The Northern Craft Brewers Craft Brewing Association


Full Results sheet In PDF format
The 11th National CBA Festival & Competition at the Copper Dragon,at Skipton, North Yorkshire. 18th September 2010
The eleventh National Beer Festival was held at the Copper Dragon Brewery owned by Steve Taylor the first Chairman of the Northern Craft Brewers. Entries were 216 with 61 competitors and were accepted by courier and personal drop-off all day on Friday 17th September and early morning on the 18th.Entries and competitors came from all over Britain; including Glasgow, Dunfermline, Kent, Surrey, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Wales, Devon, the Midlands and of course the North of England.
Thirteen judges, seven from the National Guild and six being associated with the brewing industry started judging the nine classes at 9.40am and had finished by one pm when the festival opened. The NCB had designed a “Judges’ Comment Sheet” based on the American Homebrew Association’s marking sheet and approved by the National Guild that the judges completed for every beer as well as remarking how they had all enjoyed the experience tasting beers that were generally of a very high standard.
Winning competitors were rewarded for the best six beers in each class with a Rosette and a Certificate. The Judges’ Champion, Gareth Lester-Oliver from Malden in Essex received an engraved crystal tankard for his American Pale Ale (class 7) as did Steve Flack from Cambridgeshire for winning the Regional Championship (Pale Ale 1050-60)

Nigel Atack from Doncaster with his Raspberry Ale voted for in “Peoples’ Choice.” All the results are on both the CBA and the NCB websites but here are the Gold winners in each class: Light Ale – Peter Kennett, Huddersfield, Pale Ale – Martin Richardson, Cambridgeshire, Strong Ale – Adrian Chapman, Keighley W. Yorkshire, Strong Dark Beers – Ian Priddy Halifax W. Yorkshire with an Imperial Stout, Dry Stout – David Huskisson E. Sussex, IPA – Kevin Plunkett Bradford W. Yorkshire, Speciality Beers – Gareth Lester Oliver Malden Essex, Belgian Style – Matthew D’Arcy Colchester Essex.

I believe the Festival was a huge success with a record number of entries and the help we had from the members of Northern Craft Brewers and their ladies. A special mention to Diane and Nancy who worked tirelessly throughout Friday accepting the entries and then on Saturday receiving and processing the results, also to Calum and Aled from the Scottish CB who attended the ladies putting out bottles, comment sheets and certificates.
Julie and Tricia on the door and selling raffle tickets and Eileen and Harry on the Brewers’ Recycle stall and all the other members who mucked in.

Finally, thanks to Derek Spedding for processing the entries and organising the Festival and to Steve Taylor for the use of his warehouse and facilities including four free brewery tours.

*Postscript: Several judges mentioned to me that many beers had flavours associated with fermenting at high temperatures. Lesson: “Keep it Cool.”* Bill Lowe. Chairman, NCB.

*The following article was written by Calum Craigie of the Scottish Craft Brewers* The morning of the Festival was filled by a very informative and entertaining presentation on yeast from Mike Hitchens from Brulabs. The talk itself lasted for the best part of an hour and started with a description of what yeast varieties are used for brewing (along with the explanation of the Latin Names for the boffins in the room). We then heard about the services that Brewlabs perform for the industry before talking about brewing yeast characteristics and some of the practices that will help the brewer to gain the best flavour profile from their chosen yeast (this includes pitching volumes, temperature control and watching for generic drift if you are cropping and reusing etc). The final section of the session was of most interest to the brewers in the room. Mike had prepared slides that pictured yeast in various states from healthy through to faults like wild yeast infections, diacetyl, acetaldehyde, DMS and acetic acid infection. To accompany some f these slides we were handed test tubes that contained samples of the flavour faults. The idea was that we could open the test tube and sniff the offending fault and then see what that would look like under the microscope. This generated quite a bit of discussion in the room as it really is a fantastic training aid for the craft brewer. I think Mike got the level right for the presentation. The talk assumed very little knowledge of either yeast or brewing in general and even although there was a mix of novice and experience in the room Mike managed to cater for all attendees during the hour. Mike later sat in the main hall with his microscope and analysed yeast from the bottom of competitor’s bottles.
Photos on this page Published by Kind permission of S Flack
Copyright 2010 The Northern Craft Brewers

The 11th National CBA Festival & Competition at the Copper Dragon,at Skipton, North Yorkshire. 18th September 2010

The eleventh National Beer Festival was held at the Copper Dragon Brewery owned by Steve Taylor the first Chairman of the Northern Craft Brewers. Entries were 216 with 61 competitors and were accepted by courier and personal drop-off all day on Friday 17th September and early morning on the 18th.Entries and competitors came from all over Britain; including Glasgow, Dunfermline, Kent, Surrey, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Wales, Devon, the Midlands and of course the North of England.

Thirteen judges, seven from the National Guild and six being associated with the brewing industry started judging the nine classes at 9.40am and had finished by one pm when the festival opened.

The NCB had designed a “Judges’ Comment Sheet” based on the American Homebrew Association’s marking sheet and approved by the National Guild that the judges completed for every beer as well as remarking how they had all enjoyed the experience tasting beers that were generally of a very high standard.

Winning competitors were rewarded for the best six beers in each class with a Rosette and a Certificate.

The Judges’ Champion, Gareth Lester-Oliver from Malden in Essex received an engraved crystal tankard for his American Pale Ale (class 7) as did Steve Flack from Cambridgeshire for winning the Regional Championship (Pale Ale 1050-60)

Nigel Atack from Doncaster with his Raspberry Ale voted for in “Peoples’ Choice.”
All the results are on both the CBA and the NCB websites but here are the Gold winners in each class: Light Ale – Peter Kennett, Huddersfield, Pale Ale – Martin Richardson, Cambridgeshire, Strong Ale – Adrian Chapman, Keighley W. Yorkshire, Strong Dark Beers – Ian Priddy Halifax W. Yorkshire with an Imperial Stout, Dry Stout – David Huskisson E. Sussex, IPA – Kevin Plunkett Bradford W. Yorkshire, Speciality Beers – Gareth Lester Oliver Malden Essex, Belgian Style – Matthew D’Arcy Colchester Essex.

I believe the Festival was a huge success with a record number of entries and the help we had from the members of Northern Craft Brewers and their ladies.

A special mention to Diane and Nancy who worked tirelessly throughout Friday accepting the entries and then on Saturday receiving and processing the results, also to Calum and Aled from the Scottish CB who attended the ladies putting out bottles, comment sheets and certificates.

Julie and Tricia on the door and selling raffle tickets and Eileen and Harry on the Brewers’ Recycle stall and all the other members who mucked in.

Finally, thanks to Derek Spedding for processing the entries and organising the Festival and to Steve Taylor for the use of his warehouse and facilities including four free brewery tours.

Postscript: Several judges mentioned to me that many beers had flavours associated with fermenting at high temperatures. Lesson: “Keep it Cool.”

Bill Lowe. Chairman, NCB.

The following article was written by Calum Craigie of the Scottish Craft Brewers

The morning of the Festival was filled by a very informative and entertaining presentation on yeast from Mike Hitchens from Brulabs.
The talk itself lasted for the best part of an hour and started with a description of what yeast varieties are used for brewing (along with the explanation of the Latin Names for the boffins in the room). We then heard about the services that Brewlabs perform for the industry before talking about brewing yeast characteristics and some of the practices that will help the brewer to gain the best flavour profile from their chosen yeast (this includes pitching volumes, temperature control and watching for generic drift if you are cropping and reusing etc).
The final section of the session was of most interest to the brewers in the room. Mike had prepared slides that pictured yeast in various states from healthy through to faults like wild yeast infections, diacetyl, acetaldehyde, DMS and acetic acid infection. To accompany some f these slides we were handed test tubes that contained samples of the flavour faults. The idea was that we could open the test tube and sniff the offending fault and then see what that would look like under the microscope. This generated quite a bit of discussion in the room as it really is a fantastic training aid for the craft brewer.
I think Mike got the level right for the presentation. The talk assumed very little knowledge of either yeast or brewing in general and even although there was a mix of novice and experience in the room Mike managed to cater for all attendees during the hour.
Mike later sat in the main hall with his microscope and analysed yeast from the bottom of competitor’s bottles.

Photos on this page Published by Kind permission of S Flack

Copyright 2010 The Northern Craft Brewers