The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) has announced a partnership with Bundobust, Lallemand Brewing, and The Malt Miller, challenging homebrewers to create the UK’s best tasting wheat beer.
The SIBA National Homebrew Beer Awards 2024, which open for entries today, will give one homebrewer the chance to brew their winning beer at Bundobust Brewery, in Manchester.
The beer will then to go on sale at the company’s five award-winning Indian streetfood and craft beer restaurants across Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester.
Bundobust have huge experience with the style, having brewed a number of wheat beers for the restaurants, which they say pair particularly well with their spicy Indian menu.
“At Bundobust Brewery, we firmly believe that wheat beers can be incredible carriers of weird and wonderful flavours,” said head brewer Dan Hocking.
“The extra body you can achieve and the added element of yeast character make an amazing canvas to play with. We’re really excited to host the brewday for the lucky winner, and look forward to seeing what you can all do.”
Now in their second year, the SIBA Homebrew Beer Awards give amateur brewers the chance to have their beers judged by the UK’s best professional brewers, beer sommeliers, and expert beer judges.
“The quality of entries in last year’s awards was really superb and the overall winner was of a hoppy pale ale of a genuinely professional standard,” said Barry Watts, SIBA’s head of public affairs.
“This year, we have gone in an entirely new direction and want to see what homebrewers can achieve with Lallemand’s hugely versatile Wit yeast. Whether it’s a Belgian wit, American wheat, German hefeweizen, or white IPA, the only rules are the beer must use the supplied Lalbrew Wit yeast and a minimum of 25% wheat in the grist.
“We want to see classic style examples alongside the weird and wonderful — the only limit is your imagination.”
Homebrewers entering the competition will be able to add the Lallemand Wit yeast and some European noble hops to their basket for free when ordering ingredients via The Malt Miller, which has a large range of brewing ingredients available for homebrewers to order.
“Lallemand have been long-term supporters of SIBA, and the chance to partner with them, along with the UK’s premium home brew supplier, Malt Miller, was an excellent opportunity,” said Lallemand technical sales manager, Andrew Paterson. “We can’t wait to see what brewers do with our Lalbrew Wit strain. Bring on the coriander!”
James Stiff, responsible for marketing and operations at The Malt Miller, added: “Here at The Malt Miller we adore seeing homebrewers flourish. Competitions are at the heart of that and provide the best platform to gain valuable, unbiased feedback on your skills as a brewer.
“Supporting the SIBA Homebrew Beer Awards this year is awesome for us… Wheat beers are a love for many of our team, due the variety of styles open to brew. The brief allows for a large amount of licence to the brewer, meaning that undoubtedly the creativity of those who enter will be fully showcased. We can’t wait to try the winning beer!”
Free to enter for SIBA Homebrewer members, the competition will be judged at BeerX in March. Click here for more information on SIBA homebrewer membership.
