Attendees: Colin Miller, Tim Stanton, Graham Smith, Justin Dean, Steve Plampton, Dave Caiels, James Pettifor

After a period of confusion and various members wandering around trying to find an open pub in the vicinity of Colchester Town station, we settled into the Fat Cat where Steve Plampton had managed to secure a table (the Oddie not being open at the appointed start time of the meeting).

We enjoyed an opening pint or two before settling down to our (important) discussions; members enjoyed Oakham’s JHB, Mauldon’s Moletrap and the Fat Cat’s own brand stout.

First item we discussed was the upcoming ACB Homebrew competition which most of us knew is planned for 22nd November at the Briarbank/Isaacs in Ipswich. In the absence of chief organiser Nick Davis, there was not much to report, so we moved onto a brief discussion about other competitions we were aware of:

• BrewoVision: largely driven by the Panomaju club in Finland and intended as a best-of-the-best competition amongst the best brewers from clubs across Europe. The first step is “preliminaries”, of which the important one for us is the one being run by LAB in early September. This is to be followed – for the successful brewers – by the “finals” where a further 10 bottles of the same beer would need to be mailed for sharing amongst the five regions, leading to a Eurovision style vote by the regions. This started a debate about whether brewers could – or should – aim to brew a further batch of their beer with the aim of presenting it at its’ best. I think we concluded for some styles this would be a must (e.g. Hazy Pale)
• LAB Open: early July and already full
• Reading Amateur Brewers (RAB) Sours in the Sun: mid July and likely already full
• NAB German Beers competition: October and probably already full
• Welsh Open: Last year this was mid-October, having moved to allow for the Craft Beer channel competition and thus clashing with the NAB competition (edit: it is not showing in the BJCP competition calendar)

We then discussed forthcoming BJCP Judge training. Expected to be held at the Vic Inn, Colchester starting Autumn 2025. This will be a tour through the BJCP style guide by tasting example beers and discussing them to focus on improving attendees skills of perceiving aroma, flavour, texture, etc. and ascribing appropriate descriptors and intensities. The aim is to help attendees to better assess beers and – perhaps – for them to then proceed to taking the BJCP exams (online entrance and when successful, the tasting exam). It will also involve some other sensory training, including deliberate “spiking” of beers with specific off-flavours to help attendees to identify these in beers.

The cost of the beers needed for each evening will be shared amongst those attending.

Attending does NOT commit you to taking the exams, but you may choose to.

Q2 Malt Challenge (brew a beer with at least 75% Weyermann Barke Munich Malt)

3 beers were presented:

Steve P: 5.2% Amber ale. Not brewed as a specific style, but used a lager yeast. Probably closest in style to a Munich Dunkel. A good beer.
James P: 5.7% Munich Dunkel. Brewed to a recipe from Lee Immins on LAB which came 2nd in the ACB competition a few years ago. Colin thought it seemed a little “flabby”. I wondered if it might be oxidised. It scored a measly 13 points at the LAB Lager than Life competition in March, with the judges citing acetaldehyde as a major flaw. It was not that bad today!
Dave C: 5% Bock beer. This was enjoyed by all. Steve P said he thought it was very like Superbock from Portgual.

Overall, 3 good, well made beers, but we decided not to put it to a vote as to which was best on the day.

Shed Brewers

A good festival once again with £750 raised for the food back.
Winning beer (attendee vote) was Jon R’s Hibiscus Wheat beer.

Charles Faram Hop Challenge

20 brewers have signed up. They have each been given 100g of either CF384 or CF386. Respectively, these have been described a “passion fruit” and “tropical orange”. The plan is that the beers – or as many as possible – will be tasted at the July Saturday meeting at the Dove Street Inn, Ipswich and the three best using each hop will be selected to be sent to Jon from Faram’s.

In addition, a Teams meeting has been scheduled for 6th August (details to be added to website) where Jon will talk about Charles Faram and their hop breeding programme, and taste the representative beers sent his way. It is hoped that this will be the beginning of an ongoing relationship whereby ACB members get early access to experimental hop varieties and Charles Faram get a wider range of brewers trying out their new hop varieties.

Yeast Challenge

After a short discussion, we decided that it made sense to select the Sussex Ale yeast which Brewlab sell in slopes via Malt Miller (maybe also direct?). Brewers to decide what style of beer to brew, but ideas focused on a Harvey’s Sussex Best clone.

Brewing Small beers

My notes are rather limited on this, but I made the following notes:

• Alcohol carries flavour
• Low ABV beers are challenging to make
• Brewers need to include some elements in the grist to contribute body
• Mashing high can help as it reduces fermentability and thus reduces ABV whilst contributing body

Harveys Tour

Not many notes on this, but a reminder that the tour is first weekend in September. It was noted that accommodation in Lewes is costly, but that Brighton is close by (a short train ride) where there are more reasonably priced accommodation options. Colin will share more details nearer the time.

Chelmsford Brewery Tour

Justin is organising this tour. Details on the event page on the website.

Any Other Beers

Dark Mild 3.7% – James P. Made using a Ron Pattinson recipe for J W Lees Best Mild. Uses nearly 14% Invert Sugar No.1 which might help explain why Colin thought it too dry for a mild. It also uses almost a whole 100ml bottle of brewers caramel to impart a very dark colour.
English Bitter 4.3% – Tim S. Some members noted cooked apple aromas and that the beer was rather too dry (I think Tim said it finished at 1.006), but it had excellent clarity and condition.
Bitter 4.5% – Colin M. Mangrove Jacks M42 + Verdant IPA yeasts co-pitched. A pleasant beer without being amazing. I think Colin used the CF experimental hops in this beer, but I can’t remember which one!
NEIPA 4.7% – Tim S. USed Krush, Motueka and Citra hops. A decent beer, but the colour indicated a degree of unwanted oxidation.
Bitter 5.3% – Graham S. Very bitter!
American Amber 6% – Jon R. Made using Citra and Amarillo hops. A very good beer.
Black IPA 6.7% – Jon R. This beer was 6 months old. Considering its’ age. it was a good beer, but some members felt there was not enough hop aroma and flavour. Perhaps age had taken its’ toll!

The meeting closed at this point and a few meandered home whilst several of us relocated to the Queen Street Brewhouse and sampled a few of their offerings, including:

• Boon Kriek 4% – loads of cherry flavour and aroma in a very drinkable beer
• a couple of cask offerings which were a little disappointing
• ABK Helles – a very drinkable lager beer
• one or two bottled Belgian ales.

I headed back to Ipswich with Tim S at this point, leaving Colin, Steve, Jon (& Carolina, who had joined us by then) and Dave C to enjoy whatever delights the evening continued to hold for them…