Pro/Am Brew Challenge ranged from flawed to fantastic

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This article was published 04/11/2022 (1395 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Not all home brewers are created equal. Some folks pick up user-friendly beer kits from home-brewing supply stores or grocery stores, saving a few bucks and always ensuring a cold one is close at hand.

Others, however, take the craft of home brewing to another level, sourcing out unique ingredients, trying out (or creating) new recipes and searching for intricate gear, some of which can end up making a kitchen brew look like a science class.

It’s this latter category who, for the most part, showed off their wares at the recent Pro/Am Brew Challenge, held over a week in mid-October and staged at Winnipeg’s Oxus Brewing Co. The contest typically pits amateur brewers against professionals, with beers tasted blind (ie. it’s not known who made the beer), given a score and ranked by category.

This year was a bit different. The Pro/Am Brew Challenge has been held in Winnipeg for some years now, having paused for a couple of years during the pandemic. And while previous years’ competitions have seen upwards of 400-500 entries from professionals and amateurs, this year’s event saw just 165 entries from Manitoba and Western Canada, with only a couple of professional brewers taking the plunge.

Head judge Marc Molet-King sees the emergence of new beer competitions as part of the reason for the decline, as well as the timing of this year’s Pro/Am Brew Challenge. “A lot of it had to do with us starting it a little late in the season,” says Molet-King, who is also president of the Winnipeg Brew Bombers, a home brewing club. “Beer is not exactly a fast turnaround product. You need to plan when you’re going to brew, when you’re going to make sure you go to package properly and when you can submit it or ship it so that it can be there within that window of when a competition is accepting submissions.”

Head organizer Mandi Stacey, who is new to running the ship for 2022, agrees. “This year was sort of thrown together. People didn’t know if we were going to be able to do it this year. We really didn’t make that final decision until almost June, which is a late start. But you know what? We got it out there. We still got quite a few home brewers from Calgary, B.C., Saskatchewan…”

And while neither Stacey nor Molet-King were keen to blame the pandemic on the reduced number of entries, they conceded it may have played a factor. “I don’t know if all of the other homebrew clubs are meeting as regularly as maybe they had beforehand, or if as many of them are coordinating their shipments,” Molet-King noted. “There definitely were a couple that did that, which is great to see because it saves everybody money, and there’s a better chance of everything arriving safely if it’s shipped in one big box.”

Proportionally in the entries, Stacey was surprised to see a decrease in IPAs, although the number of hazy IPAs was up. And as Molet-King can attest, quantity doesn’t always equal quality. “I was a little unimpressed with the hazy category,” he says. “But unfortunately, that’s a very finicky style in that you need to have it shipped and sent so that it’s at its peak freshness.” Overall, Molet-King said the quality of entries ranged from flawed to fantastic. “They’ve run the gamut. There has been some excellent submissions, stuff that anybody should be proud to put out,” he said. “And there were some very flawed examples of some styles.”

With a smaller competition and an increase in the number of other beer-judging events, the pool of qualified and available national and international beer judges was much smaller, which led Molet-King to recruit from the growing number of locally certified beer judges. In North America, most beer judging follows a set of guidelines established by the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), and the bulk of beer judges have some level of BJCP credentials. (I judged a few categories at this year’s event, and while I don’t have nearly as much technical beer know-how or certification as these folks, I guess I have wine credentials and a well-seasoned palate.)

In total there were 16 categories of beer as well as one for cider and another for mead. Beers were divided into categories by style, with each beer tasted by a panel of two or three judges, who then fill out score sheets based on appearance, aroma, flavour, overall thoughts, etc. The BJCP scoresheets are returned to the brewers after the competition; as many of them are amateurs, the feedback on what they can do to improve their beer is invaluable.

In each category a gold, silver and bronze is awarded, with the 16 gold medalists facing off in the finals in an attempt to capture “best in show.” This year’s top brew was a bit of a surprise – a German-style Kölsch named Lucy’s Kolsch, made by Calgary homebrewer Dave Heath. It’s relatively rare for such a straightforward beer style to take top honours, but having tasted all the gold-medal beers, I can attest to it being remarkably well-made and very much to style. (Runners up for the top prize were Manitoba’s Kyle Dyck for a plum-infused brew, Plums in My Pocket, while third place went to Calgary’s Tyler Balkwill for his NW Xtra Pale Ale.

For a complete list of winners, see wfp.to/proambeer. For more information on home brewing or to join the Winnipeg Brew Bombers, visit winnipegbrewbombers.ca.

uncorked@mts.net

Twitter: @bensigurdson

 

Wines of the week

Closson Chase 2019 The Brock Chardonnay (Niagara River, Ont. – $20, Liquor Marts and beyond)

From the Niagara River sub-appellation comes this Chardonnay, made by an acclaimed Prince Edward County producer. It’s medium straw in colour and on the nose offers tart peach, ripe pear, bruised apple, floral and subtle vanilla notes. Half this wine is aged in stainless steell tanks and the other half in older oak barrels, which adds great texture and complexity without getting too overbearing flavour-wise. The wine retains a nice linear splash of acidity for balance too, all of which adds up to a wine which punches well above its price point. 4.5/

The Winery of Good Hope 2021 Pinotage (Coastal region, South Africa – around $20, Kenaston Wine Market)

Sourced from two South African vineyards, this Pinotage (a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault) brings aromas of violet, plum, cherry, blueberry and spice most notably, while on the medium-bodied palate those red and dark berry flavours come with a hint of fruit sweetness and little (if any) oak. There’s a touch of spice and tannin that lingers on the medium-length finish, while the wine manages to avoid some of the more barnyard and gamey-like notes this grape can sometimes bring. Good stuff… available at Kenaston Wine Market. 4/5

Anakena 2017 Ona Andes Blend (Cachapoal Valley, Chile – $25.99, Liquor Marts and beyond)

This Chilean Syrah-Cabernet Sauvignon-Carmenere blend is deep garnet in colour, delivering aromas of casiss, eucalyptus, an almost-medicinal cherry note as well as some spice. It’s dry and full-bodied, with deep cherry and dark berry flavours that come with a pronounced herbal/eucalyptus note, a hint of dark chocolate, a dash of white pepper and some black tea on the slightly tannic, medium-length finish. It’s drinkable now but could be put away for 18-36 months. 3.5/5