Cavers Golden at Vancouver Homebrew Awards

Sunday, 05. 16. 2010  –  Featured, The Good Life

Matt Chambers

The Dependent’s own Matt Cavers clinched gold at the Vancouver Homebrew Awards last week for his entry into the English Brown Ale category, Brown House Ale. Cavers accepted his medal at a Tuesday ceremony held at the R&B Brewing Co. near Main Street. The contest was a part of Vancouver Craft Beer Week - a celebration of artisan beer showcasing the talents of our local small-batch brewers.

For Adam Henderson, one of the organizers, the fledgling contest was a rousing success: “Our target was 150 entries and we thought that would be a bit of a challenge. Turns out we had 193.”

Part of the draw may have been the grand prize: a chance to brew your beer with Iain Hill, head brewer for the Mark James Group, and have it sold on tap at the Yaletown Brewing Company. Runners up were also chosen by R&B Brewing Co. to have small-batch casks brewed on their test equipment and sold as a part of the “R&B Homebrewing Series”. Pretty impressive stuff for a contest hatched in January of this year.

The judging was completed to the standards of the Beer Judge Certification Program, a kind of governing standard for beer quality. “Someone is brewing a beer as an attempt at a standard style; the BJCP has codified these styles and provided a framework for evaluating whether a beer is a good example of the category,” explained Adam Henderson. Local professional brewers, BJCP certified judges and cicerones (think sommelier, but for beer) rated the Vancouver entries on appearance, aroma, flavour and mouth feel. Beers receiving a score higher than forty-two out of fifty are considered world-class examples of their style.

Best of Show was taken by Owen Kirkaldy of Edmonton, for his Sour Ale entry, TreewhaleLambic. Owen graciously passed along the grand prize to Vancouver homebrewer Matt Anderson, whose Rocket to Russia, a high-alcohol Imperial Stout aged in bourbon casks, earned him first runner-up.

As for the rookie Cavers, who’s been waxing authoritatively about homebrewing here on The Dependent, he was unable to break out of his category and establish himself show-wide. While judges described Brown House Ale as “clear and bright,” with “a very nice aroma,” they also pointed out that it was “over-carbonated for its style” and that the flavour was perhaps a little too far on the “roasty side”. Brown House Ale still scored a thirty-two, good enough for gold.

The ever-humble Cavers loves the feedback: “The criticism is great. With a craft like homebrewing, which doesn’t cost a whole lot, you make quite a bit of it, so inevitably your friends drink a lot of it. You poke them and prod them for a reaction and so much of the time they just say, ‘oh, thanks, beer’. This was a great opportunity because the judges don’t have any interest in boosting my ego or thanking me.”

In addition to his medal, Cavers walked away with a fifty pound bag of malted barley, the future of which remains uncertain: “I think I’ll probably make another batch of Brown House Ale, and cut down on the roasted malts, but it’s summer coming up, and summer is a time to drink refreshing pale ales and bitters - things that have nice, light, floral aromas. I’ve been daydreaming about making a gingered ale for a while now [...] it’s light, it’s refreshing, and it’s flavoured quite assertively with ginger. It’s totally delicious on a hot summer day.”

Asked what he’ll be brewing for the next contest, Cavers wasn’t sure either: “I don’t know. I entered one of the categories that appeals to me the most. English Brown Ales are generally beers that are lower in strength, subtle in flavour, delicate in taste and immensely complex. People out in the Pacific Northwest drink a lot of IPA, and it’s just a big over-the-top, lots of hops, lots of booze, lots of beer on your tongue. I tasted the winning IPA and it was great. But that said, it’s probably the Belgian Ales that people see as the highest achievement. Those are phenomenal - complex, strong - definitely the wine of beer.”

“I don’t know what I’ll enter, but I’ll definitely be back.”

Tags: Adam Henderson, Matt Cavers, R&B Brewing Co, Vancouver Homebrew Awards

Contributors

• Chris James
• Chris Richards
• Daylor Gee
• Ian Hannon
• Jesse Donaldson
• Matt Cavers
• Matt Chambers
• William Dunn