It’s Elusive’s 10th birthday this year and their hugely popular home brewing competition is back with a bang! Some previous winners have been helped along their journeys towards professional brewing and others have seen their name appear on can labels and pump clips across the land. This is a competition with a commercial focus, so whether you’re looking to go professional or think you can brew commercial quality beer that could grace the bars of some of the country’s finest pubs, this one’s for you!

So, what are we looking for in the winning beer?

The brief:

We’d like you to design and execute a recipe which will become an Autumn seasonal release for Elusive. To help point you in the right direction, consider the following:

• ⁠ ⁠The beer would ideally suit all of cask, keg and can as dispense formats
• ⁠ ⁠⁠The ABV therefore probably needs to max out at around 6%
• ⁠ ⁠⁠We really want to see some malt character in your beer.
• ⁠ ⁠⁠You can brew any style you like but we’ll be seeking some flavour coming through from your grist selection
• ⁠ ⁠⁠You don’t need to use the ingredients in the entry kit but these are things we thought of when considering a beer for Autumn
• ⁠ ⁠⁠We’ll judge the beers on appearance, flavour, aroma and overall impression. If you make the final table, we’ll have one eye on your recipe to consider the commercial viability as part of picking our overall winner

Beer style? That’s entirely up to you. Just make sure whatever you brew gives your ingredients the spotlight they deserve.

Commercial Viability

Alongside your beer, submit your full recipe and a cost to brew, scaled to 20L at 75% efficiency. We’ll use this in the final round of judging, so think smart—choose your ingredients carefully, keep things efficient, and get the best possible result from what you’re using. Great beer, brewed well, with a keen eye on cost—that’s what we’re looking for.

The 100 competition kits will go on sale on 06/05/26  at 11am on The Malt Miller website.

We would suggest you can start to build your basket with your ingredients for your brew prior to this so all you then need to do is add your entry kit and pay one lot of shipping.

As in previous years we will be collating feedback and issuing this to all entrants after the judging is completed.

The entry will include the following ingredients for you to consider using

500g Crushed Simpsons Caraglow

100g Hukins Hops Ernest Pellets

11g Sachet of WHC Fountainbridge

Rules and Requirements

The rules so please read these carefully!

Strictly one entry per person. Anyone found to have entered twice will be disqualified completely.

Your beer should be packaged (3 x brown bottles or cans, 330ml or bigger) and must reach The Malt Miller on or before 15/07/26

Late entries will not be accepted. Clear bottles will not be accepted. Panda Pop bottles will not be tasted.

Address:

The Malt Miller

Unit A2 Faraday Road

Swindon

SN3 5HQ

Ensure that each of the packaged beers are clearly labelled with Entry Number which is your 6 digit order number and no other distinguishable markings on the bottles. We have a template you can use to make this easier. Please specify the style of beer brewed, also include a copy of your recipe with the beers ensuring there are no names or personal details on the sheet.

The winner will be announced after judging has taken place on the 31/07/26  and the judge’s decision is final in all matters.

UK based entrants only. All entrants must be over 18.