Author: Gerard Flynn

To coincide with the Euro’s 2024 (European Football Championship) we have themed this years winter comp around the Euro’s and the styles that the countries of Europe bring to the world of beers.
Now, obviously we need to stay to BJCP styles for judging purposes so we have narrowed the categories to be following:

English:
English IPA [BJCP 12C]
English Porter [BJCP 13C]
English Barleywine [BJCP 17D]

German:
Leichtbier [BJCP 5A]
German Pils [BJCP 5D
Weissbier [BJCP 10A]

Belgian:
Belgian Blond Ale [BJCP 25A]
Belgian Pale Ale [BJCP 24B
Belgian Single [BJCP 26A]

Scottish:
Scottish Light [BJCP 14A]
Scottish Heavy [BJCP 14B]
Scottish Export [BJCP 14C]

As some of you maybe aware Ireland did not qualify for the Euro 2024 competition but because I am me, We have Ireland as a wild card so also including:

Irish:
Irish Red Ale [BJCP 15A]
Irish Stout [BJCP 15B]
Irish Extra Stout [BJCP 15C]

The winter comp is scheduled for the 30th of June so we have some time to get these brews on the go but think wise, plan well and lets hope you can be crowned, champion of Europe at the ETKG tennis club.
Comp portal will be open in due course with all the usual T&Cs.

Good Luck.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s summer competition. I feel it was a pretty successful year this year. The club presenting some fantastic beers yet again.

Special thanks to Glen for driving the majority of judges and stewards to and from the venue. Please thank him when you see him again if you haven’t already.

Thanks to the sponsors lonegum farmhouse and beer no evil for hosting us at their venue, unit 3, for the competition. I think it’s safe to say that after the comp, there were a lot of ooohhhs and aaahhhs when drinking some of the beers that Ryan has produced.

Thank you to major comp sponsor, the wheaty who is generously offering to rebrew the best of the best beers from each category.

On to the winners of each category and a massive congratulations to all, you are onto the final step for the wheaty rebrew. We will need to receive another sample of your beer to be presented to Jade at the wheaty to judge with a panel to pick the best of the best. This tasting will likely happen on Thursday 15th February so if you could have a sample to a committee member before this date, that would be great.

Low Alc: Tali Warnock with a Scottish Light

Amber & Dark: Adam Forbe with a Schwarzbier

Specialty IPA: Luke Beard with a Brut IPA

Porter: Bj Macey with an American Porter

Belgian: Mark Murray with a Belgian Single

Best of Show was awarded to Mark Murray with his Belgian Single. Mark will have his name engraved on the summer comp trophey! Well done Mark!

Id finally like to say thank you to all the judges. It was fantastic to see some fresh new faces to the judging panel and being guided by some fantastic experienced judges. It brings great benefit to the club to have the experience of others passed onto new members.

If there is anything you feel we could do better when it comes to comps, please let me know and we will look to incorporate it into future comps. This doesn’t matter if it’s negative or positive feedback or suggestive. Please feel free to reach out to me and I will bring it to the committee for discussion.

As many of you are already aware, Gary will be hosting another BJCP styles study group to enable members to learn some theory (and practical) before sitting the BJCP exams.

The format will along the lines of the following:

BJCP Styles study group will be Limited to 6 people. 3 people have already taken slots

Location will be at Gary’s house on yhe 2nd Thursday of every month at 7pm

February – Lagers cats 1-9 . Practical Discussion. Malt

March – British 10-17 . Water

April – American 18-21 . Hops

May – Euro 22-26. Yeast

June – Historical. Brewing process

July – Wild,fruit,spiced,smoked,wood& specialty. Judging & stewarding

Aug – Bjcp rules & regulations. Beer faults & flavors

Sept – Online exam practical. Faults

Oct – Revision & online tests

Nov – Tasting Exam

If you wish to participate please reach out to Gary in the first instance or any other club committee member who can point you to the bst means to contact Gary.

Hello all, couple of updates on comp.

If you have your beers made and ready to go, don’t forget to register, pay and print your labels. I know I almost forgot with it being a busy time at home (first day of school tomorrow).

There was a slight admin error on the comp portal where we had British Brown Ale instead of London Brown Ale registered as a style.
As a result, we have agreed to have both sub styles within the comp.
If you wish to recategorise your British Brown to London Brown, please send me a PM and I can arrange for this to happen on the back end.
Although the British Brown is not a low alc style of beer, it will be judged in the low alc category for the sake of keeping 5 main categories.
Please bare in mind that it is not being judged against the other styles, but against the style guidelines.

The bus is being confirmed in the next day or 2 and so far there are only 9 judges registered in the portal. If you are available to judge or steward, please register on the portal or let me know.
The sooner the better as the difference in price for a 12 seater bus and a 25 seater bus is significant.
Those who have registered, I will be in contact tomorrow to confirm if you would like to avail the bus service. Or if you are reading this and know you want to get on the bus, just send me a PM.

Bottle drop off is available to Unit Three up until 10am Sunday morning, they are happy to take entries and store them on site until then. I have a number of entries for member which I will bring with me and happy to take others if there is a need.

We will be hosted by Beer No Evil and Lonegum Farmhouse at their new venue in Lonsdale, Unit 3 Collective.

Some members may remember us holding the summer comp here a couple of years ago when they first acquired the premises, and it was a great afternoon.

We will be organising transport to and from the venue and it will be for judges/stewards and staff only. Transport will be booked on number of people registered on the competition portal to travel so registering for this is essential if you wish to utilise the transport.
There will be 1 pick up and drop off location unless there is a second on route to the venue. This can be discussed at the next meeting.
************************************************************************************************************************

This year we have 5 Categories with 3 styles per category.
We will be limiting entries to 5 max entries per person and 1 max entry per category.
This is a good one to spread your styles out or rebrew your old favourites. With the wide range of styles to choose from, there is a bit of comfort for everyone as well as the option to try a style you may never have before.

*************************************************************

Low Alc
•            Scottish Light
•            London Brown Ale
•            Czech Pale Lager

Amber & Dark Lager
•            Munich Dunkel
•            Marzen
•            Schwarzbier

Specialty IPA
•            White IPA
•            Brut IPA
•            Red IPA

Porter
•            English
•            Pre-prohibition
•            American

Belgian
•            Biere de Garde
•            Belgian Single
•            Belgian Golden Strong

Not only is there the potential for bragging rights and winning the SABC Summer Trophy, but Jade from the Wheaty has put forward the option of rebrewing the winning recipe with you assisting and picking the brains of the Wheaty Brew Corp team.

Giving the nature of the prize, all beers are required to be All Grain, kits brews will not be considered for a rebrew.

Small disclaimer, the winning beer of the comp doesn’t win the rebrew. The top beer from each category will go to a second Judging panel for a “Best of Show” so should you win a category, we will need a second bottle of your beer for judging.

The competition portal is now live so head on over and register and get those beers entered.

https://comps.sabrew.com/