Judges – Steve Epsworth, Stuart McFarlane, John McQuillan working to distinguish and judge the particular tastes of 18 beers.
The body and flavour were in eighteen beers. These beers were separate entries in the annual Mercury Bay Homebrewers Club tasting competition. Every beer entered into the competition, tasted by the three judges, was determined to be full of flavour and body. Points were so very close resulting in multiple winners – three first places, three second places and two third places. It was the first time this had happened in 46 years of the Mercury Bay Homebrewers Club’s existence.
Saturday, 19 July from 12 noon at the Mercury Bay Bowling Club was a relaxing and joyful time for the members and friends of the Homebrewers Club based on friendship, a long history of excellent brews and the amount of home-made brew, of course available only to the judges.
There is also Wine and Liqueur tasting sections but traditionally these do not attract as many entries. It was decided to present one winning entrant for Wines and one for Liqueurs.
The judging is not a quick process. There is a minimum amount of beer from each entry to be consumed to enable the judges to fully evaluate the particulars of taste.
Then follows a period of waiting in between tasting each beer to enable a neutralising of the previous taste.
Three notable stars of the day
The first star was Boyd Casker who won a first, second and third place for his three different entries in the Home Brewed Beer Tasting as well as first place in the Liqueurs.
The second was Neil Reynolds who is President of the Homebrewers Club and who has been a key organizer of this competition for the last ten years.
The third is John McQuillan who began the Mercury Bay Homebrewers Club in 1979 and was President for almost twenty. John was one of the judges at Saturday’s competition and also introduced an hilarious auction moment prior to the generous raffle draws.
A big thank you to Sponsors: PC Electrical, Drainage Systems (Stu McFarlane), Smitty’s Sports Bar & Grill, Harbour House Café, Glass House Emporium, Mainly Casual, Amped Speaker Hire, Whitianga, Basker, Whitianga ice, Mowers Plus.
Thank you to Mercury Bay Bowling Club for their premises and hospitality.
Results:
Beer:
First Place – Cameron Thomas, Stuart Tucker, Boyd Casker.
Second Place – Sam Astwood, Boyd Casker, Laura Spencer (absent)
Third Place – Robert Spencer and Boyd Casker
Best Wine: Nigel Thomas
Best Liqueur: Boyd Casker.
