Elusive 6th Birthday – Home Brew Competition 2022 Entry

Last year’s 5th birthday home brewing competition, in collaboration with The Malt Miller was a success beyond what we could have ever imagined! We were delighted to play a part in the winner, Sam Jones, along with his business partner and serial home brewing medal collector Fraser Withers going pro as Middle Child Brewing. Sam’s winning Belgian Wit (co-brewed with Fraser) took home the prize against very stiff competition and Middle Child used the opportunity to brew one of their recipes here with us to launch their brand alongside their own beers, to high acclaim.

Judging 120 odd Belgian Wits was the very definition of palate fatigue and we found the task incredibly challenging. This year, we’re widening the scope of entry to include anything you might consider ‘West Coast’ in style. That might be a West Coast IPA, Pale Ale, American Brown, Red IPA, Cascadian Dark Ale – you get the picture. The winning entry will have a pronounced American hop character, good bitterness and clarity and be recognisably West Coast in style. That’s the only criteria, so get those thinking caps on!

We have a few of his awesome beers as recipes on our site if you want to use them for examples of how Andy builds brews these beers:

Elusive Oregon Trail – West Coast IPA

Level Up – American Red

Shadow of the Beast – BIPA

And we also have some of his recent beers available to buy should you require more inspiration.

Beer Styles

The following beer styles are what Andy would like to see you brewing and entering:

West Coast APA

West Coast IPA

West Coast DIPA

West Coast BIPA

American Red

These beers are meant to be clean, clear (not murky), crisp, dry, bitter, piney, resinous, and just all round super awesome. You need to blow his socks off basically with something that is a great example of what these beers represent.

PLEASE READ ALL OF THE FOLLOWING CAREFULLY BEFORE ORDERING

There are 150 entries in the competition to win the chance to brew your first pro beer at Elusive Brewing and to learn from Andy Parker. Full competition details are on the Elusive Brewing website here.

Ordering this product is your entry to the competition, it will contain two products which can be used but are not essential to use in your recipe design:

100g of Strata T90 hop pellets

1 x Bry-97 yeast

Please read carefully what is and isn’t included with the kit, for example no malts, no adjuncts, this is all to be decided by yourself, we would recommend that you start to build your basket in preparation for your brew, so all you then need to do is add the entry on the day it is released.

Please ensure you have everything you need in your basket before paying, as we do not have the capacity to go back and amend orders after being placed as the team will be focusing on trying to get our usual orders out.

The 6 digit order number from you buying this will need to be written on the labels included with the kit along with the beer style you choose to brew. It will not be possible to confirm receipt of your entry, however any damages will be reported to the sender.

Competition entry orders will only be sent using courier to ensure that they arrive with entrants quickly.

Judging will be completed on the 8th of July. Unfortunately it is not possible to provide feedback to all entrants. The judges decision is final. More information can be found on Elusive Brewing blog post

THE PRIZE

• • £500 cash from Elusive Brewing

  • £500 store credit with The Malt Miller

  • Additional prizes from our sponsors TBC

  • Work with Elusive to design and develop a commercial recipe (doesn’t have to be the winning recipe) which we’ll release branded as you wish, with your name front and centre

  • A launch event to celebrate your success

  • If you are looking to progress towards a commercial venture, we’ll provide further support and mentoring to help you in following your dream!

THE RULES

• Over 18s and UK residents only (we can only launch the winning beer in the UK)

• Strictly one entry per person. Anyone found to have entered multiple times will be disqualified

• Entrants must submit three bottles or cans which are clearly labelled using the sent with your entry pack and free of any other distinguishing marks

• Entries must arrive at The Malt Miller in Swindon by Wednesday 6th July and the entrant is responsible for the safe shipment and receipt of their entries

• It will not be possible to provide feedback to all entrants

• Entries will be judged according to the chosen styles with the winning beer selected by the judges as being the best beer entered

• The judges decision is absolutely final in all aspects of the competition

• Winner to be announced after judging has completed by Elusive Brewing

• The winner will be responsible for any travel costs associated with brewing and launching their beer