Good Beer Week - BrewShare - Saturday May 19th

In just a few weeks, BrewShare returns to the St Kilda Taphouse for Good Beer Week, thanks to ANHC and Grain & Grape.

Homebrewers are being asked to bring along their wares to share and be judged.

This special edition BrewShare is on Saturday May 19th from 3pm and will see us joined by a very special guest, Kjetil Jikiun from the world-renowned Nogne O brewery in Norway. Known as an outstanding homebrewer before he became an outstanding pro brewer, Kjetil will be part of a 'Q & Ale' session before judging the best homebrew brewed especially for the event.

The style to brew to is Porter, or you can enter your beer into the open category.

Click here to see how the event works.

Click here to book.

Poster for Taphouse lineup during Melbourne's Good Beer Week launched

This poster almost says it all. This is what we have happening at the St Kilda Taphouse during Good Beer Week (and after GABS).

All the events we ran last year sold out so book early to avoid disappointment.

And the winning homebrew style for the Good Beer Week BrewShare is ....

Well, the results are in for Melbourne homebrewers.

After running our poll last week to decide which beer style they should brew for the Special Edition BrewShare with Nogne O's Kjetil Jikiun during Good Beer Week, we can now announce that porter is the style almost 40% of the voters want to brew.

So.. get brewing and secure your spot by booking your ticket now.

Homebrewers Alert: Brew a beer for Nogne O's Kjetil Jikiun at Special Edition St Kilda BrewShare in May!

Towards the end of Melbourne's Good Beer Week in May, the St Kilda Taphouse, ANHC and Grain & Grape are running an awesome event just for homebrewers.

The Special Edition Taphouse BrewShare is on Saturday May 19th from 3pm and will see us joined by a VERY Special Guest, Kjetil Jikiun (photo above) from the world-renowned Nogne O. Known as an outstanding homebrewer before he became an outstanding pro brewer, Kjetil will be part of a 'Q & Ale' session before judging the best homebrew brewed especially for the event.

Kjetil has suggested three beer styles so we want you to vote on which one you think it should be! The poll ends Sunday March 4th at midnight. We will announce the final beer style the following day so you can get brewing!

For those who would prefer, there will be an Open Class too but the "Brew to Style" comp is where the real prestige is at!

Tickets can be purchased here for $25 and there are limited spots. We will need all brewers to brew FIVE litres of beer.

St Kilda BrewShare attracts best crowd yet

Tom Clift is a winner!

Last night saw the latest installment of BrewShare in St Kilda. This was the best turnout yet with nearly 20 beers on offer. Once again we were treated to some great brews from home brewers with varying levels of experience ranging from decades to weeks.

There was a broad range of styles including Black IPA, Imperial Stout and a Celebration Ale. All agreed the quality of the beers was extremely high and it was great to see some of the less experienced brewers getting votes.

The results were:

1st Tom Clift (India Pale Ale)
2nd Brett Tyrell (Black IPA)
3rd Chris Taylor (Imperial IPA)

Congratulations to Tom (who is also Ale Star #S48) on taking out the $100 Grain and Grape voucher.

A huge thanks to John at Grain and Grape for his continuing support of BrewShare.

Sorry about the lack of photos. Our resident photographer was absent!

Next BrewShare will be on Tueday, February 22nd 2011. Please book via the events page of our website. We hope to see you there.

BrewShare dates (and corrections) for homebrewers out there!

There has been some confusion about the BrewShare dates with some mixed messages emanating from us. Apologies for that.

So to clarify, BrewShares in both venues this time around are on Tuesday November 23. It is not tomorrow night in Darlo and we have emailed those people who have booked already online to notify them.

While homebrewers can bring Wheat Beers along to the Darlo BrewShare, people can still bring whichever beer you happen to have in the fridge ready to go!

To find out more about BrewShares, click here.

To book for next week at either venue, visit the Event Diaries of our website.

St Kilda BrewSharers brave a wintery night

Last night's BrewShare in St Kilda saw a small but loyal crew turn up to share some pizzas, some homebrewing stories and each other's brews.

There were some great brews on offer from Stouts to IPAs to a Hefeweizen. The winners prize of $100 voucher for Grain and Grape went to Kevin te Wierik and his nice hoppy American Pale Ale.

Congratulations Kevin. And thanks to the other BrewSharers who came along and shared their wares.

Stay tuned for dates for the next BrewShare in November and please help spread the word to ensure this event stay on the St Kilda calendar..

Brewday for the Mountain Goat & Homebrewers of the Year

Barry Cranston at work.
Dave (from Mountain Goat), Steve and Barry.
On Tuesday, James and I dropped by Mountain Goat brewery as it was brewday for the collaboration between Mountain Goat and the joint winners of the Australian Homebrewer of the Year (Barry Cranston and Ross Mitchell) for The Local Taphouses.

Barry flew in from NSW for 24 hours (Ross had sent his input earlier) and got his hands dirty as you can see from the slideshow.

The resultant beer (a kolsch) will be tapped for the very first time at a function in July soon to be announced for the St Kilda Taphouse. It will likely be tapped in Darlo on the same night.

For all you homebrewers who aspire to graduating from brewing in the garage to brewing with the Goat guys, the best place to start is the Taphouse BrewShare!

BrewShare dates locked - get going homebrewers!

All dates are confirmed for the next BrewShare night for homebrewers. In St Kilda it is Tuesday August 3rd and in Darlo it is Tuesday August 24th (both from 7pm).

The style is IPAs although you can bring any homebrew you want. All standards of homebrewers are welcome.

As normal, prebookings are essential and it's only $10 (which goes to pizza). Book here for Darlo and here for St Kilda.

To learn more about past BrewShares and how they work, see here.

Imperial Stout wins at St Kilda BrewShare

Tuesday saw the second installment of BrewShare in St Kilda and 11 homebrewers turned up to show their wares. Most beers were brewed to the style of stouts/porters and all were good enough to attract at least one vote. The $100 Grain and Grape voucher went to Quentin Churches for his "Black Sheep Imperial Stout" which, as the name would suggest, is a Russian Imperial Stout. It was an absolute cracker of a beer and took out the prize ahead of Kevin te Wierik for his Kolsch and Chany Lay for his Chocolate Vanilla Porter.

Thank you to all brewers for their beers and sharing their stories. And a huge thanks again to Grain and Grape for donating the prize. We look forward to the next installment of BrewShare which will be held on Tuesday, August 3rd.

Here's how they work.

Calling all homebrewers for May BrewShare

Our quarterly BrewShare night for homebrewers is coming up again in May at both venues.

The date in St Kilda is Tuesday May 5th and Darlo Tuesday 18th May. The chosen style is Stouts/Porters but you can also bring anything you want (which will be judged as Open Class beers).

Homebrewers of all standards are welcome as are non-homebrewers who wants to try the homebrews of others. The cost of the night is just $10 and you prepay by using the appropriate button in the left hand column of this blog (make sure you choose the right venue). Finally, those bringing beers must fill in this form with all the details of the beer. This is then handed around on the night.

Click here to learn how BrewShare works or here to read recent BrewShare blog posts!

Thanks to Dave's Home Brew and Grain & Grape for their support.

Next BrewShare dates locked in! Get brewing and COME ON MELBOURNE!

The date set for our next Brewshare in St Kilda is Tuesday May 5th and Darlo Tuesday 18th May. You have heaps of time so get brewing!

We are hoping Melbourne homebrewers come out in force to secure the future of the event there. Come on Melbourne!

The chosen style is Stouts/Porters. A few Open Class beers (judged separately) will also be accepted so get these applications in early.

The button to book will be posted up soon and you will have to fill in the questionnaire to submit yout beer.

Here's how BrewShare works.

BrewShare nights - how they work

A few people have asked for clarity about how the BrewShare nights work. While we still may tweak the night as they develop, here's the lowdown:

Held each quarter on a Tuesday night, BrewShare nights are about homebrewers bringing their own home brew to barter and socialise with their peers.

You can brew either the Style of the Night (announced at least two months in advance) OR there is an Open Class. You cannot submit a brew in both classes.

There will be a points winner in both classes but there can only be one People's Choice Best Beer (and this can come from either class). Best newbie brewer will also get a slap on the back!!

If there are more than 10 homebrews, beers and punters will be divided into 2 groups for tasting, discussion and scoring. After 90 minutes, each group is required to present its top two beers (so we were now down to the top four). After that, each group samples the other's top two and then complete a secret individual vote for their Public Choice Beer.

Anything goes - bottles or kegs but bring your own beer in an esky to keep it cool though.

You need to bring at least 3 litres of beer.

There is a $100 worth of vouchers to be won at BrewShare, thanks to the generous support of Grain & Grape in Melbourne and Dave’s Home Brew in Sydney. What beer gets what prize is still being tweaked although People's Choice Best Beer always gets something.

There will be a points winner in both classes but there can only be one People's Choice Best Beer and this can come from either class. So as minimise vote influencing(!), The Taphouse (and/or special guests) make up 30% of the People's Choice Best Beer vote.

The cost of the night is $10, all of which goes towards pizzas (to help soak all the beers). The cancellation policy is that you can only receive a refund if you cancel more than 24 hours before the event start time.

You must prepay by using the appropriate button in the left hand column of this blog.

All homebrewers attending will be emailed a questionnaire (after booking is confirmed) about their beers before the event. These are then handed out at the BrewShare..

A minimum 5 home-brewers must pre-book for the event to go ahead.

Non home-brewers who may like to attend, taste some homebrew and socialise may do so must still prebook and pay.

Night officially starts at 7pm but you must be ready to go with your beers so we strongly encourage you to come earlier!

Have I left anything out?? Post a comment below..

Here are photos from the first BrewShare in Darlo.. Just press PLAY and wait for slideshow to begin.

Melbourne BrewShare cancelled for tomorrow night. Is Darlo next? Feedback wanted.

Melbourne BrewShare has been cancelled today (for tomorrow) as we didn't get a single person booking.

While there is a week to go, Darlo only has 5 people booked so far (we will review the numbers later this week to see whether to cancel that too). Last time in Darlo, we had a room full of 25 people eager to come again and dozens of people voting for APA to be the style for the next night.

Together with Grain & Grape and Dave's Home Brew, we're really keen to support homebrew crews in both cities but hardly anyone appears interested in this round of events and we announced the dates two months ago, have posted updates on these forums and on our blog!

Please post your comments as to whether this night is worth supporting moving forward.

American Pale Ale the homebrew of choice for the next BrewShare

Your votes have been tallied and the beer style for the next BrewShare on Tuesday Feb 2nd (St Kilda) and Feb 9th (Darlo) is:

American Pale Ale (but you knew that from the headline didn't you?!)

As per our BrewShare posts, most people will probably brew an American Pale Ale but if you can't (or don't want to), there is an Open Class. There will be a points winner in both classes but there can only be one People's Choice best beer and this can come from either class.

The cost of the night will now be $10, all of which goes towards pizzas (to help soak all those beers!). We'll open a pre-bookings button closer to the date.

BrewShare - poll now open & other stuff

As per feedback at the Darlo BrewShare, I have posted an online poll for BrewSharers to vote on which style they want to brew for next BrewShare in both venues. You will find it in the top right corner of this blog. The poll closes next Sunday.

We got so much other great feedback last time. Here are some changes:

Next time we will split the night into two beer classes - Style of the Day AND Open Class. This means you can submit a brew in EITHER class (not both). There will be a points winner in both classes but there can only be one People's Choice best beer and this can come from either class. Best newbie brewer will also get a slap on the back!!

Non-homebrewers can come along and taste and learn although we will look at having a limit on how many.

Also, quite a few people have asked about food so we're looking at a nominal charge of $10 for future BrewShares which would get you some great pizza to soak up the booze. Anyone have a major problem with this?

Next BrewShare will be confirmed soon but will most probably be late February.

First ever St Kilda BrewShare

A small but keen group of home brewers gathered in St Kilda last night for the inaugural Local Taphouse BrewShare evening. 6 beers were tasted one at a time with a brief rundown from the brewers about their setup, ingredients and a few stories of successes and, of course, the failures.

The beers were assessed as we went and ultimately adjudged reverse-Brownlow-style 3-2-1, with 1 being the best.

Everyone received votes which was a credit to the brewers for their great beers.

The placings were as follows:

1st Peter Hope (see photo above - not the guy with the devious moustache) - 'Yeast Beast' Mongrel Ale (with his own home-culture strain of Chimay yeast no less!!)

2nd Peter Lowndes - 'Premium Chocolate Stout'.

3rd Brendan Harney - 'Belgian/New Zealand IPA'

Congratulations to Peter Hope for a truly great beer complete with a great label and his own cheer squad!!

A huge thanks to all the brewers for attending and for their feedback. This looks like being the start of something big! Thanks also to Grain & Grape for their terrific prize of a $100 voucher for Peter.

Stay tuned for dates on the next BrewShare.

See all the photos from the night here.

New night for home brewers & prizes to be won!

Thanks to the generous support of Grain & Grape in Melbourne and Dave’s Home Brew in Sydney, we're launching a new night for homebrewers!

To be held each quarter, Taphouse BrewShare is about homebrewers bringing their own home brew to barter and socialise with their peers!

Even better news is that there is a $100 Grain & Grape/Dave’s Home Brew voucher for People’s Choice Beer!

The dates for the first events are below. Home brewers can brew whatever they like for the first event. In future, however, we may have style-specific nights.

ST KILDA: Tuesday Nov 24th from 7pm & free
DARLO: Thursday Nov 26th from 7pm & free

As it's free, we need to know how many people are coming so you MUST book by emailing either stkilda@thelocal.com.au or darlinghurst@thelocal.com.au.