Vic on the Park, Marrickville: 7th March 2015

Home Brew Competition: 7th March, 2015

The Home Brew Competition for 2015 was held at Vic on the Park in Marrickville, Sydney. Some 32 home brewers from around town gathered with a total of 64 eligible beers to be judged. From 12pm to 5pm the public of Sydney got to witness the fierce (but friendly) competition of who got to be Sydney's best home brewer for 2015. As this was my first year, my only hope was to enjoy the event and have some great fun.

Me and Sam

That fun started when our "brewery entourage" of Sam, Laurie and myself arrived just after 8am to deliver the kegs. Although I was representing myself as Dannastic Brewing, the help of Sam and Laurie was phenomenal. After packing away our kegs in the cold room, off we went to breakfast at Marrickville Metro to kill some time before our 10am setup time.

That 10am start allowed us plenty of time to get the equipment out, set it up and chat to the other home brewers around us. It also gave us an opportunity to sample some of the beers these guys brewed before the 12pm kick-off. I can tell you right now that we were all really, really excited.

Prep time!

The excitmemt somehow passed us by as 12pm came and went. Strangely, the crowd were in but there was still plenty of space to fill. No worries, though. We all knew that the supportive craft beer crowd would turn up in droves and we'd be off our feet in no time. There was a sense of passion and pride around the home brewers about the event and waiting to see how the crowd would react to our beers.

For me, personally, it was just so exciting to be part of the craft beer community and be able to pour my beers. Oh, and each person behind the counter had their Responsible Service of Alcohol accreditation checked, and a wristband had to be worn during the whole day. This was to ensure that the public were being served beer legally and responsibly.

Danntastic Brewing

Talking of responsibility, how about those signs? I had to laugh about the signs that represented each brewer. An A4 piece of paper taped onto the marquee tent? Too funny. Yep, pretty high-tech stuff! Jokes aside, given the fact that each brewer didn't have much space it was appropriate to briefly introduce the brewer name and the beers they had for judging.

An awesome crowd turns up

Those beers being judged were not only by the judges themselves but also the crowd. As they rolled in they were trying our beers at a frenetic pace. It was great to see so many people turn up and enjoy what the 32 home brewers, and 64 beers, had to offer. Of course, this didn't include other beers brewed which didn't form part of the judging - and there were many!

My first token!

As the afternoon wore on, the crowd got larger. By all reports it wasn't as big as last year, but the crowd that turned up was just awesome. Such was the good timing, another awesome thing happened when my friend Deanna arrived to help out behind the counter. Her help was pivotal, and her marketing skills were top-notch! (Note to self: Deanna needs to be part of the marketing group for Dannastic Brewing!)

Stronger than Putin: SOLD OUT!

From my perspective, the 'Stronger than Putin' Imperial IPA was by far the crowd favourite. My aim was to make this the flagship beer for Danntastic Brewing, and it certainly was that. It sold like hot cakes and it made me a very proud home brewer. :-) 

At 8.5%, 'Stronger than Putin' Imperial IPA has the proud backbone of Pilsner, Munich and Aromatic malts. With CTZ, Centennial, Amarillo, Simcoe and Cascade hops, Its golden colour and brilliant balance the judges agreed it was damn good, too, giving it an 8/10 (and just missing out on a top 10 place!).

To self: How many tokens now?

So good, in fact, Stronger than Putin sold out at 4:20pm some 40 minutes before the scheduled close. All 19 litres of it, gone. Let's work that out, shall we? One token allowed you a 210ml glass. So, 90 tokens x 210ml equals 18.9 litres. What I loved about that was the fact people kept on asking for it, right up until 5pm. The sad thing was I had to say it was sold out! Either way, it was simply awesome that the crowd loved it.


Another awesome beer that got good reviews was the 'Wild Coyote' American Wheat at 5%. It took a while for the crowd to appreciate it, but once they did it, too, sold pretty damn well. I'd say it sold well after 3pm, and I almost ran out of that keg too. The people that chatted to me mentioned that this was a refreshing beer and fitted the style of an American Wheat. I deliberately didn't use any American hops and instead used a noble hop: Hallertau. It really seemed to work well, and was well within the BJCP guidelines.

A fan holds the Beetroot!

The 'Square Root' Beetroot IPA at 6.5% wasn't part of the competition, but it got some interesting reviews. It was merely there to provide a bit of a talking point. A beer made from Beetroot? Why not! I brewed it for fun and I wanted to see the crowd reaction. I got good reviews from some, while others didn't try it as they did not like beetroot. Oh well :-)

Simon, Dan, Sam, Ben.

Overall, I absolutely loved it. To interact with the crowd, to be pouring my own beers and to be part of this great event was brilliant. I had fantastic help from Sam, Laurie and Deanna. They were just fantastic and were with me 100% of the way. I guess my challenge now is to come up with: Stronger than Putin V2? Let's see, shall we? Wow, I certainly did enjoy the day and had some fun.

dannbrew@gmail.com