The winners of the Margaret River Beer Co's annual Backyard Brewing Tournament were crowned on Friday, with home brewers from across WA in attendance to celebrate the 9th year of the competition.
Create a free account to read this article
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
More than 80 beers were submitted by 'backyard brewers', judged by an expert panel including Margaret River Brewhouse Head Brewer Ryan Allen, Brewhouse Assistant Brewer Noah Hastings, Artisan's Brian Fitzgerald, Eagle Bay Brewing Co Head Brewer Keegan Steinbacher, Senior Brewer with Running with Thieves Reuben Herriman, and beer journalists Jono Outred and Simon Collins.
Champion Beer was awarded to Perth's Josh Curulli for his Munich Helles Lager called 'Helles'.
Curulli said the win was "amazing".
"As someone who would love to start a brewery one day, I really wanted to see how my beer stood up when judged by industry professionals," he said.
"I have been brewing now for almost a year really with the aim of just making the kind of beer I wanted to drink and found out I love the process more than I could have ever imagined."
Josh said winning the competition had been an "unbelievable" experience.
"It's so great that homebrewers are provided with this kind of opportunity to not only submit their beer but also really Judge Ryan Allen said the winner was a relatively simple tasting beer, but left the brewer nowhere to hide.
"Josh's beer was without faults, an excellent example of the style and an overall well-balanced beer," he said.
"I look forward to brewing it with him at a larger scale!"
It was Ryan's first year involved in the tournament, and he said he was "extremely impressed" with the quality of the submissions.
"We received many dark beers and European-style beers, with a noticeable move away from hoppier styles such as IPA and Pale Ale," he said.
MRBCo co-owner Ilya Hastings said the group was proud of what the annual competition represents for the business.
"We started as homebrewers who used to go to the Perth Royal Beer Awards with stars in our eyes, we would pick up a few medals and use this as inspiration to make our beers better," he said.
"We'd meet an amazing beer making community and ultimately to start our brewery back in 2016.
"So, for us continuing that legacy and connection through this tournament means a lot to us."
Second place was awarded to previous tournament winner James Kossen for his Classic Style Smoked Beer 'Helles Rauch'.
Third place went to Daniel Fitzell for his Fruit Lambic, 'If The Fruit Doesn't Fitz'.
