7^th November 2026

Red Lion, Manningtree

Attendees: Dave Beaton, Dave Caiels, Nick Davis, Guy Gallington, Nik Leng, Colin Miller, Alan Osbiston, Jim Pettifor, Graham Smith, Tim Stanton, Rich Swindells, Tony Tilbury, Andy Whitaker

Apologies: Justin Dean, Steve Plampton, Kev Warnes

2026 Review

1. Congratulations were offered to our members who had recently received their BJCP exam results… Guy Gallington, Dave Caiels, Tim Stanton, Alan Osbiston and Tony Tilbury. ACB now has 9 BJCP qualified judges within its core membership.
   Thanks were also offered to Rich, Jim and Steve for running the sessions.
2. After reviewing last year’s monthly meeting structure where we had fallow months built in, it was decided that we would return to our traditional structure of having a meeting on the first Saturday of every month.
3. It was also decided to remove the North/South Essex distinction. Meetings within Essex would be hosted according to local demand at the time. Efforts would be made to investigate other potential venues in the Chelmsford area to give greater flexibility to holding meetings in that area.
4. It was decided that there will be 3 beer challenges in 2027 and it was agreed that judging/tasting of each challenge would take place at one specific meeting.
5. Local organisers were asked to consider the necessity of having lunch at a fixed time. Currently the trend is to “book” lunch for around 1pm…this forces the beer challenge beers to sometimes be rushed and brewers not receiving the feedback that their beers deserve. Flexibility was therefore encouraged at future meetings in terms of when food is served to allow proper consideration of challenge beers.
6. Nick D. expressed willingness to continue as Chairman for the 2nd year.

2026 Remaining Events

1. 2026 Homebrew Comp – the competition entry is now full, we have a decent number of judges but could do with more to alleviate the possibility of no-shows. Rob Pryke (ex-Briarbank brewer) has said he would love to come and judge…we need to get him added in to the comp website. Kev W has done a grand job of organising prizes from sponsors. We have a couple of stewards. There may be the need to hold a Friday/midweek judging session to ease the load on the Saturday Nick D. has volunteered to have a go at organising the current entries into workable tables and allocating judges to tables. Nick will also print judges labels.
2. Advent Calendar  – the swap of beers will take place on Saturday 28^th November at Tony T’s house. Beers will need to be with your local hubs by Friday 27^th. Beer should be ready to collect from your local hub ready for opening the first advent window on Dec 1^st.

2027 Plans

1. Monthly Meetings – It was agreed that monthly meetings would simply alternate between Essex and Suffolk, with Essex hosting the January 2027 meeting.
   1. The months of April, July and December would be the targeted months for tasting the challenge beers which will be…
   1. April – A SMASH beer. Brewers are free to choose the malt and hops they use
   1. July – A Clone of Grain Brewery’s 316…we have a working recipe which will be distributed in time for brewers to brew
   1. December – Christmas Beer’s. No recipe restrictions.
2. The AGM – will once more be scheduled for November. Exact date to be determined. Venue to be determined – after one of our number left a zip-loc bag of white powder (Brew Brite!!) behind after the meeting, I’m not sure the Red Lion will want us back.
3. Brewery Tour – Colin Miller proposed 3 potential breweries for us to visit, after canvassing opinions of the members present, it was decided that he would focus efforts on trying to secure a visit to Donnington Brewery in Gloucestershire, with Arkell’s and Theakston’s being reserve options.
   1. No decision was made regarding a clone beer for this tour…very much depends on what the brewery might suggest. Donnington beers are available to buy online.
   1. It was also suggested that we might be able to pay Grain Brewery a visit, as part of our July clone beer challenge.
   1. Graham Smith also raised the possibility of if we can do a maltings tour. Nick said he would investigate.
4. Shed Brewers Festival – This will be held on Saturday 22^nd May at its usual venue the Victoria Inn in Colchester. There is the possibility that the number of beers presented at the festival might increase, with the possibility of having a few keg beers. Tony Tilbury will send out more information about the festival in the New Year.
5. ACB Homebrew Competition – various factors are affecting the potential scheduling of our competition next year. For several reasons, some beyond their control, LAB who usually hold their Open comp in May, are looking to move their comp to later in the year. There is also the possibility that ACB and Norwich Amateur Brewers may jointly hold a competition, either in October or November next year…again there are a number of factors driving this union, but we should have greater clarity by the end of the year. A combined ACB/NAB comp could be larger than either of the individually hosted comps, and would also create space for LAB to move their event. More to follow.
6. Summer Comp – Nick D. has mooted the idea of holding a small competition (no more than 50 beers) sometime in the summer to give the opportunity for some of our newly qualified judges to expand their judging experience. Nothing concrete at the moment, but he is looking into it.
7. Essex/Suffolk/Norfolk 3-Way comp – a heads up for brewers to get on with their brews if they haven’t already done so. The intention is to swap beers sometime mid to late January with a desire to start tasting sessions in early February. It was also felt that it would be good to have independent judges for this competition…preferably one judge from each region who is not brewing. Dave Caiels has volunteered to judge. We will be looking for a judge from each of the Norfolk and Essex regions but if we cant find one we will look externally. We will talk to NAB regarding getting a Norfolk judge. If any of the Essex guys knows someone who is not partaking, who can act as a judge, that would be most useful.
8. Finances – the successful running of our comps over recent years has resulting in our funds accumulating to the point where we have £1,470.59 available to us. Probably one third of that will be wiped out by the need to feed our judges at the upcoming competition and postage costs in distributing prizes but we will still be left with a signifciant balance.
   1. We will use some of the remaining funds to purchase off-flavour tasting kits in order to run a tasting session at one of our future meetings. This session would be for everyone, not just our BJCP qualified judges.
   2. A contribution will also be made from these funds to pay for 50% of the costs of ACB judges T-shirts, that have been procured for the upcoming competition
   3. Website hosting costs will also be paid from these funds
   4. Any transport to events such as Brewery Tours may also be considered for funding contribution from the club.

Communications

1. Kev W. expressed a willingness to step back from producing the quarterly newsletters. Nick D. felt it was appropriate that the Chairperson should be communicating with the wider membership, so agreed to take on the role for the remainder of his tenure.
2. Tony T. is going to look into making the club website more mobile friendly
3. As part of the Shed Brewers festival it was proposed that we could host a “Brewers corner/Meet the Brewer” event where several of the brewers would make themselves available to chat informally to the attendees about the beer they have brewed, ingredients, processes etc. A potential ongoing brew-day was also suggested but might be difficult from a health and safety point of view. One thing that could be done to enhance such a meet the brewers event would be to provide sample grains for attendees to smell/chew to give a greater understanding of the ingredients behind the beer. We will look into the purchase of some Sample Grain Packs from Crisps.

Any Other Business

1. Tim S. suggested that we might look in to hiring a mini-bus and driver and doing a tour of various villages and pubs. It is something we can look into but there may well be already existing similar services such as CAMRA bus tours and Ipswich buses Real Ale Runabout
2. Judge Training – it was suggested that if there was enough interest that BJCP judge training sessions might be run again. Even if people were really not interested in sitting exams, the training really does enhance peoples perception of beer and understanding of the flavour nuances.
3. Tony T. will look into identifying retail sites where folks can purchase branded ACB merchandise…t-shirts, polo’s, caps, beer glasses. Purchases would be made at members own expense.