Looking into 2013

By Mark ‘Billy’ Bilbrough, President

Another year of Canberra Brewers and I think the Club is 18 this year (since March ’95?), so she will shortly be able to buy a drink at the bar…

First of all I’d like to say a huge thanks for the Canberra Brewers 2012 Committee – they have grown the club to be the biggest yet, in a very strong financial position, and I feel, generated a fantastic vibe among the members.

New initiatives such as the club library and brewers showcase open up the chance to learn more about brewing and often an exposure of styles we’d normally not taste. Thank you to all.

As we are at the start of a new year I wanted to share with you my thoughts on where the focus will be for 2013.

Many of you had to sit through my long spiel at the December meeting – fortunately this post will be a lot smaller and quicker. 🙂

This year I’d like to focus on professionalising the craft – and I think there are a couple of dimensions to this vision.

The first (and this is an ongoing theme) is about making great beer.

Whether you are kit & kilo, partial mash, BIAB or all-grain, I believe we should all be trying to make the best beer possible.

Quality ingredients are a no-brainer, as is dialling in your process (whether you are a by-the-numbers or a free-spirit, your process should be the same).

The club can help you with ingredients, education and feedback (via competitions or at club meetings).

You can also help yourself by participating (steward or judge) in competitions.  I think after entering competitions, taking part as a judge/steward will provide you with the next massive lift to improve your own brewing – you will start to gain experience in assessing your own beers.

Gordon Strong in his book Brewing Better Beer, says:

“When people ask me for the single most important thing they can do to become a better brewer, I usually tell them to learn how to judge beer.”

We have an awesome group of judges with a mass of experience. They’ll share with you the tools, and help you gain the confidence to judge your own beer.

But don’t forget to have fun with your beer, make it, share it, drink it and experiment with it – and don’t be afraid to dump it as you can always make another batch.

By making great beer I feel there are a couple of couple of knock-on effects.

You become proud to share your beer and craft beer in general with non-beer geeks, which can lead to:

a) New people who want to get into the hobby which grows our member base, and/or
b) Opens them up to a world of wonderful craft beer.

More people getting into craft beer means more craft beer is made – which has to be a good thing for craft beer fans.

I look at the United States (of which I’m a huge fan of their craft beer) and New Zealand (which has more breweries than Australia) – if we can spread the word we’ll get more, more, more.

Finally, and thanks to Charles Newton for this, Canberra Brewers has been the driving force behind professionalising the Australian Amateur Brewing Association.

It is still very early days, but I think Canberra Brewers will set the benchmark for how a brewing club should run.

There is a long way to go but I think it is worth the effort and the outcome, and I hope that one day in the near future we’ll be seen in the same light as the AHA in the States.

So in a nutshell: Brew better beer > get more people to dig craft beer > get more club members and craft breweries > get more demand for a national organisation.

The Canberra Brewers 2013 committee has a massive year lined up for you so I hope you all enjoy the ride.

The rest of the crew will share their vision across financial, education, competition, social, web, and content with you in future posts. So, until next time…