SIBA partners with Bundobust Brewery, Lallemand and The Malt Miller to find UK’s best homebrewed wheat beer
SIBA have today announced a partnership with award-winning brewery and Indian streetfood aficionado’s Bundobust, yeast specialists Lallemand Brewing and The Malt Miller, to challenge homebrewers to brew the UK’s best tasting wheat beer.
The SIBA National Homebrew Beer Awards 2024, which open for entries today 1st November, will give one lucky homebrewer the chance to brew their winning beer at Bundobust Brewery in Manchester – with the beer then to go on sale at their 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. 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.” Dan Hocking, Bundobust Head Brewer.
Now in its 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. 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.” Barry Watts, SIBA Head of Public Affairs.
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, who have 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. We can’t wait to see what brewers do with our Lalbrew Wit strain. Bring on the Coriander!” Andrew Paterson, Lallemand Technical Sales Manager UK, Ireland & Scandinavia.
“Here at The Malt Miller we adore seeing home brewers 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 and seeing it develop! 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!” James Stiff, The Malt Miller Marketing & Operations.
Free to enter for SIBA Homebrewer members, the competition is judged by professional brewers at BeerX – the UK’s biggest beer and brewing trade event in March 2024, organised by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA).
SIBA’s Homebrewer membership was launched in 2022 and is open to all amateur brewers across the UK who want to improve their brewing skills. Along with entry to the brand new Homebrew Beer Awards, membership includes a quarterly magazine with a dedicated home brew section edited by Andy Parker of Elusive Brew and access to SIBA’s brewing tools and advice as well as access to regional and national SIBA events and beer competition judging.
For more information on SIBA Homebrewer membership or the join please visit – http://www.siba.co.uk/homebrewer/
