Home Brew Society

2013 Competition

The Nightrider, imperial stout, breakfast of champions was the winning beer this year, ending Daryl’s six-year tenure as Te Pahū Brew Master. It took the combined effort of two brewers to break his run of six consecutive competition wins though, Mark Hassell and Kelvin McVinnie are collectively the Room42 Brewery; we tied with Daryl for first place last year and nudged ahead of him by a solitary point this year. The man is a brewing paragon and tough to roll on his home ground.
As has been the recent tradition, the competition was held in Daryl’s medieval shed, (the best place you’ll ever drink a beer), and was attended by some thirty judges amidst a huge array of hot meat, fresh bread and finger food. Twenty three beers were entered and enthusiastically presented by about a dozen local brewers. There was also a postal entry by Bay of Plenty guest master-brewer Lance Carter. His unusually named K/1109 porter was welcomed with open arms, finishing in the middle of the pack. As you know, Te Pahū beer is of exceptionally high quality and you can’t expect to submit a brew without showing up in person to present it and expect great things.

My favourite beers of the night were Daryl’s 2nd placed beer, (I can’t remember the name, it was one of those nights), and Martin’s Global Warmer 2013. I’m sticking my neck out and am picking Martin to run away with the cup in 2014. My family’s Christmas Day lunch was lubricated by the mighty Global Warmer.

Kelvin.

 

 

2006 Competition

Held on the 10th February 2006, in the Te Pahū Movie Theatre. (Movies were canceled as the Home Brew competition was such an important event). (The Te Pahū Library – adjacent to the Movie Theatre – remained open throughout).

Graeme Cairns, by virtue of his skill at brewing, and by combining various plant extracts into his brews, succeeded in taking First, Second AND Third places.  Well done Graeme.

Rather than sulking as most people in this situation would, we congratulated Graeme, and have now formed a new Te Pahū Home Brew group, “The Te Pahū Home Brewers”.(Graeme is not a member).  With this new catchy name we intend to achieve great things.  Meetings are to be held weekly at the Te Pahū Library, Sunday nights.

Enquiries e-mail homebrew@tepahu.org.nz or phone Adrienne 825 9933

Competition 2004

It was particularly exciting this year, with 22 entries! This year’s beers were judged on the following criteria: clarity, behaviour, difficulty in brewing, labeling, imagined health giving properties & other household uses. And without further ado, here are the winners:

Third place- Graeme Cairns’ Albion Ale ‘Buff’ label

Second place- Fulton/McCarthy

    .

.. and the Winner Adrienne Carthew

Needless to say, by the end of the night everybody was pleased the testing was over.

 

Competition 2002

Amid a convivial, semi-formal atmosphere in Brian Gordon’s garage, after much deliberation and high-jinx, the Te Pahū Homebrewer’s Group announced the results of their 2002 annual brewing competition. Judged by all present, on a variety of categories, including: Behaviour, Flavour, Clarity, Labeling, Bottling, Imagined Health-Giving Properties, and Other Potential Industrial Applications, of the twenty entries, these were the outstanding beverages:

  • Third place went to Adrienne Carthew for her saucily-labelled and flavoursome “No Frills Bitter”;
  •  Runner-up was last years winner Graeme Cairns (aka Laird McGillicuddy) with his now famous “Albion Ale (Red Label)”;

But this years awards were carried off by:

  • Overall winner: relative novice Wayne Humphries, with his tasty and beautifully-presented “Kārearea Black Mountain Stout”.
  •  Worst beer of the whole year: recent Emigree Paul Hitchman (in absentia) with his much misunderstood “Hay-makers Lager (Lite)”.

Other highly commended beers were:

  • John Norman’s delicious Stout;
  •  Kelvin Krippner’s tasty but ambiguously-named “Grease The Old Manifold”;
  •  Gerry Kessels’ highly imaginative “Tangatawhenua Red”;
  •  Gavin Bax’s hilarious and almost unpronounceable “Alarmed Llama Lager”;
  •  Martin Dew’s euphoric and aptly named “Flyer”;

Dave Turney would like to sincerely thank Paul Hitchman for saving him the embarrassment of coming resoundingly last, with any or all of his three entries.

The Te Pahū Homebrewers group meets about once a month for tastings and a wee chat, and welcomes new members interested in the science, art and entertainment of brewing fermented beverages.

Contact any of the above-mentioned enthusiasts for more details.

For your complimentary bottle of Hitchmans Haymakers Lager contact Graeme Cairns on 825-9933.