The Victoria Inn, Colchester
Attendees: James P, Justin D, Rich S, Graham S, Colin M, Steve P, Tim, Dom A.
Apologies: Nick D, Tony T.
The meeting start was delayed to allow for later trains than usual. What a shame, we spent longer at the bar enjoying the beers and talking in the warm early afternoon sunshine.
At 12:30 we sat down and opened the meeting with welcomes and apologies. There were no new faces and apologies from Nick D and Tony T.
The agenda got off with talk about locating an event for the AGM which is now scheduled for Nov 7th 2026 at the Red Lion Manningtree. Thanks to Graham Smith for contacting the pub and booking this. This is bound to be another great AGM as the venue is always welcoming and has a great beer choice and local chippy
The next agenda item was the Advent Beer Box – Rich S has made this event live for brewers to sign up for. This is earlier than usual, but we want to get the box filled up as soon as possible. Comments were noted about the close proximity of the Advent box, competition, AGM and 3-way beer swap.
A note was taken about the lack of email notifications generated by the website when events are generated. TT to look at this.
Essex now have a full squad for the 3-Counties beer challenge, which was a challenge in itself.
The 2026 ACB Presents Homebrew competition was announced as being open for entries and all members are encouraged to enter as soon as possible before wider marketing efforts begin. We’d like to get as many club beers into the competition as possible to give the club the best chance.
We had a summary of recent homebrew competitions since the June meeting with Kev Warnes being highlighted, with a round of applause, as placing 2nd with his American Brown. The club also took joint 4th on the club leaderboard.
Rich S mentioned some of the recent issues raised with the competition website regarding delivery addresses. This was mentioned to be how the site works and you can select the delivery address/method once the window opens.
Colin Miller was given the table to update on Brewery Tour updates. He is waiting on confirmation from the Batemans Head Brewer, Guiseppi, on the best choice for the tour (standard or enhanced tour by the head brewer or owner) and the best beer to clone to be judged by him too. Colin is chasing this and will be in a position to go ahead or not by next month. Graham Smith also raised a question about a maltings tour. This was noted and we mentioned that the Crisp Maltings malt tour is well worth attending with Tim giving notes on his recent visit on the tour with Crisp.
This took us up to lunch where we enjoyed pizza and beer from the bar. Justin ordered pizza for us all, with thanks.
After lunch we moved on to AOB (Any other Beer) which was all the beers brought as we had no beer challenge for the day.
Beer list:
- Rich S: English Barley wine 9.6%
- Steve P: Abbott Ale 4.8%, ESB 6%
- Graham S: Munich Dunkel 5.1%
- Tim: Light Lager 3.4%, Crystal Weissen 4.2%, Premium Autumn Ale 4.6%
- Colin M: Landlord Clone 4.2%, Brakespear Beer 4.6%, Imperial Stout 8.5%
- Dom A: Berlinnerweiss 3.6%, Abbott Reserve 6.3%
- James P: Thaispice Saison 5.4%, Porterish/Stoutish/Mild 3.9%
Afterwards, we carried on at the bar enjoying the live music event and people watching before retiring for a curry and more beer. An excellent afternoon was had by all.