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ACB January Meeting Minutes

ACB January Meeting Minutes

Posted on by Nick Davis

Once food choices had been made, and initial drinks purchased at the bar, we kicked off, as ever, with our beer challenge. Attendees were invited to present “dark beers” for the appreciation and judging of those present, and we had 9 beers submitted for critique…there were 5 porters of varying heritage, one RIS, one Dark Lager, one Mild and one Chocolate Stout.

The standard was, as is increasingly common these days, very high, with none of the beers exhibiting obvious faults.

Competition Primer

Competition Primer

Some members asked for a “primer” on how to best approach entering BJCP competitions, so Nick Davis and I have created the attached.  Hopefully it will help beginners and experienced alike.

Comments also welcome, so we can produce an updated version to include any extra hints and tips.

Club Information

Club Information

Club Aims

  • Offer a relaxed environment for brewers to explore and meet like-minded people
  • Further the development of craft brewing by information sharing and meeting up
  • Inform and educate each other to drive collective improvement and development 
  • Provide mutual support and friendship
  • Help beginners progress and develop
  • Cover all forms of brewing, from kits to all-grain: beer is beer
  • Aim to provide constructive feedback on beers sampled at meetings
  • Celebrate great beer
  • Help brewers to understand beer off flavours and advise how to avoid them
  • Organise interesting and useful events online and in person (see events)
  • Recommend the best suppliers and most useful brewing related material

ACB aims to keep the region’s brewers in touch with each other. This is achieved using this website and various other chat groups, to share ideas and learn from each other.

ACB aim to meet regionally on the first Saturday of the month in various locations, so everyone has the opportunity to attend a local meeting at least once a quarter.

If you are interested in joining, please feel free to contact us or register for an account. All are welcome.

History

The ACB is a volunteer organisation with a rich history. Read this blog for more on the history of the Anglian Craft Brewers club.

Club Structure

Anglian Craft Brewers is made up of Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk area brewers groups. We align, freely move between, regularly communicate and share information, and attend meetings with Cambridge Amateur Craft Brewers (CACB) and Norwich Amateur Brewers (NAB).

If you live in the Anglia region, you’ll have a club near you.

Meetups

We aim to meet on the first Saturday of each month, alternating between Essex and Suffolk. 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. Saturday meetings are agenda led, when possible we arrange talks from local breweries and beer clone recipes. There is always an any other beer (AOB) section for brewers to offer up their latest beers for feedback. These are valuable opportunities to help you get feedback and help you to develop your own recipes.

Each region usually has a monthly mid-week meeting as well.

For more information on all upcoming events, check the dedicated events page.

Meetings and Events

Communication

We stay in touch using a multitude of digital methods, including: email, social media (Facebook & Twitter) WhatsApp groups and Slack. 

Regional organisers and committees organise regular monthly Saturday ACB and mid-week regional meetings across the region. Mid-week meetings are usually held on teh 3rd Wednesday of the month in Essex (Chelmsford/Colchester) and Suffolk (Ipswich). For information on Norwich and Cambridge meets, refer to their websites.

Events

Beer Tastings and Club Competitions

We hold beer tastings at monthly and mid-week meetings. Club competitions are held quarterly, typically clone recipes against popular commercial examples. We also run an annual homebrew competition.

We also run online bottle swaps, challenging homebrew clubs all over the UK to online bottle swaps. Brewers are allocated BLCP beer styles to brew, and the group compare them in weekly video meetings. 3 bottles are also allocated to judging. The beers are scored for the final week’s unveiling. Online meetings are a great practice for anyone wanting to improve their beer tasting skills. They’re perfect for meeting brewers from all over the UK. They give you familiarity so you recognise brewers when you visit homebrew competitions.

Annual Festivals

Anglian Craft Breweries hold two annual festivals: Shed Brewer’s Festival and the ACB Homebrew Competition. These are both heavily volunteer based. We rely on the support of brewers for help to brew beers to serve at the Shed Festival. We rely on interested brewers to qualify as BJCP judges to judge at our competition and provide feedback, and help to steward. Without everyone, these annual events can’t happen.

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 Brewer 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.

History of Anglian Craft Brewers

History of Anglian Craft Brewers

This is the history of Anglian Craft Brewers (ACB).

Anglian Craft Brewers Club Creation

The Anglian Craft Brewers are known for being the first East Anglian region home brew club. It started way back in March 2004. The very first East Anglian regional Craft Brewers Association (CBA) meeting was set up by demand, initiated by the CBA leader, James McCrorie. After some discussion, the inaugural meeting was held at The Bell Hotel, Clare, Suffolk. Here, Mike Rumsey, was appointed as the East Anglian regional Craft Brewers Association organiser. The meeting included a tour of the famous Nethergate Brewery.

Anglian Craft Brewers: The Early Days

In the early 2000’s there weren’t many homebrew clubs around. Due to this, home brewers would come from far and wide to the then East Anglian regional Craft Brewers Association (Anglian Craft Brewers) meetings and share beers. Brewers came from all across East Anglia: Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk. Even as far away as the East Midlands.

These early East Anglian regional Craft Brewers Association meetings were held on the first Saturday of the month. The most geographically central location was chosen, which was the Cannon Brewery & Pub, Bury St Edmunds. However, after a while, brewers found that travel to Bury was not easy by rail. So they decided to switch to holding alternating meetings in the four counties on a rotation basis:

  • Colchester
  • Ipswich
  • Cambridge
  • Norwich

Normalisation and Organic Growth

Members from Cambridge found travelling to the Essex venues particularly difficult, so they formed their own Cambridge Craft Brewers (CCB) club as a separate section to the Anglian Craft Brewers. The CCB decided to meet on the second Saturday of the month, once a quarter.

Club Names and Also Known As

After a period of regular meetings as the East Anglian regional Craft Brewers Association (CBA), in the regular venues, it was suggested that we should give the club an official name, rather than the regional version of the CBA name. After discussion, the members settled on the now infamous name: “The Shed Brewers”.

Was “The Shed Brewers” homebrew club the first “rebel” homebrew club? Bad boys before breaking out and creating new local clubs became normalised.

After several years of the name The Shed Brewers, in circa 2013, it was decided to change the name from ‘Shed Brewers’ to ‘Anglian Craft Brewers’. The Anglian Craft Brewers club then consisted of: Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk brewers. It operated in this way until around 2021, when the Norwich demographic of brewers grew significantly, and decided to break out and create their own club (NAB).

The Anglian Craft Brewers are still alive and well. We remain committed to meeting on the first Saturday of the month, rotating between Essex and Suffolk locations. We remain in contact with, and attend NAB and Cambridge club meetings. We remain a community of homebrewers and support each other for our individual club home brew competitions and events. We may operate under different local names, but we’re all still friends. We all share a common love for beer making.

A Club for the Modern Homebrewer

As a club for the modern homebrewer, the Anglian Craft Brewers club maintains growth. It firmly remains a popular choice for new members in Essex and Suffolk, in the East Anglia region. Everyone is welcome. We encourage non-brewers to attend, especially if they have an interesting in starting homebrewing as a hobby. We also look to evolve and see food as the perfect partner to homebrew meetings.

If you’re a baker, BBQ pit master, food smoker, cheesemaker or any other food and have an interest in homebrew, please feel free to attend our meetings to share your creations in a symbiotic trade of food and beer.

We have a strong core of 360-degree members with a strong interest in BBQ, smoking, pizza, breads, and beer making. These brewers continue to write the next chapters and keep the history of the club going.

If you’re looking for a local home brew club in the East Anglian Region, please reach out to find out when you can join us at a monthly or mid-weekly meeting.

Regions meet on the first Saturday of the month and on the third Wednesday for mid-week meetings. Saturday meetings always have an agenda and beer challenge associated, with member-led presentations. There is always an any other beer (AOB) section for any beers brewer’s want evaluation and feedback on. Mid-week meetings are relaxed with no agenda and an open house on beers. Anglian Craft Brewers have a range of BJCP certified beer judges to give a well-informed opinion.

Join the Anglian Craft Brewers Club Today

If you’re interested in finding out more about the ACB, please feel free to register here and contact us, and we’ll put you in touch with your local organiser. We’re a friendly bunch and don’t put pressure on you to commit to any activities. We aim to make integrating as easy and organic as possible. We all have a different pace and vision of success. Join us and find out what we can do for you.