GABF 2015

[fraser_john]

For those that did not attend, it was an awesome day. Geelong Craft Brewers had an all electric HERMS on display and also did a BIAB brew. We had a heap of people interested which was great, lots of questions.

James (HoppinMad) our President won last years Champion Home Brew with his Schwartzbier and it was brewed commercially at Little Creatures in Geelong and he got to serve it all day. Good feedback from the punters as well.

So a great day in all.

Southern Bay had the best beer there with a Vanilla Oatmeal Stout crafted by our own Steven Walker, well done!

Some pics to be had can be found on our website gallery.

 

[DU99]

Nice to see fellow home brewers reaping the benefits and showing their skills to others

 

[GalBrew]

The Schwartzbier was fantastic. Great day, although did anyone else think that some of the breweries weren't really trying very hard on the day?

 

[Kodos]

Great job - any chance of seeing some photos of your setup?

Did you have to take any particular precautions to stop drunken idiots tipping over boiling kettles etc?

 

[Blind Dog]

Did you have to take any particular precautions to stop drunken idiots tipping over boiling kettles etc?

They didn't need to; I wasn't there

 

[fraser_john]

Great job - any chance of seeing some photos of your setup?

Did you have to take any particular precautions to stop drunken idiots tipping over boiling kettles etc?

Yeah of course we did, we had a sign pegged to the boil kettle reading "Caution hot!". It seemed to work on the day, but next year we probably will have a roped off section, I am sure that their OH&S guy had their hands full all over the ground on the day..... as well as the first aid people, saw at least one person bleeding from the forehead late in the afternoon!

 

[hoppinmad]

Yes there were definitely a few punters that probably shouldn't have been served at the end of the day! Great festival though and was a great chance to promote our club. Well done to the organisers for pulling off such a great day. Congratulations to Grant Morley for taking out Champion Homebrewer too! Looking forward to tasting your brew next year.

 

[Black n Tan]

Yes there were definitely a few punters that probably shouldn't have been served at the end of the day! Great festival though and was a great chance to promote our club. Well done to the organisers for pulling off such a great day. Congratulations to Grant Morley for taking out Champion Homebrewer too! Looking forward to tasting your brew next year.

Thanks HoppinMad, I was pleasantly surprised to take out Champion Brewer with a Hefeweizen and a category win with a Cal Common. Looking forward to flying the Westgate Brewers flag next year and hope the beer lives up to expectations. I am disappointed that I didn't make it on the day to try the Schwartzbier.

 

[fraser_john]

Thanks HoppinMad, I was pleasantly surprised to take out Champion Brewer with a Hefeweizen and a category win with a Cal Common. Looking forward to flying the Westgate Brewers flag next year and hope the beer lives up to expectations. I am disappointed that I didn't make it on the day to try the Schwartzbier.

Heheh it was odd to see a Cal Common win an "Old World" category, pretty sure California is considered part of the New World Congrats though and like HoppinMad, looking forward to next year, you should be serving right next to where we will be again, nice and cool under the grand stands!

 

[Black n Tan]

Heheh it was odd to see a Cal Common win an "Old World" category, pretty sure California is considered part of the New World Congrats though and like HoppinMad, looking forward to next year, you should be serving right next to where we will be again, nice and cool under the grand stands!

No just 'old world' but an 'old-world ale' apparently. I guess the categories are rather nebulous and arranged for practical reasons, but in this case the category name doesn't really represent the styles within.

 

[Bribie G]

The current Modern Drunkard Magazine does a typically droll article on the American version of GABF, couple of sample pages.

 

[fraser_john]

The current Modern Drunkard Magazine does a typically droll article on the American version of GABF, couple of sample pages.

Hahahah that is very clever. I can imagine the American GABF would be all full bias, premium locations in each hall given to the highest bidder etc etc, it is all so cash/marketing driven. Hope GABF in Geelong does not go down that route.

 

[bronson]

Any word on score sheets to this. All I know is I didn't win. But I'd still like to see how I faired in the crowd. Two weeks after and still nothing online or in snail mail.

 

[Black n Tan]

I finally received a list of the winners and here they are:

DARK ALES:
Nathan Keatch - Robust Porter aged on Sour Cherries

LAGERS:
Dominic Allen Tyler-Miller - Schwarzbier

OLD WORLD ALES:
Grant Morley - California Common Ale

NEW WORLD ALES:
Wayne Clarkson - American Brown Ale

FARMHOUSE ALES:
Grant Morley - Weizen (and champion brewer)

 

[bronson]

Thanks mate.
I emailed the organisers and they informed me that some of the forms got wet and they couldnt read them.
Im pretty bummed to say the least. Hoping that they can sort me out. fingers crossed

 

[Howlingdog]

"I emailed the organisers and they informed me that some of the forms got wet and they couldnt read them."

I thought that would be one of the "also" reasons to use pencils at beer judging, but it makes them hard to scan for emailing to entrants.