Who are Anglian Craft Brewers?
Anglian Craft Brewers are a homebrew club based throughout East Anglia, in the United Kingdom. Our membership is made up of amateur and professional brewers.
Club aims:
- Further the development of Craft Brewing
- Inform and educate each other to drive collective improvement and development
- Provide mutual support and friendship
- Help beginners progress and develop
- Organise interesting and useful events (online and in person – when possible)
- Recommend the best suppliers and most useful brewing related material
If you are interested in joining, please feel free to contact us or register for an account. All are welcome.
Meetings
Covid-19
While we’re all subject to social-distancing restrictions, we carry out meetings online. We use a variety of video-conference software, depending on who is hosting. Meetings are an open chat format with an agenda set for monthly meetings to include talks and presentations around brewing and kit.
Pre/Post-Covid
We meet on the first Saturday of each month alternating between Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. Area meetings are usually held in locations easily reached from the main London to Norwich railway line. We use local knowledge to select the best pubs with great food and an awesome selection of craft beer and cask conditioned real ale.
Club Structure
Anglian Craft Brewers is made up of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk area groups with an alignment with Cambridge Craft Brewers. If you live in the Anglia region, you’ll have a club near you.
We stay in touch using a multitude of digital methods, including: email, social media (Facebook & Twitter) WhatsApp groups and Slack.
Each region has a chairperson, who organises (or delegates) monthly meetings in Essex (Chelmsford/Colchester) Suffolk (Ipswich) and Norfolk (Norwich).
Beer Tastings and Club Competitions
The Covid Effect
During Covid, we’ve been holding online bottle swaps (where possible). Break off groups have been swapping their own beers and comparing them in video meetings from home against BJCP style guides. All good practice for anyone wanting to improve their beer tasting skills while they have some fun with like-minded people.
The homebrew community have also had to evolve, with the numerous homebrew competitions moving to online inter-club competitions.
Annual Festivals
Anglian Craft Breweries hold two annual festivals: Shed Brewers Festival and the ACB Homebrew Competition, which we will return to when allowed.
Festival History
The original festival is the annual “Shed Brewers Festival”, traditionally held at the Victoria Inn, Colchester, on the first Saturday in November.
A more recent addition is the popular Norwich Amateur Brewers Festival, held in June, at the Coachmakers Arms, Norwich. Both events are ticketed. We also have a strong showing at the Briarbank homebrew competition in Ipswich.
The first annual Anglian Craft Brewers “ACB Homebrew Competition” was held at the Royal British Legion, Wivenhoe. The event was a great success and more will follow, as soon as we can get back to them.