| Winning Homebrewers |
2007 Australian Amateur Brewing Championshipsby Mark Hibberd
The 2007 Australian Amateur Brewing Championship was judged over a couple of weekends in late November at the Held since 1995, this year's competition was organised by the IBUs (Illawarra Brewers Union), the local homebrew club in Wollongong. The key organiser was Ray Mills. Entry to AABC required a top three placing in a state qualifier. A total of 892 beers from 225 brewers were entered in the qualifiers with 162 entries from 82 brewers making it to the national final. Proving that homebrewers are an independent bunch, about a quarter of the entries came from non-club members, but clubs will be encouraging them to join to share their experiences. Champion Beer of the Show was won by Dan Rayner from the Canberra Brewers for the second year in a row. Champion Brewer with 3 firsts, 1 second, 2 thirds was Craig Webber also from the Canberra Brewers for the second year in a row. Victoria won the Best State award. The 2008 Australian Amateur Brewing Championships will be in Melbourne in October in conjunction with the first Australian National Homebrewing Conference. More information and results: www.aabc.org.au 2007 Australian National Amateur Wine and Beer Show
Stuart Campbell , Beer Convener The Australian National Amateur Wine and Beer Show (ANAWBS) celebrated its 28th consecutive year with another successful competition. Total entries (including beer, grape wine, fruit wine, liqueurs and labels) approached 1000 this year, with beer accounting for 262 of the total entries, a 20% increase of entrants in the beer classes since 2006. The beer competition is fully BJCP sanctioned and was judged over two days by a panel of 22 judges led by Tony Jones from Malt Shovel Brewery, and including professionals from 8 breweries (Lion Nathan, Coopers, Campus Brewery, Yorke Brewing, Barossa Valley Brewing, Steam Exchange, Gulf Brewery, and Grumpy's), BJCP recognised judges, and respected members of the home brewing community. The competition is also the home of the prestigious Mash Paddle competition for all grain brewers. Twenty-three All Grain Kolsch entries were submitted for the mash paddle, with 12 attaining medal status (38.5 or more points out of 50). Victoria's Daniel Walker took out the 2007 award. ANAWBS stands alone but complements the AABA sanctioned state competitions and the Australian Amateur Brewing Championship. ANAWBS is a nationally focused competition open to all home brewers in Australia, without pre qualification required. Every mainland state in Australia was represented on the winning dais over the 20 style specific classes covered. Of the marquee awards, the most successful brewer came from Queensland, the best beer from South Australia, Best Kit Beer from New South Wales and the Mash Paddle winner from Victoria. SOBA National Homebrew Championships
Stu McKinlay
In the final wash-up, 60 beers were evaluated to be of medal-winning standard with 6 gold, 15 silver and 39 bronze medals being awarded. Gold medals - an indication of an outstanding, world class example of a particular style - were awarded to a Traditional Bock, a Mild Ale, an Extra Strong Bitter, an English Barleywine, a Belgian Tripel and a NZ Lager. The second day of judging culminated in a taste-off for ‘Best in Show', where a beautiful Traditional Bock from Dan Boyce (Gore) beat out two other outstanding beers: a Mild Ale from Barry Hannah (Whangaparaoa) and an English Barleywine from John Golics (Auckland). All three beers had been unanimously judged gold, in the initial round of judging. While the winning Bock now goes on to be commercially brewed at Hallertau Brewbar, Barry will take some consolation in winning the coveted ‘Brewer of the Year' award. The homebrew fun didn't end at the judging however, with SOBA's Wellington home brewers throwing a HomeBrewFest Awards Party at The Boatshed. Close to 1,000 half pints of generously donated home and commercially craft brewed beers were served - ranging in style from Pilsners, APAs and Bitters, through to various Belgian-styles, to Smoked Porters and American Stout.
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Woonona-Bulli Scout Hall in Wollongong.
If tasting 145 beers in 2 days sounds like a dream job, think again. This was the arduous task of the judging team at the inaugural SOBA National Homebrew Championships recently held in Wellington. New Zealand beer writer Geoff Griggs, who has been invited to judge at the World Beer Cup in 2008, led an expert panel of five judges through 16 hours of evaluating the 145-strong entry list.
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