Beer, steers and cheers: The 11th Annual Chertsey Beer, Pie and Infusion Challenge

Saturday 14 December 2018, 1pm

Like donning a pair of backless chaps, it's time to get out of your comfort zone and expose yourself to some competition. Yes, it's the 11th Annual Chertsey Beer, Pie and Infusion Challenge and I'll be danged if it doesn't have a cheeky hint of the Wild West about it this year. Feel free to break out the cactus beers, cow pies and tequila infusions, people. Or not. The theme is entirely voluntary, so you could always make something lovely and not cowboy related instead if that's the fancy that took you.

Here's the low down.

- Everything you need to know to enter
- The 2019 competition recipe for the beer category
- A general introduction to brewing

If you can't be bothered to read all that (TLDR) here's the executive summary:

BEERS
1. Make a beer, either to the recipe (for the Grand Prix) or Freestyle
2. Give it a name and put that name on a label
3. Bring it to the Swan on 14 December for 1pm

AND/OR

PIES
1. Make a pie
2. Remember what you put in it
3. Bring it to the Swan on 14 December for 1pm

AND/OR

INFUSION*

1. Make a flavoured spirit (or dig an old one out of the cupboard)
2. Remember what you put in it
3. Bring it to the Swan on 14 December for 1pm

*NO NUTS. One of our infusion judges is allergic and killing a judge is definitely going to get you marked down.

Everything you need to know about entering the 2019 Beer, Pie and Infusion Challenge

There's a distinctly Wild West flavour to this year's Beer, Pie and Infusion Challenge, so don your chaps, saddle up your Cayuse and tip yer ten gallon hat at a jaunty angle, cuz there's silverware in thum thar hills, yessir.

When and where

The final will be held at 1pm on Saturday 14 December at THE SWAN, Chertsey. This is confirmed. Write it in blood somewhere so you don't forget it. The judging will all be done and dusted by 630pm, so plenty of time to head off to Christmas parties, work-dos and the like, should the need be.

Prize categories

There are two competitions for the beer. One for craft and one for creativity.

GRAND PRIX BEER 2019 (Craft)

All entries in this category must be the Competition Recipe: Midnight Cowboy. With everyone brewing roughly the same thing, it creates a level playing field and ensures this is a challenge based on brewing skill rather than who has the most toys and/or can throw together the fanciest recipe. Myles.

FREESTYLE BEER 2019 (Creativity)

Entries in this category can be whatever you damn well please. It's your chance to express yourself creatively through any form of grain-based, undistilled alcoholic beverage. Go at it, you loco muchacho. Fill your boots.

BEST LABEL 2019

This may be of any format or size, so long as it fits on the bottle. The name of the beer must be clearly legible. Competitors must declare (honestly) who created the artwork for their label and must describe the creative journey that led them to it. Additional merit for flair in presentation. This category also incorporates Best Name, which as of 2018 is no longer a category in its own right.

GRAND PRIX BEST PIE 2019

This will be the seventh year the piemakers join the brewers at the bleeding edge of the human imagination. The pie may be of the style, size and recipe of your choosing. A pie is defined as any foodstuff elevated to greatness by being enclosed in pastry. This must include the base, but not necessarily a lid. A pastry lid on its own is basically stew and a dodge for those who fear the soggy bottom. Don't do it. The categories are:

- BEST SAVOURY PIE
- BEST SWEET PIE

An overall winner is awarded the Grand Prix.

BEST INFUSION 2019

This is the fifth year for the exciting, multi-coloured, expansively flavoured category we have previously called Oddka until getting called for copyright infringement. It's any spirit plus any flavour you see fit to marry together in a single bottle. The categories are:

- SWEET INFUSION
- SAVOURY INFUSION

An overall winner is awarded the Grand Prix.

PLEASE ENSURE NO NUTS. One of our infusion judges is allergic and killing a judge is definitely going to get you marked down.

SUBMITTING YOUR BEERS, PIES AND INFUSIONS

All competitors must submit the following on competition day:

Beers

- Two unmarked bottles of your competition beer for the blind taste test.
- One bottle of your competition beer bearing your beer's label and name.

Pies

- One unmarked pie for the blind taste test, bearing a card with a brief description of the ingredients. 


Infusions

- One unmarked (small) bottle of infusion for the blind taste test. Please write somewhere on the bottle what the spirit and flavour combination is, i.e. vodka and Werther's Originals. Operation Yew Tree has been notified.


JUDGING

Best Recipe Beer 2019 will be judged by Hugo Anderson, a professional brewer who is also an all-round smashing bloke and sainted individual. Despite having, in previous years, been catastrophically hung over, Hugo never fails to be a model of professionalism in the face of some fairly 'challenging' ales, many of which I have personally brewed. Each beer will be 'blind tasted' according to a randomised list (so no possibility of favouritism) and will be scored on points given for Taste, Head and Clarity. In the event of a tiebreak, the judge will have the casting vote. Hugo may be joined by a second, yet-to-be-revealed judge this year. Which is exciting.

Best Label will be voted for by the brewers and their supporters on a one-person-one-vote basis, not the one pound for one vote free for all we had last year. Mind you, that free for all made £150 for Sam Beare so we might do it that way again.

Best Pie will be judged by Rob Betteridge, a pie man of the highest order, ably abetted by Assistant Judge Phil 'The Assassin' Bachelor if he isn't off putting a cap in the ass of some Middle Eastern dictator. This is a blind tasting, although if Rob and Phil like it, don't expect too much to be left over. The pies are typically judged on Flavour, Appearance and Soggy Bottom. In the event of a tiebreak, the chief judge will have the casting vote.

Best Infusion will be judged by a recklessly heroic pairing, probably consisting of one or more of Colin Carter, Rachel Harris and Denise Cassar, all of whom have the (required) constitution of a concrete elephant. Each infusion will be 'blind tasted' according to a randomised list (so, again, no possibility of favouritism) and will be scored on Taste and Appearance. In the event of a tiebreak, the judges will have the casting vote.

The Competition Recipe: Midnight Cowboy

This year's competition recipe is a heavy homage to Siren's Broken Dream Breakfast Stout, the Camra Supreme Champion Beer of Britain 2018, which was described by the judges as "dangerously drinkable". And it is astonishingly good. 

Tasting notes are often bollocks, but this tall, dark, handsome stranger lives up to its billing, delivering smoke, coffee, chocolate, milk and oat aromas wrapped in a velvety, thick and smooth finish that is positively indecent. 

The competition 'clone' recipe was devised by the sainted Mr Hugo Anderson - our longstanding beer judge and a man soon to be elevated to the peerage for services to brewing - who went to all the trouble of making a batch to ensure it's more Joe-Buck-night-with-a-hot-New-York-socialiate than Ratso-the-oily-pimp-dead-on-a-bus-to-Florida.

Without further a-do, here's Midnight Cowboy for your delectation and pleasure.


INGREDIENTS

There are two versions of this recipe. The Extract Version for beginners and the All Grain Version for those who like that sort of thing.

To make 18 litres.

MALTS, OATS and SUGARS (ALL GRAIN VERSION)

Pale Malt                   3.41kg
Roast Barley                 260g
Chocolate Malt              260g
Flaked Oats                  640g
Dark Crystal Malt          130g
Carapils/Dextrin Malt     260g
Lactose                        400g

White cane sugar            1.75g per litre in the fermenter

MALTS and SUGARS (EXTRACT VERSION)

Light Malt Extract           3.32kg (Muntons)
Roast Barley (crushed)      290g
Chocolate Malt (crushed)   290g
Dark Crystal Malt (crushed) 70g
Demerara sugar                130g

Lactose                            340g

White cane sugar                1.75g per litre in the fermenter

HOPS  

Magnum                       8.9g

YEAST (ALL GRAIN VERSION)

  

US05 - Safeale 1 (half sachet)
Safeale 4            (half sachet)        

YEAST (EXTRACT VERSION)

Safeale 4                  (sachet)    

OTHER THINGS

Espresso coffee (liquid)    450ml (using 45g of ground espresso)
Calcium chloride  (mash salt) 4g
Irish Moss                      1/2 tsp
Salt                                      2g

                 

METHOD

The method below is all quite 'top level'. For help with the general stuff of brewing, read: The Principles of Brewing: Ingredients, Kit and Method first.

1. Do the mash.

(If you're brewing the Extract Version, skip this stage.)

Heat your 11 litres of strike water to 76-77C (this will allow for heat loss when adding the water to the grains.)

Add 4g calcium chloride. This will "promote palate fullness, sweetness, or mellowness within the flavour profile of your beer" apparently.

Mash your malts and oats at 69-70C for 60 mins.


2. Do the sparge.


(If you're brewing the Extract Version, skip this stage.)

You need 26 litres of sparge water at 70-80C with a little salt (2g) added.

Sparge that sucker good.

3. Do the boil.  

You're going to boil for an hour. At the start of the boil (once it's actually bubbling) add your 8.9g of Magnum hops.

45 mins into the boil, add your 400g of lactose and your half teaspoon of Irish Moss. 

In the Extract Version, you should add your grains (put them in a hop bag first) at the start of the boil along with your hops.

45 mins into the boil, add your 340g of lactose and your half teaspoon of Irish Moss. 

4. Do the yeast.

This recipe calls for two types of yeast, detailed in the ingredients. Use a half sachet of each. You can 'pitch' your yeast in any number of ways. Here are two.

1. Just bang it on top of the cooled wort (the hoppy malty pre-beer stuff you have after the boil), whack on the lid and walk away. Low effort, but will give you mixed results.

2. Rehydrate the yeast by adding it to room temperature sterile water in a sterile jug. Leave for 15 mins to do its thing, then vigorously stir into the wort using a sterile spoon to get a good mix with lots of oxygen in it.

Recommended fermentation temperature is a steady 19-20C.

For those who understand this sort of thing, your fermenter specific gravity is 1072. Your end fermentation specific gravity should be 1025-1030.

If you're brewing the Extract Version, you add your demerara sugar to the fermenter at this stage also.

5.  Do the bottling.

For bottle priming, the best instructions I could find were these:

- Use 1.75g of white sugar per litre of wort.
- Add your sugar to 250 ml of water
- Bring to a simmer for 5 mins (this sterilises the sugar)
- Add to your wort and stir in.

You'll also need to add your espresso to the wort and stir in. 

This is preferable to adding a quantity of sugar to each bottle because a) it's easier and b) it ensures an even distribution across the batch.

Crown cap those mothers and stash them somewhere relatively warm (min 19C) for two to three weeks, or until they are as clear as a completely black drink can be. 

5.  Do the drinking.

You don't need my help with this bit, but I'm obviously happy to oblige.

The Principles of Brewing: Ingredients, Kit and Method

Here's an idiot's guide to the ingredients, kit and method that broadly underpin every pint of beer ever brewed. And true to the Campaign for Real Ale's insistence on complete authenticity, this guide was written by an actual idiot.

Ingredients

You need them. These are the one ones you need. There are plenty of other things you can add, so don't feel restricted. It's your beer. Own it. 

1. Malt 

Malt is the bedrock of your brew and in addition to providing the sugars you need, it also brings body and flavour to your beer. Malt is the germinated grain of cereal crops - typically barley. Why germinated? Because germinated grains have the enzymes needed for you to extract various sugars essential to the brewing process. Malting is the process by which the grains are encouraged to germinate by soaking them in warm water before they are ruthlessly air dried to halt the process at precisely the right moment for them to be of maximum use. You'll need to decide if you want to brew from the grain, which is a bit more involved but surprisingly rewarding, or if you're going to use extract. Extract is where the sugars have already been extracted for you, hence the name. If you're a beginner, probably best to go for the extract. There are many different types of extract, the main ones being light, medium and dark, each affecting flavour and colour, with darker generally meaning stronger. It comes either as gloopy brown liquid malt extract (LME) in a big can or as powdered dried malt extract (DME or spraymalt) in a bag. The advantage of dried is that it's cheaper and doesn't give you that 'homebrew taste' that Sean always complains about.

2.  Sugar

Like malt extract, the main purpose of this sugar is fermentation, with some responsibility for body and flavour. Some sugars are 100% fermentable and your yeast will eat the lot, leaving no trace in your final beer. Other sugars are non-fermentable, or contain flavours that are non-fermentable, and these hang around in your beer adding specific notes to the taste, like making it sweeter, more caramelly, more cidery, more milky (as per this year's recipe) etc. You can use pretty much anything as a source of sugar - glucose, brown sugar, demarara, honey, molasses, etc., with varying effects. Most home brewers use bog standard cane sugar (but not beet - apparently it can make your beer ropey, as I have since discovered after using it a few years ago). I still make ropey beer, but at least the sugar isn't to blame.

3. Crystal Malt

The main function of your crystal malt, which looks like a hybrid of muesli and fine gravel, is flavour. Basically, it's a malt that they've frigged about with to convert its sugars into stuff that can't be fermented, so it hangs around in your beer imparting flavour. That flavour is the toffee/caramel that you get in virtually all ales. It also brings sweetness. Again, there are heaps of different kinds of crystal malt, broadly ranging from light to dark, with darker being stronger/nuttier.

4. Hops

These supply bitterness, aroma and preservative properties and usually come in tight, vacuum-packed blocks that look a bit like something you might try and hide in your luggage after a long weekend in Amsterdam. It's an indigenous English hardy perennial climber that grows like a weed pretty much wherever you let it. You can pick and dry your own wild hops, but for the sake of consistency and because brewing beer for many is onerous enough, let's stick to cultivated hops. Hops contain acids, that are mainly responsible for bittering, and essential oils which add aroma. Because the essential oils are fragile and don't like being boiled to buggery, hops are usually added in stages, with bittering (or 'coppering') hops going in first and late hops going in right at the end of the boil so their oils survive. You can even dry hop a beer by adding them to the bucket during fermentation. I don't know about you, but I'm learning a lot.

5. Yeast

This tiny fungus is your active ingredient and usually comes in either an air-tight tub or a little foil packet. This is the party starter without which there is no party - it is the single ingredient that will do most to define the success of your beer - so it's really important to get the right one. Any old yeast will not do. There's an entire industry dedicated to cultivating specific yeasts for specific jobs and happily, ale yeast is high on their list of priorities. 

6. Water

Water is water, right? Wrong. Water has two or three variables you need to consider. First, tap water has additives, like halogens, that can affect the taste of your beer. Second, water varies in hardness. Traditional British 'Burton' Ales call for special water, so you may need to add gypsum (calcium sulphate) to your brew. Finally, I said you're going to make 40 pints, but if you use less water (say enough for 32 pints) you'll get stronger alcohol and more intense flavour.


You will also need:

- Beer finings, which clear your beer during its first fermentation (in the bucket) by dragging all those fugging fogging particles down to the bottom.
- More sugar, which you'll use to get second fermentation started when you bottle this bad boy.

General guidelines on quantities

Malt extract: Between 2.25kg and 3.4kg of the dry stuff. The more you use, the stronger your beer. Add 20% to the weight if you're using liquid extract.

Sugar: This should be in proportion to your malt extract. Go for roughly 15% of the weight of your dry extract. So if you're using 2.25kg of dry malt extract, use 340g of sugar. If you're using liquid malt extract, roughly 12.5% should do it.

Crystal malt: Somewhere between 250g and 400g, depending on how caramelly you want it. It's usual to go for more crystal in a stronger beer, but, hey, whose beer is this?

Bittering hops: These are the ones you're going to boil to buggery. They add the bitter taste, hence the name. Bullion, Brewer's Gold, Target and Challenger are a good bittering hops. Somewhere between 70 - 100g should do it.

Late hops: These are the ones you want for your delicate essential oils. You probably need less - somewhere between 30 - 80g - but again, it's up to you. Fuggles, Pilgrim and East Kent Goldings are, I'm told, very popular.

Dry hops: These are essentially really really late hopes, added after the wort has cooled and left to infuse for 3-5 days

Yeast: Safale do a good batch of ale yeasts. We've used their No 4 in the past, but I'm sure the others in the series also do a fine job.

Brewing Equipment

You can beg, borrow or share a lot of this stuff with your friends. Or you can buy an off-the-shelf kit for about £20.

- 1 x Stockpot or similarly large saucepan (3 gallon - for extract brew only)

- 1 x Brewing kettle (for grain brew only)

- 1 x Mash tun (for grain brew only)

- 1 x Immersion wort chiller (for grain brew only)

- 1 x Fermenting bucket with lid (5 gallon)
- 1 x Brewing thermometer
- 1 x Long handled spoon (stainless steel or heatproof plastic)
- 4 x Brewing bags for hops and crystal malt
- 1 x Large colander or strainer (metal not plastic)
- 1 x Siphon tube (if your fermenting bucket doesn't have a tap)
- 1 x Funnel

- 1 x Chlorine-based sterilising powder

Bottling

You will need bottles sufficient to hold 36 to 40 pints. Equipment listed is for glass bottles with crown caps, because they look great and your beer just tastes better coming out of them.

- 40 x One Pint Bottles (you can either buy these new or recycle commercial ale bottles - these should be the robust, heavy duty type, i.e. Bombardier, not flimsy lager bottles that will blow up during fermentation)
- 1 x 100 Crown Caps (cheapest to buy in bags of 100)
- 1 x Crown Capper (a device that crimps the crown caps onto the bottles)

Alternatively, you can buy Grolsch-style homebrew bottles (don't use actual Grolsch bottles - they will blow up as well), or put them in plastic with screwtop lids. Don't, if you can avoid it. It's just wrong.

Making the Beer

Right, you've got all that stuff. Here's how to bring it all together into beer, glorious beer. Happily, it's dead easy. These instructions are for those using extract. Anyone brewing from grain presumably knows what they're doing already and won't be reading this. The big nerds.

Step One

1. Clear the decks. You need a fair amount of space to do this.

2. Sterilise all your equipment (fermenting bucket, thermometer, spoon, etc) according to the instructions on your sterilising powder. Make sure all steriliser is washed off, or it will kill your beer.

3. Fill your 3 gallon stockpot about two-thirds full of tap water (2 gallons or 7.5 litres).

4. Put stockpot full of water on stove.

5. Tie your crystal malt and your bittering hops into a brewing bag. Divide your late hops roughly in two and tie into separate bags, giving you three bags in total. Ensure the tops are tight or the ingredients will escape and float about in your beer.

6. When the stockpot is just starting bubble (NOT boil), slowly stir in your malt extract. If you're using liquid malt extract, warm the can in warm water first to make it runnier. Expect it to foam a lot. Don't panic.

7. Stir. Don't let anything stick to the bottom of the pot. And whatever you do DON'T LET IT BOIL OVER. It's a bugger to get off the stove.

8. As it comes to the boil, add your bag of crystal malt and bittering hops. Keep stirring to hold down the foaming.

9. Boil as hard as you can for 30 mins. Don't put a lid on it - it will only encourage the blighter to foam and boil over. Stir occasionally.

10. At the end of 30 mins, add the first bag of late hops. This will add essential oils.

11. Boil for another 15 minutes, then add the second bag of late hops.

12. After 5 minutes turn off the heat and leave the liquid to stand. Don't be tempted to go for longer. It will destroy all the magic.

13. Boil the kettle. This is to rinse out the bag full of hops and malts.

14. Strain the liquid stockpot mixture (the wort) into your sparklingly clean fermenting bucket, using the colander. Be really careful - hot sugary water burns like nothing else.

15. Rinse the bag of hops and crystal into the fermenting bucket, using the kettle of boiling water.

16. Top the fermenting bucket up to just below the 5 gallon mark with cold tap water and stir with your long-handled spoon.

17. You can now add your sugar, although some people think it's best to let your yeast have a pop at the chewier maltose for a couple of days before adding the much more readily digestible dextrose or sucrose to the mix. This may be nonsense, but if you don't think it is, see step 23.

18. When the temperature of the mix has dropped below 23°C, sprinkle the yeast onto the surface.

19. If you're using an air pump, now is the time. Place in fermenting bucket and let is bubble for about 4 hours, then put the lid on.

20. If you're not using an air pump, put the lid on.

21. Store in a place where the temperature can be maintained steadily somewhere between 17°C and 23°C. You can wrap your bucket in towels to insulate. Check the temperature daily.

22. The brew should start to foam/bubble and ferment after 12 to 18 hours.

23. If you didn't add your sugar at step 17, add it two or three days after the beer went in the bucket. If it's dextrose, be prepared for it to foam like a bastard and possibly attempt to escape. Thus speaks the voice of experience.

Note: Keep the lid on at all times to prevent infection by bacteria, other yeasts that will make your beer go off.

Step 2

1. After 3 to 7 days, fermentation will cease and your beer will stop foaming/bubbling, and go flat.

2. When you're sure fermentation is over, you may want to add finings. These help clear the beer and should be added - and the beer left to stand - according to the instructions on the packet. Once that's done, your beer is ready to bottle.

3. Sterilise your bottles, funnel, syphon and crown caps. Make sure the sterilising solution is washed off completely, or it will kill your beer!

4. Being careful not to stir up the yeast sediment at the bottom, move your fermenting bin back to the kitchen.

5. Pour a half teaspoon of sugar into each bottle. Use the funnel.

6. Siphon your beer into the bottles, being careful to leave 1.5 to 2 inches of air in the top of each.

7. Crown cap your bottles and leave for a minimum of three weeks. Bottles should be stored where the temperature is between 17°C and 23°C.

8. Don't open until the beer has cleared. You can usually tell when this has happened, even with the dark brown bottles, by holding up against the light. If it's clear and you can hear angels singing, it's ready to drink.

Winners and photos from the 2013 Beer and Pie Challenge

So the 2014 Beer and Pie Challenge is upon us and, as per tradition, I have left it until now to post the results for last year's competition. In keeping with previous years, I have attempted to reconstruct events from memories, photographs and fragmentary documentary evidence - an exercise that this year is so bereft it has led me to question whether or not the 2013 Beer and Pie Challenge happened at all.

Listen, I've done the best I can. I think these are the results, but if I've arsed it up, do let me know. I have included Hugo's beer-soaked palimpsest and some other notes that were found tucked in a brew box in the attic. Oh, and I've drawn the following artistic impression of the award ceremony, which I have a vague recollection was terribly moving. If you have anything better, do share.

Best beer (grand prix)
Blind tasting letter included as key to the accompanying image.

Here's all the paperwork that survived and made it back to
ours. Hugo's scores, plus rankings for pie, label, name.

1. Dirty Harry (Sean Parry) J
2. Black Cat Milf Stout (Myles Willingale) J
3. Erkenwald 666 (Richard Jones) M
= 4. Headpuncher (Richard Cable) L
= 4. Peter Brew (Myles Willingale) D
= 4. Chertsey Gold (Colette Kitterhing) K
= 5. Islay Malt (Al Davis) F
= 5. Hoppy Christmas Vintage (Al Davis) G
= 5. Sibling Rivalry (Rod Hardcastle) A
= 6. Maiden Voyage (Gary Weber) E
= 6. Try Ale (Yuki Lindstrup) B

7. No Name Beer (Phil Boast) M
8. Killer with Vanilla (Richard Cable) I

Best pie

1. Three Nations Surprise (Tamie Inoue)
2. Game (Rod Hardcastle)
3. Black Bird Pie (Emma Willingale)

Also listed in the Blessed Company of Pie Makers:

• Pork Pie Not Halaal (Mikakshi Bharal) SPECIAL MERIT
• Sausage and Egg Picnic Pie (Nicky Penn)
• Plumage to Catalonia (Lucy, Gabriel and Steve Wood)
• Mini-me (Rod Hardcastle)
• Delicious Kent (Tim and Barry Nunan)
• Chertsey Fidget (Kayte Cable)
• Not Your Average Pork Pie (Can Hewetson)

Best name

1. Erkenwald 666 (Richard Jones)

Best label

1. Chertsey Gold (Colette Kitterhing)


Prize winners and photos from the 2012 Beer and Pie Challenge [LINK]
Prize winners and photos from the 2011 Beer and Pie Challenge [LINK]
Prize winners and photos from the 2010 Beer Challenge [LINK]
Prize winners and photos from the 2009 Beer Challenge [LINK] 

Winners and photos from the 2012 Beer and Pie Challenge

Kate salutes her own victory in emphatic style
as Ham minesweeps the dregs

We knew it was a potentially explosive mix: the union of beer and pie in a single, festive competition, but sometimes you just have to roll the dice. In the ensuing mushroom cloud of shortcrust pastry and ale suds, all record of the event was strangely lost. Only now has it been reconstructed from old photos, graphic flashbacks and through a series of secret meetings with a shady insider known only as 'Deep Throat'.

Despite losing a fair few of the regular brewers to Christmas engagements, we still racked up a cracking 11 beers in two categories and a wildly impressive array of 12 pies fit to make a Frenchman choke on his petit fours. You are all a credit to the sterling traditions of Beer & Pie and towering examples of can-do spirit.

In addition we raised £50 for the RNLI. Every year we're one step closer to that crucial Chertsey lifeboat. You never know when the big one's coming.

Belated but heartfelt thanks go to our inestimable and often halfway sober beer judge Hugo Anderson; to the happiest man in Chertsey whose cherubic grin said all that needs to be said about the relationship between earthly bliss and a decent slice of pie, our pie judge, Rob Betteridge; and to Tony, the landlord of the Crown, who has apparently spent most of the year in renovations entirely based on the fallout from the Challenge. We salute you.

Pics will shortly be on Flickr and the full results are listed below!

From left: Rt Hon Hugo 'Pamela' Anderson (Beer Judge); Richard 'Ale Whale' Cable (Best Vintage - award assistant Jessame); Jaego 'Thor's Hammer' Cable (Best Label); Kate 'Arse, Drink, Feck, Cake' Smyth-Davys (Best Beer - award held by Hamilton); Richard 'Special Projects' Jones (Best Name), Rod 'Six To Win' Hardcastle (Best Pie); Rob ' Paul Hollywood' Betteridge (Pie Judge)

(If you have any pics to share, send them to me and I'll add them to the gallery)

Best beer (grand prix)
Blind tasting letter included as key to the accompanying image.

Click on the image to enlarge. Couldn't sort
the orientation - bloody Blogspot.

1. The Happy Beer (Kate Smyth-Davys) S
2. Hoppy Christmas (Big Gay Al) R
3. Santa Booze (Emma Willingale) M
= 4. Bunga Bunga Beer (Pippo Ajroldi) J
= 4. John Barleycorn's Blood (Paul Joyce) E
5. The Grinch (Richard Cable) G
6. Ruck Over (Myles Willingale) P
= 7. Fishpond Ale (Richard Jones) K
= 7. Beer-trude and Gris-ale-da (Rod Hardcastle) Q
= 7. Furback (Ewan Forrest) O

Best pie

1. Rod Hardcastle

Best vintage

1. Second Coming (Richard Cable)
Also placed equal 4th in the main compeition. Also only entrant in the Vintage category.

Best name

1. Fishpond Ale (Richard Jones)

Best label

1. The Grinch (Jaego Cable)


Prize winners and photos from the 2011 Beer Challenge [LINK]
Prize winners and photos from the 2010 Beer Challenge [LINK]
Prize winners and photos from the 2009 Beer Challenge [LINK] 

Prize winners and photos from the 2011 Beer Challenge

Another splendid day and another terrific turnout, with 15 beers in five different categories. I really hope you enjoyed it and many thanks to you all for yet another tremendous effort. You are a credit to the fine traditions of brewing and a towering example of can-do spirit.

Not only that, but we collectively raised £146 for disaster relief in Japan. That might not seem a lot when your country is ankle deep in radioactive seawater, but every little helps and thanks for your support.

Extra special thanks go to Hugo, our beer judge, a towering colossus of a man; Tony, the landlord of the Crown, a towering colossus of a Welshman; and Kate H, who narrowly escaped death in judging the ginger beer. She is neither towering, nor, according to our best intelligence, a man.

Happily we have full results this year, because although we did all get titanically drunk, someone less drunk than me remembered to pick them up. As usual, pics from the event are on Flickr (see link) and the placings are listed below. Cheers!

From left: Kate, Molly, Craig and Jen Hazledine (grand prix, label), Jaego, Richard and Jessame Cable (ginger beer, vintage), Hugo Anderson (judge), Oliver and Ben Smith (naturalised Brits) and Myles Willingale (freestyle, name)

Click here for the Flickrstream (photo gallery) of the event [LINK]

(If you have any pics to share, send them to me and I'll add them to the gallery)

Best beer (grand prix)
Blind tasting letter included as key to the accompanying image.

Hugo's notes: click to enlarge

1. Supporter (Craig Hazledine) D
2. Swing Low (Chris Greenwood) C
3. Penthouse Porter (Steve Dobson) J
= 4. Standard (Richard Cable) E
= 4. Sith Pith (Richard Cable) F
= 5. Bridge Over Troubled Porter (Richard Cable) G
= 5. Tastes Like Cole (Sean Parry) O
= 5. Coal (Big Gay Al Davis) H
6. Pebbledasher (Chris Mesney) B
7. Hugo Is (Not) Smashing (Kayte Cable) I
8. Will's Morning Glory (Myles Willingale) A


Best ginger beer

1. Mack the Nipper (Jaego and Jessame Cable)
= 2. Lillybell (Isabelle Willingale)
= 2. Giner (Tom Willingale)*
*Narrowly avoided disqualification for taking the judge's head off


Best vintage

1. Nutkin's Finger (Richard Cable)
2. I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Beer (Kayte Cable)
3. Beer (Sean Parry)
4. No Thanks I'm Driving (Richard Cable)
5. Romp of Runnymede (Big Gay Al Davis)*
*Notably last year's Grand Prix winner


Best name

1. Will's Morning Glory (Myles Willingale)
2. Bridge Over Troubled Porter (Richard Cable)
3. Sith Pith (Richard Cable)
= 4. Hugo Is (Not) Smashing (Kayte Cable)
= 4. Supporter (Craig Hazledine)
= 5. Tastes Like Cole (Sean Parry)
= 5. Coal (Big Gay Al Davis)
= 5. Swing Low (Chris Greenwood)
6. Penthouse Porter (Steve Dobson)
Unplaced: Standard (Richard Cable), Pebbledasher (Chris Mesney)


Best label

1. Supporter (Craig Hazledine)
2. Sith Pith (Richard Cable)
3. Bridge Over Troubled Porter (Richard Cable)
4. Will's Morning Glory (Myles Willingale)
= 5. Hugo Is (Not) Smashing (Kayte Cable)
= 5. Penthouse Porter (Steve Dobson)
= 5. Standard (Richard Cable)
= 5. Coal (Big Gay Al Davis)
Unplaced: Swing Low (Chris Greenwood), Tastes Like Cole (Sean Parry), Pebbledasher (Chris Mesney)


Best freestyle

1. Will's Morning Glory (Myles Willingale)

Prize winners and photos from the 2010 Beer Challenge [LINK]
Prize winners and photos from the 2009 Beer Challenge [LINK]