Wednesday night saw the tasting and judging for our second annual homebrew competition. Once the golfers had departed for the next hole the judges got cracking going through the 14 different entries. Due to there being so many entries this year plus our first lagers and ciders the field was split into beers/ales and ciders/lagers with the top three winning awards.

The beers category began with last year’s best in show brew re-entered. This year it had been slightly modified and changed. Island Hopper you might remember being brewed by Irving & Co. Brewers and sold as Strong Island Hopper around Portsmouth early last summer. A number of other beers from local teams and from as far as Essex entered beers and it was a tough call to pick a winner from all the quality entries.

The competitions first lagers were tried at the start of the second category judging, with the rosemary version going down a storm. Fragrant and tasty. The ciders were entered by lots of teams and ranging in different potency and taste.

The final results are shown below:

Category Cider/Lager
– 1st: Milton Pride (Cider)
– 2nd: Tucker B’s Rosemary (Lager)
– 3rd: Ginsters Paradise (Cider)

Category Beer
– 1st: Dry Dock No. 1
– 2nd: Elder Tail
– 3rd: Dark Matter

The Best in Show award went to Dry Dock No. 1 which will be brewed by Irving & Co. Brewers ready for sale in Portsmouth around May. The winner was very highly regarded and is sure to go down a storm on those early summer days. Looking forward to it!

Strong Island would like to thank the judges for their hard work…the teams for entering and Little Johnny Russells for hosting the event. Cheers!