Club competition one — 2011

By Mark Bilbrough, Competition Secretary

Wow, what an awesome day, 50 beers over eight styles and not an APA in sight. On Sunday 27 March the Canberra Brewers were out in force for Club Competition One. Dicko’s place was the venue (thanks Dicko) to judge English Brown Ales, Light & Amber Hybrids, English Pale & English India Pale Ales, Belgian & French Ales, Belgian Strong Ales and Stouts. A big thank you to the judges (Ross Mitchell, Tom Dixon, Sam Highley, Jamie Harwood, Chris Duffy, David Gilks, Ben Harmer & Paul Haesler), the new judges who stepped up to the challenge (Craig Stokes, Martin Budden & Chris De La Rue) and the hard working stewards (Patrick Baggoley and Paul’s mate Steve).

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Ross Mitchell and Jamie Harwood hard at judging.

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Ben Harmer and Chris Duffy working their way through some Belgian Ale's.
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As a BJCP sanctioned competition, we were following the BJCP Rules and Guidelines. This has led to a greater number of awards than traditionally given by the club (see note below). It's great to see that out of the 50 beers, all but three were awarded a bronze or better (17 gold, 22 silver and eight bronze).  This means we have a great base to work from to win Champion Club at the Nationals again this year. Keep up the great work.  Just remember that for the ACT Competition, we ‘swap’ over to the AABC awards regime, which means that a bronze in the club comp won’t score you enough to get a bronze in the ACT Competition, and many silvers become bronze (Ed: although the rank ordering remains the same, so there's nothing different in the qualification of beers for the Nationals).

Thanks again to all who entered, judged and stewarded – it was a long and rewarding day.  Without further adieu, here are the results (scores are averaged):

Flight One – Light Hybrid Ale and Amber Hybrid Ale

1. Tom Dixon — Cream Ale — 40.7 —   Gold 
2. Evan Roeterdink — Blonde Ale — 40.0 —   Gold 
3. Ben Harmer — Kolsch — 39.7 —   Gold 

• Chris De La Rue — California Common — 39.5 —   Gold 
• Dan Rayner — California Common — 37.3 —   Silver 
• Matt Hogan — Cream Ale — 36.2 —   Silver 
• Steve Norrie — Cream Ale — 35.3 —   Silver 
• Keenan Fahy — Kolsch — 30.2 —   Silver 
• Paul Haesler — Kolsch — 29.3 —   Bronze 
• Luke Falconer — Kolsch — 28.0 —   Bronze 
• Chris De La Rue — Kolsch — 26.2 —   Bronze 

Flight Two – Belgian & French Ale and Belgian Strong Ale

1. Keenan Fahy — Saison — 43.3 —   Gold 
2. Ben Harmer — Belgian Dubbel — 42.8 —   Gold 
3. Chris De La Rue — Saison — 39.2 —   Gold 

• Luke Falconer — Saison — 38.0 —   Gold 
• Charles Newton — Belgian Tripel — 33.7 —   Silver 
• Ben Harmer — Witbier — 31.3 —   Silver 
• Patrick Baggoley — Saison — 30.8 —   Silver 
• Mark Bilbrough — Saison — 30.7 —   Silver 
• Charles Newton — Saison — 30.3 —   Silver 
• Chris De La Rue — Belgian Speciality Ale — 28.0 —   Bronze 
• Michael O'Rourke — Witbier — 25.2 —   Bronze 

Flight Three: English Pale Ale and English IPA

1. Matt Hogan — Extra Special Bitter — 40.8 —   Gold 
2. Stewart Wardrop — Extra Special Bitter — 37.0 —   Silver 
3. Michael O'Rourke — Special/Best/Premium Bitter — 35.0 —   Silver 

• Keenan Fahy — Special/Best/Premium Bitter — 34.7 —   Silver 
• Evan Roeterdink — Ordinary Bitter — 33.7 —   Silver 
• Charles Newton — Special/Best/Premium Bitter — 33.3 —   Silver 
• Keenan Fahy — English IPA — 31.7 —   Silver 
• David Gilks — Ordinary Bitter — 30.3 —   Silver 
• Mark Bilbrough — Special/Best/Premium Bitter — 30.3 —   Silver 
• Patrick Baggoley — English IPA — 29.7 —   Bronze 
• Ben Harmer — Extra Special Bitter — 26.3 —   Bronze 
• Bruce McIntosh — Special/Best/Premium Bitter — 21.7

Flight Four: Stout

1. Ben Solly — Oatmeal Stout — 42.0 —   Gold 
2. Matthew Stephenson — Dry Stout — 41.0 —   Gold 
3. Matt Hogan — Foreign Extra Stout — 40.5 —   Gold 

• Gordon Maxim — Dry Stout — 40.0 —   Gold 
• Keenan Fahy — Dry Stout — 39.5 —   Gold 
• Charles Newton — Foreign Extra Stout — 39.5 —   Gold 
• Chris De La Rue — Sweet Stout — 39.3 —   Gold 
• Luke Falconer — Oatmeal Stout — 38.5 —   Gold 
• Charles Newton — Dry Stout — 37.5 —   Silver 
• Ben Harmer — Oatmeal Stout — 33.0 —   Silver 
• Luke Falconer — Dry Stout — 22.0

Flight Five: English Brown Ale

1. Tom Dixon — Mild — 37.3 —   Silver 
2. Luke Falconer — Southern English Brown — 36.3 —   Silver 
3. Craig Stokes — Mild — 30.8 —   Silver 

• Michael O'Rourke — Mild — 28.5 —   Bronze 
• Ben Harmer — Southern English Brown — 19.0

Footnote: Using BJCP Scores

The BJCP recommends the following for award certificates:

• 38-50 Points: Gold (Excellent or Outstanding example of style)
• 30-37 Points: Silver (Very Good example of style)
• 25-29 Points: Bronze (Good example of style)

Club Competition Two is only three months away, so start formulating your recipes and scheduling your brewing. CC2 will cover Lagers, Light Ales, American Ales, Sour Ales and Russian Imperial Stout.

Cheers and beers,
Billy

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David Gilks attempts to capture the subtle aromas of a Kolsch.
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Beer judging is more than just sniffing and drinking beer, as Craig Stokes demonstrates.
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