2022
  • Winners announced: Sunday 23rd January 20223 categories will be judged, with a winner announced in each of the three following categories:

Hop-Forward beers:

Dark beers:

Sour beers:

SABC Summer competition 2022 Conditions: 

1. Entries must be All-grain, with exception of adjuncts, special ingredients. All special ingredients must be listed on entry.2. One bottle per entry as per the description of acceptable bottle type and volume set out in general club competition rules.3. Maximum of one entry per major category, 3 entries in total per brewer.4. Brewers must be able to provide detailed brewing notes to reproduce winning beers. 

General club competition rules: South Australian Brewing Club (“SABC”) General Competition Rules for all club competitions:

1. Disputes concerning any competition run by the SABC will be determined by the SABC in its sole and absolute discretion.2. Any dispute should be addressed to the Competitions Director and SABC committee.3. To be eligible for any prizes, an entrant must be a current financial member to enter.4. Bottle sizes: Only glass or plastic bottles or cans larger than or equal to 500ml and no greater than 1000ml will be accepted. 700ml bottles are preferred. 330ml stubby bottles or cans will not be accepted.5. Prior to the judging of entries, the Competitions Director may declare prizes available to any and all entrants.6. Prizes offered as are and cannot be exchanged for cash or same financial value.7. The Competitions Director may vary the rules applicable to any competition by declaring the variations prior to the commencement of judging.8. Entrants must declare any conflict of interest before taking part in the administration or judging of a competition.9. SABC reserves the right to cancel, postpone or modify the competition.10. All entries must be handcrafted products, containing ingredients available to the general public, and made using private equipment by hobbyist brewers.11. The competition director reserves the right to combine styles for judging and to restructure awards as needed depending upon the quantity and quality of entries received.12. All participants in a SABC Competition shall act in good faith at all times

October club meeting

The next club meeting will be a member’s beer assessment meeting. Bring a long neck or at least 750mls of your beer and we’ll allocate it to groups for blind assessment. Don’t mark the bottle with what it is, let them guess. We’ve done it before and it’s good fun and you’ll receive sound feedback too.

Bring another bottle for bottle bingo too.

Other things

We’re planing a club barrel project. Stay tuned for that one. We’ll let you know what’s happening soon.

The Christmas event is being worked out. It’ll involve your beer in groups/teams.

Meeting this Wednesday – all things brewing tech

For the September monthly meeting, we have Brendan, Nick and Lachlan talking all things tech in brewing.

They will demonstrate several hardware and software solutions that can make the home brewing process just that little bit easier and help you keep track of your fermentation even when you’re away.

There will be digital hydrometers, internet-connected fermentation fridges, Pi’s, Plaato’s, cloud APIs, smartphone keg management tools and online tap lists and even a guest appearance by Alexa.

The Wheatsheaf Hotel, George St, Thebarton. 7pm.

One not to miss.

SABC’s Brendan Macey wins SABSOSA best brewer perpetual trophy

The Champion Brewer title for 2021 went to SABC member Brendan Macey!

He not only took home the perpetual Mike Leupold trophy but also a huge prize pack thanks to our friends at BeerCo.com

Best Beer of Show went to Allan Rowland, who has won the opportunity to collaborate on a brew with the guys at Western Ridge Brewing Collective.

Thanks as always to the Wheatsheaf Hotel for hosting the awards presentation, and to all the other SABSOSA sponsors for their support. (go on, click and see them all)

Results are now published on the entry portal and scoresheets are available for download.

Login to your account, scroll down to see your entries and then click the blue pdf icon to the right of each entry to download the scoresheets. https://enter.sabsosa.com.au

Brendan in SABC t-shirt holds the SABSISA trophy, a silver mash paddle mounted on a wooden board
Results – SABSOSA 2021 Competitionbody {font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; }

BOS – SABSOSA 2021 Competition

Beer

PlaceBrewerEntry NameStyleClub
1stAlan RowlandNEIPANew England IPA [BJCP 21B] 

Mead

PlaceBrewerEntry NameStyleClub
2ndRafael AragonLeatherwood Batch 2Sweet Mead [BJCP M1C]SABC

Meeting this week IRL…

Howdy. It’s been a big beer week for us. SABSOSA had over 380 entries and thanks to the team who collected them all up from drop off venues and at the Irish Club on Saturday. Judging is this weekend. Again, we need help. If you can judge, please register in the portal enter.sabsosa.com.au or talk to Gary and the team on Wednesday night.

Yes, Wednesday night. We’re back IRL, in person, in skin. 7pm at the Wheaty.

We’ll knock over our AGM requirements swiftly. Nominations are still open at info@sabrewcom or on the night. If you’ve got ideas about things the club could do and steer in the future, put your hand up. We welcome you.

After that, we’ll be getting on to the ‘supermarket challenge beers’ tasting. They’re had an extra month to condition and by all accounts they’re drinkable.

Other than that, we’ve got nothing else.

A reminder that we have a closed Facebook Group for members to communicate and we share info. If you didn’t know or haven’t got around to joining, let us know at info@sabrew.com.au and we’ll get you in.

See you Wednesday.

SABC Winter Competition open

Hello. The entry portal for the club’s winter competition is open for entries today, Monday 28 June.

The competition is only open to current financial members of SABC (join or renew here). Read more rules and conditions on the portal. Entries may be disqualified if not in accordance

You must create a new account for this competition — even if you have entered our summer and winter or SABCSOA comps before. We start a new database for each competition. You only need to register your information once. You will be able to return to the portal enter more beers or edit entries.

Pay your entry fees online. After payment, you can print your bottle labels to fix to your entries. Do not put any other marking or your name on the bottle. We just need a clear barcode to scan.

Seriously, no names or bottle markings.

The focus is lager. No other beer styles are being judged. Two entries per category will be permitted. See listed categories below.

The winning lager, along with coveted club “brewer of the year” points, will have a special limited edition version of their winning brewed to be on tap at The Suburban Brew later in the year.

Of course, the winning brewer will be invited to help brew their beer at Suburban.

Dates:

3 – 10 July – Bottle drop off (strictly) at The Suburban Brew, Goodwood Rd, Goodwood during their open hours. Check here.

14 July – Judging. A closed event with accredited judges only.

Wednesday 21 July – Winners announced and prizes, at the club meeting being held at The Wheatsheaf Hotel.

Categories included for entries are (BJCP 2015 style guidelines) including sub-categories:

  • 1 Standard American Beer* excluding 1C, 1D
  • 2 International Lager
  • 3 Czech Lager
  • 4 Malty European lager
  • 5 Pale Bitter European
  • 6 Amber Malty European Lager
  • 7 Amber Bitter European Lager
  • 8 Dark European Lager
  • 9 Strong European Beer

BJCP styles and more on the comps page.