This past wednesday we got together and put the Leeds Home Brew group into the fire, we being Matt and Erin from North Bar, and John from Kirkstall Brewery and Vertical drinks. The entries were all very very good and it came down to a few points between all the beers with one coming out on top. The Leeds group sent us 3 beers to judge, drink and slate and they all pulled great marks with the tasting panel. We judged all the beer on three categories Aroma, Appearance and overall Taste. Judging them on a scale of 1-10 and then average our scores together at the end.
@Exiled_Cumbrian (Andy) hit us with what we called Black Ale not enough hop bite to be considered a BIPA but enough bitterness to satisfy all our taste buds. As I recall we all commented on the almost perfect carbonation in this beer, the color was not super black but no where near brown. The taste was and aroma hit the marks as well, it was all in all a well rounded beer but just not as memorable as the other two. This beer placed 3 overall with a score of 65.
@zakavery The well known beer writer passed up on judging in this comp and opted for brewing a beer of his own. He brewed what we will call a big fruity Pale ale with big hits of citrus and passionfruit hopped to hell with Galaxy. The aroma on this beer was stunning and the big bitter finish was fantastic. The only critque of this beer was that it seemed to go to far with the bitterness pleasant enough but not so well rounded. This beer placed second over all with a score of 72.
@braukerl It seems Matt plays bridesmaid to a lot of the beer comps that are set out in the Leeds Homebrew group and he just edged out Zak for the title. Throwing the panel a perfectly balanced pale ale with a hell of a tropical fruit aroma to boot. The sheer drinkability of this beer is what won the panel over. This beer will be the beer brewed with Kirkstall Brewery to battle those lovely rule bending folks over the Pennines represented by the WHOLE GROUP(rule breakers) brewed with Jay of Quantum Brewery fame.
In what is the first battle of the homebrew groups the standards were set pretty high by the Leeds group and time will tell about those kids over at the Manchester homebrew group but the battle of the pennines has gone down a storm. Both beers with be available at the festival with all proceeds going to the breweries picked charity and all down to the public vote then a group of outsiders (them there London Town folk) will get together and pick an overall winner and they will be given a trophy to have bragging rights until next year.
Hope to see you all at the festival.
Tyler Kiley.