So, we judged the Anglian Craft Brewers 2023 (3rd) homebrew competition late last week, and over the weekend. The competition attracted 104 entries, not only from Anglian based brewers, but also further afield, including locations such as Jersey, Scotland, France and Austria.

The Anglian Craft Brewers 2023 homebrew competition was hosted by the Briarbank Brewery. Judging took place in one of the upper rooms of the neighbouring Isaac Lord buildings. This historic building operated, up until the 1980’s, as a coal and corn trading merchants. Many items relating to the past history of the building are on display within the premises, including a restored corn dressing machine on one of the upper floors.

97 of the 104 entries were actually received and the entries were split over ten different style categories, judged over the course of Thursday and Friday evenings, and all day on Saturday. The best beer in each style category then advanced to a “Best of Show” round to determine the overall competition winner.

The overall Best in Show award went Ian Benfell of Barnsley Homebrew Club for an Old Ale, closely followed by a Czech Dark Lager, brewed by Mark Sanderson of London Amateur Brewers. Third place overall went to a Belgian IPA brewed by Jacques Marais, also of London Amateur Brewers.

Local brewers also enjoyed a decent amount of success:

• James Pettifor won Gold in the Monastic category for a clone of Orval and also picked up a Silver medal on the Strong Beers table for an Imperial Stout.

A number of Silver medals were also won by:

• Nick Davis for a Belgian Single and also for a Dopplebock.
• Kev Warnes for his British Golden Ale.
• Tony Tilbury for a Saison.
• Rich Swindells for an American Stout.
• John Watson received an Honorary Mention for his Belgian Dubbel.

Full results can be found at… https://competition.angliancraftbrewers.org.uk

All in all it was a very successful day, even the livestream results announcements worked without a hitch. It was a very busy three days, so thanks are needed to all the folks who made the comp possible. This includes all our local judges and others who travelled from as far away as Colchester, Cambridge, and Norwich to help out.

Thanks goes out to our judges and stewards on the day:

• Keith Bailey, Nick Davis, Marc Hannewald, Martin Haworth, Rob Marchington, James Pettifor, Steve Plampton, Richard Swindells and Tony Tilbury.

Also, many thanks to our hosts at the Briarbank and Isaacs, for all their assistance and good service over the course of the three days (especially for letting us use their cold store to keep our beers in).

Hopefully we will be able to do it all again next year – possibly at a time that is less crowded with other competitions.