Sourfest: the results

A stand-out beer is picked

This time last weekend I was in Belfast judging at the Freshman year of Sourfest, a competition to find the best sour/wild ale both commercially and from amateur brewers for both the UK & Ireland.



The beers were judged blind by a panel (myself included), with the top three in each category qualifying for a reassessment for best overall and in category. We were given details on style & additional ingredients, but only after the initial tastings. Entrants remained anonymous until all prizes had been awarded and beers were all judged to the same standard, with feedback forms from all judges* being made available to entrants after the competition.

 

I'm getting sour, is this a sour?

 

Someone wasn't impressed...

There were some truly impressive beers and perhaps even more encouraging was that the overall standard was extremely high, with all beers deemed drinkable (except perhaps that berlinner weisse smelling of farts and an enteric (faecal) sour brown).The results were as follows:



 

 



 



Best UK amateur

Chris Lewis took this with a very impressive attempt at a true spontaneously fermented lambic called Teeth Grinder; with four year-old, three year old and one year old beers blended to produce a gueuze-alike. Of course we did not know what it was at the time, but the quality shone though. Honourable mention here went to Plum Smuggler from Dean Hollingworth.





Searching for words to describe

The aroma pleases Giacomo

Best Irish amateur

Awarded to Shane Smith for his Raspberry Turbo which also took overall best in the competition (and my personal favourite).

Highly commended went to another talented homebrewer, Roger Rotheroe for his American Sour Brown Currant Situation.

Both of these winners will have the opportunity to brew their beers on  commercial scale with Boundary brewing. I certainly look forward to trying both of these and fully intend to buy a few cases of each.



 

 



Matt takes an initial sip

Best UK Commercial

Elgoods Coolship Blonde took this one but it was close run thing with Ali Kocho Williams' (Seren) Rum barrel aged sour dark ale. Elgoods overthrew the impression of being a staid family brewer when they put a disused brewery coolship back into use after many years to turn out a beer very similar to Belgian lambics, though of course with a different microflora. You can read more about it in Roger Protz's piece here.

 

 

Best Irish Commercial

A recently released beer & one I'd already been lucky enough to try: Kinnegar & Brown Paper Bag Project Geuzberry (you can read more about it here). This was also deemed to be best commercial beer overall too.

Highly commended was another beer recently launched, the sour version of White Hag's Beann Gulban.

Congratulations to all of the winners, and well done to all of the entrants; the overall standard was very high and I hope you all enter again next year.  What is particularly encouraging is the high standard of the amateur beers; often indistinguishable than the commercial attempts and generally more adventurous. This bodes well for the next generation of breweries, I'd like to see more commercial entrants next year. Everyone who didn't enter: you have a year; so get cracking! I look forward to seeing what you all come up with.

 



Aromas redolent of red berries



Congratulations also must go to Shane for a flawless organisation of the competition, thank you for having me as a judge and congratulations again on managing to win your own event ;)

*If you get a feedback form from me and need help deciphering what I wrote, give me a shout!

Photos courtesy of Phil Harrison

 

I've Got a Teeling (Woo Woo)

 You'll have noticed fewer posts on here recently and perhaps you're missing regular whiskey reviews? Fear not as (along with this post) another two whisky tastings are coming up before Christmas. Despite living in Ireland I've tried very few Irish Whiskeys (Bushmills, Jamesons and Connemara). This is something I shall need to rectify in the next few years as there's a new wave of distillers coming online, especially if they produce anything anywhere near the standard of last night's whiskey. 

The whiskey in question is the new single malt from Teeling, a new Dublin based distiller. This particular whiskey bears no age statement but its component parts are well travelled having spent time in five different casks: Sherry, Port, Madeira, Cabernet Sauvignon and White Burgundy* and are up to 23 years old.  These have come together to produce an excellent sipping whiskey (46%, non chill-filtered) at a very reasonable price (Just under £40/ €50).

It pours an attractive pale copper, with fairly viscous alcohol legs up the sides of the glass. On the nose at first fruity oaky some butterscotch up front with an underlying Turkish delight and peppery notes.

On warming it starts to gain some melon and banoffee pie hints, its a complex beast! The same is true in the mouth really full bodied, with sweet sultanas, meaty sherry like umami notes, sandalwood, caramel, butter, a growing saffron spiciness and of course vanilla notes from the wood. Its fairly fiery and warming, but as your palate acclimatises blueberry becomes the overwhelming note, with underlying mango. This multifaceted character helps to keep the whiskey interesting from first to last sip. Don't bother adding water to this one, it just dumbs it all down to blandness, its great as it is!

 

Thanks to Steve as always for organising and Stephen Teeling for the sample. If you're down in Dublin there's a Teeling Tasting in the Norseman on Friday. The distillery should be open to the public from Mid-April next year, I for one am looking forward to visiting to see those shiny new copper stills! Cheers All and Slainte!

Teeling Whiskey

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 *I'd love to try those constituent parts Stephen if you're reading!