‘Hop Idol’ winner is crowned
LAST week, Nottingham’s Craft Beer Week was back. A week long event celebrating the best of beer from our city and beyond, ending with a two-day Craft Beer Festival held in Snention Market.
For the whole week, Nottingham is host to some of the best beer events to please all fans of ale.
My week started by being on the judging panel for NCBW’S ‘Hop Idol’, the home brew competition.
Open to all residents of Nottinghamshire and a chance to show off their homebrew skills.
Myself, along with brewers from some of Nottingham’s finest – Black Iris, Lenton Lane, Totally Brewed, Magpie and more, those in the pub industry and others with a knowledge and love of beer all came together to judge the 42 beers.
The judges all sat together in groups at the Abdication Micro Pub in Daybrook, who graciously hosted the event, and judged each beer against the style along with the appearance, aroma, taste, mouthfeel and aftertaste.
Through two rounds of judging, a score was given for each, along with notes for praise and improvement for the home brewers to read. The top twenty scoring beers then went through to a second round of tasting.
The winner was Yellow Jersey, a 7.5% Belgian Style IPA, brewed by a Mr Graeme Green of Forest Fields.
He will now get to brew his beer with Black Iris Brewery and it will be launched for purchase at the Nottingham Robin Hood Beer and Cider festival this coming October.
Many of the city’s bars and pubs had Tap Takeovers, where a bar will have a large selection of one brewery on keg and or cask.
Junkyard Bottle Shop and Pour House, on Bridlesmith Walk, had a Tap Takeover of Leeds brewery, Northern Monk. Northern Monk was one of the breweries that was a stepping stone for me getting into the wider world of beer, so I wanted to get back to my craft beer roots with this Tap Takeover.
My highlight beer was Beet and Bramble, a 4.5% Raspberry and Beetroot smoothie fruit beer. It was a deep purple colour and looked the part of smoothie.
The beetroot works surprisingly well, not a usual ingredient in beer but the earthiness and sublet sweetness really complement the tartness of the raspberries. A very well rounded and drinkable beer.
The craft beer festival is held over Friday evening and all day Saturday at Sneinton Market.
With over 24 breweries pouring a wide selection of their beers, some fantastic weather on the Friday, it really was a fine ending to a week of too many wonderful beer events to be able to mention.