Smithwicks Homebrew Challenge

[irish_goat]

Beers were all stored in a fridge when they arrived at the venue, not sure what temp exactly but it was pretty cold.

Judging went well, there was a good mix of homebrewers, beer judges/bloggers and staff from the brewing side of Diageo. I was paired with a fella who looks after quality control.

Beers were loosely categorised based on ingredients and then each table of judges sent their favourite beer through to the best of show. My table had a mishmash of brews. 2 were pretty much undrinkable, one had far too much clove phenols and the other had too much aniseed. 1 beer was a nice spicy, hoppy pale ale but didn't really fit the brief as a winter beer. Would have been a perfect summer beer however. Our winner was a chocolatey nut brown ale.

The top 5 were ranked in order and Smithwicks are phoning today to see if the winning brewers are available to brew next week, if they're not, they'll move down the list. The top beers were a mixture; one was a liquorice and juniper ale and the other was a cinnamon, apple and ginger ale.

Honourable mention goes to a brewer who submitted a "traditional ale" that tasted almost like a Duvel clone. The judges felt it was a bit too strong to fit the brief but it was a great beer.

They are going to try their best to give the feedback notes back to the brewers anyway.

[Will_D]

Cheers Thomas,

Thanks for the info.

About how many beers were entered?

[auralabuse]

Anyone get a call yet, very interested in what you brewed, flavour additions etc. This was my first ever entry to a competition and am keen to improve to enter the nationals at some stage. Really hope there is some kind of feedback

[Shanna]

Beers were all stored in a fridge when they arrived at the venue, not sure what temp exactly but it was pretty cold.

Judging went well, there was a good mix of homebrewers, beer judges/bloggers and staff from the brewing side of Diageo. I was paired with a fella who looks after quality control.

Beers were loosely categorised based on ingredients and then each table of judges sent their favourite beer through to the best of show. My table had a mishmash of brews. 2 were pretty much undrinkable, one had far too much clove phenols and the other had too much aniseed. 1 beer was a nice spicy, hoppy pale ale but didn't really fit the brief as a winter beer. Would have been a perfect summer beer however. Our winner was a chocolatey nut brown ale.

The top 5 were ranked in order and Smithwicks are phoning today to see if the winning brewers are available to brew next week, if they're not, they'll move down the list. The top beers were a mixture; one was a liquorice and juniper ale and the other was a cinnamon, apple and ginger ale.

Honourable mention goes to a brewer who submitted a "traditional ale" that tasted almost like a Duvel clone. The judges felt it was a bit too strong to fit the brief but it was a great beer.

They are going to try their best to give the feedback notes back to the brewers anyway.

Something tells me with those ingredients it will be Masher Murphy or Dodge.

Shanna

[aweisse]

Look forward to the feedback, it will be interesting.

[Jacob]

Looks like another one for NCB
Well done Seb!!!

[irish_goat]

Looks like another one for NCB
Well done Seb!!!

Didn't realise results were live but yep!

Seb, who goes to NCB meets won along with a fella called Stephen Ryan. Not sure if he is a member or not but I'll be sure to rope him in.

At this stage, both winners will brew a 10hL batch in the St.James Gate microbrewery. These 2 brews will then be distributed around the country to select pubs. Customers at the pubs will get samples and will be asked to pick their favourite. Overall winner is then announced in December. 

[aweisse]

Where were the results posted ?

[brianbrewed]

Where are the results???

Bit disappointed finding out via a post on a thread on a forum.

[irish_goat]

I'm guessing Jacob was speaking to Seb personally. There doesn't seem to have been an official announcement yet so maybe just bear with them til tomorrow.

[Leann ull]

Brian don't sweat it they were calling me all day but I didn't want to answer , enter your beer in the Nationals and win a Medal!

[auralabuse]

Well done to both. A nice achievement and hopefully an enjoyable prize.

[Will_D]

Now you know why the NCB closed the transfer window a few days ago (see some other post from the rambling auld Welsh git)

[mkav79]

Hey guys, were results/feedback posted out for this?

[Fatcontro11er]

Got this reply on a comment on their Facebook page!
Very poor show I feel! I know we got a pack of hops but the post alone cost £10 for the three bottle let alone the time and effort! I don't even know if they got there as there's no feed back!!!!

Hi Stuart, thanks for your interest. We had two finalists, Sebastian Kondol and homebrewing duo, Stephen Ryan and Brian Mooney. With an overwhelming amount of entries we are unable to give individual feedback but the standard was very high and the judges were very impressed with the overall quality. Thanks again for your interest, Smithwick's Ireland

Pretty derogatory!? Or is it just me?