Canterbury Faire 2016 was an excellent event for the guild.
The Brewers Guild Competition for Reinheitsgebot beers had 7 entrants, some of whom submitted more than one brew. Markus, who entered 3 brews at the last minute with no documentation scored the lowest. The next four entrants all scored within one point of each other. But the top two entrants were head and shoulders above the others. Sir Asborn’s IPA style amber coming second, as a last minute entry with only verbal documentation was scored equal with Master Padraig’s Small Beer, but the over all winner with a score of 85 out of a possible 120 was Master Padraig’s ( Paddy Neumann) Strong Beer. Your prize is winging it’s way to you via the same courier who delivered the entry. Our thanks to Lord Talorc Andy Deuchars, Lord Timothy Grey Wraith and Lord Wei David Mayes for acting as competition judges.
The Guild Tasting had 19 official entries and several more unofficial ones. Approximately 24 people attended the meeting. (With some coming and going)
Fermented Soft Drinks :
Wolfgang Germanicus ( Rob Braun) Cumquat Cordial
Mistress Rohesia (Belle Sibly) Elderflower Cordial WINNER
Ales and Beers:
Lord James (James Piesse) A Light and a Dark
Lord Luan An Fael A Porter
Markus A Belgian Dark / Barley wine
Mistress Elayne (Mont Joye) new Brown
Sam Radley An Irish Red
Vhailor (Lukáš Janků) APA and a Saison
Giles Ballard (Jason Atkinson) A Porter
Lord Timothy Haast (Grey Wraith) 2013 Old Ale
Amed and Maheshti (Agate Ponder-Sutton) Belgian Ale TIED WINNER
Sir Asborn (Maggie Forest) IPA TIED WINNER
Wines and Ciders:
Howard Blackboy Peach Wine
Mistress Elayne ( Mont Joye) Apricot Cider WINNER
Meads and Melomels:
Mistress Rohesia (Belle Sibly) Crabapple Mead
Mistress Isebail (Taryn East) Elf Chilly Mead WINNER
Spirits: NZ entries only as it legal here
Mistress Rohesia (Belle Sibly) Apple Brandy
Lord Luan An Fael Pomegranate and Rosewater Liqueur WINNER
Mystery Entries:
Helga presented fermented Raro (a NZ powered cordial)
Mistress Rohesia presented a 14th century Braggot (Spiced Ale Mead)
The over all winner was Mistress Isebail’s Elf Chilly Mead.
Because this meeting took two hours to complete it is requested that EACH PERSON BRING ONLY ONE ENTRY NEXT YEAR!
Canterbury Faire 2016
For those coming to Canterbury Faire 2016 our Brewing Competition based on the “Reinheitsgebot” Bavarian beer purity law will be judged on Sunday 17th January between 10am and noon at the A&S display. On Monday 18th we’ll be holding our meeting/tasting at 4pm at the Cultus Faunus encampment. Hope to see many of your there.
Guild Ranking goes live!
Following the Guild meeting at Festival 2015 we now have a new Guild Ranking system. See the Guild Ranking page for details including the submission forms and contact the Guild Clerk via the Contact Us page to make your submission.
Brewers Guild Tasting Cups
Sveinn inn kyrri Grimsson has come up with these gorgeous pewter tasting cups featuring the Guild badge inside and the Lochac badge on the handle.
They are about 7cm diameter, 2cm depth and weight around 100gms. Great to wear on your belt as a sign of guild membership and a good size for sampling. We tried them out against a stainless steel goblet and found no noticeable tainting, only variations due to temperature and air exposure.
Sveinn is taking orders with an eye to a production run available at Festival. The cost will be $35 AU or $37 NZ, with $10 deposit requested if you wish to order one. Please contact Sveinn (Steve Worthington) via the guild mailing list or the Facebook page to express interest.
Canterbury Faire Tasting 2015
Canterbury Faire 2015 Brewers Guild Meeting
Present: Mistress Rohesia, Mistress Elayne , Mistress Miriam, Lords James of Southron Gaard, Dauid De Cochran, Timothy Haast, Wiley, Damian, Nathan, John Longshanks, Kotek, Howard, Gideon, Giles Ballard, Edward, Rossell fitz-Richard, Noah, Hercules, Hannibal Mailmaker, Sam, Ladies Iseabail, Margriet, Constance, Sigrith, Sally, Helga, Isabeau and Alanna (taking minutes).
Not everyone was present for the full tasting hence the total votes changed from time to time. There was no official business so we got straight into the tasting.
18 brews were entered over 5 categories. There was a tie between Rohesia with the Metheglen and the Red Zoned Avoncider, and Timothy with the Sweet Mead and Dark Rum. The tie was decided by the on site brew off, using our own home made malts. A public tasting ended with votes 28 to 13 in favour of Rohesia’s Gruit Ale, over Timothy’s Barley Malt Ale, giving Roheisa the Canterbury Faire Tasting prize for 2015.
FERMENTED SOFT DRINKS
Rohesia’s Elderflower Champagne <2%
As per last year, Lemoney with a good elderflower nose. Well liked by the Guild and the populous.
Category WINNER by default.
ALES AND BEERS
Timothy Haast’s Pale Ale
A very “happy” beer, using English yeast and NZ hops. Presented on a hand pull. A good English pub ale.
Votes 9 positive, 10 neutral, 3 negative.
James’ Meant to be a Bitter
Added too many hops. Primed and conditioned in the bottle, would have been better cold.
Votes 3 positive, 7 neutral, 12 negative.
Damian’s Belgian Saison
Crisp and refreshing
Votes 17 positive, 5 neutral, no negative.
Category WINNER.
Timothy Haast’s Padrons Barley Wine
As presented last year, now aged a year.
Votes 12 positive, 8 neutral, 2 negative.
James Black Death
Way too much chocolate malt gave a LOT of colour, but not a lot of flavour
Votes 6 positive, 8 neutral, 2 negative.
CIDERS
Dauid’s Pear Scrumpy
7kg of pwears juiced, store bought yeast, still cider.
Votes 12 positive, 11 neutral, 2 negative.
Rohesia’s Scrumped Perry
Fermented on the fruits own yeast.
Votes 10 positive, 6 neutral, 8 negative.
Rohesia’s Serpent’s Kiss Cider
Fermented on the fruits own yeast. A mix of backyard apple varieties. “First mouthful is bitey then it grew on me”
Votes 15 positive, 7 neutral, 1 negative.
Rohesia’s Cox’s Cider
Only Cox’s orange apples used, fermented on the fruits own yeast.
Votes 3 positive, 11 neutral, 7 negative.
Rohesia’s Redzoned Avoncider
A mix of backyard apples scrumped for the earthquake damaged suburb of Avonside, fermented on the fruits own yeast. Back sweetened with Quince syrup. Votes 22 positive, no neutral, 3 negative.
Category WINNER. Also won the Brewers guild Cider competition held during the A&S display.
Rohesia’s Redzoned Crabapple Cider
A mix of crabapples and Red delicious with some Japanese Quince, fermented on the fruits own yeast.
Votes 6 positive, 8 neutral, 5 negative.
WINES
Howard’s Gooseberry wine 10%ish
Flavour of burnt peanuts, might be better chilled.
Votes 3 positive, 8 neutral, 9 negative.
Category WINNER by default.
MEADS
Rohesia’s Queen Elizabeth Metheglen (original recipe)
Winner of the Midwinter coronation competition. Herbed mead according to the recipe favoured by Queen Elizabeth I.Flavoured with rosemary, thyme and sweetbriar (Elegantine)
Votes 24 positive Unanimous.
Category TIED WINNER
Rohesia’s Queen Elizabeth Metheglen (altered recipe)
The same as above but with extra sweetbriar.
Votes 13 positive, 6 neutral, 1 negative.
Category TIED WINNER
Timothy’s Sweet Mead
Made with raw honey and a little honey comb, Flavours of pepper and lavender
Votes 23 positive Unanimous
Category TIED WINNER
SPIRITS
Timothy’s Dark Rum
Made from sugar and molasses, back sweetened with molasses, aged in a 10 ltr oak cask.
Votes 24 positive, 1 neutral.
Category WINNER
Rohesia and Silver’s Apple Brandy
Silver’s autolosis tainted cider, distilling, aged for a year on oak and apple wood, diluted with a little apple juice.
Votes 9 positive, 7 neutral, 4 negative.
BREWED ON SITE ALES, as voted by the populous who tasted them.
Rohesia’s Gruit Ale
Using our home made pale malt, Heather (from Timothy’s garden), Sweet woodruff (from Rohesia’s garden) and Yarrow picked on site. Sweetened with honey and using a Belgian Saison yeast. Yeast was pitched on the Tuesday evening of Faire and the ale drunk on the following Saturday afternoon.
28 votes from the populous.
Timothy’s Barley Ale
Using our home made malt, some of which was toasted on site on the Sunday of Faire and using a Belgian Saison yeast. Yeast was pitched on the Tuesday evening of Faire and the ale drunk on the following Saturday afternoon.
13 votes from the populous.
Canterbury Faire Cider Competition 2015
The Lochac Brewer’s Guild competition for 2015 was Cider. There were 5 entries, 3 from Roheisa Le Sarjent(Belle Sibly) one from , Dauid de Cochran (Dauid Marsden) and one from Padraig Lowther (Paddy Neumann). Entries were judged by a panel of 3 expert judges, Mistress Miriam Galbraith, Master Brian di Caffa and Rossell Fitz-Richard (aka Redbeard, judge of the annual NAAMA brew comp), and scored on documentation, workmanship, authenticity and overall impression. With only 5 entries the planned 3 categories were combined into one.
1st place Rohesia’s Avoncider with a score 95
2nd place Rohesia’s Crabapple Cider with a score of 91
3rd Paddy’s spiced Cyzer with a score of 89
4th Rohesia’s Serpent’s Kiss Cider with a score of 79
5th Dauid’s Pear Scrumpy with a score of 62
Our thanks to all who took part.
Lochac Brewing Laurels Challange
Queen Elizabeth’s Methaeglen – A Lochac Laurels’ Brewing Challenge
Your challenge, should you accept it, is to produce no less than two 300ml bottles of Queen Elizabeth’s Methaeglen, as per the recipe below, before Lochac’s Mid-Winter Coronation at which time the brewing Laurels will judge which entrant has best accomplished this task using the Lochac Arts & Sciences judging criteria listed at http://artsandsciences.lochac.sca.org/judging. The recipe recommends aging for six months, so you will need to get brewing promptly.
You are to submit two bottles, each labelled with your name or the name of your brewery and the date of brewing, accompanied by documentation including your own redaction of the recipe and an explanation of any deviations or changes made.
Entrants will be asked to declare their intention to compete to the Brewers Guild Clerk, Rurik farserkr (ben.paton@gmail.com) by 1st June 2014 at latest. All entries must be delivered to him by Tuesday 24th of June 2014 or, by prior arrangement, brought to Midwinter Coronation in Politarchopolis on Saturday 5th July. Please contact Rurik for a delivery address and/or to arrange cellaring with him.
The results will be announced at the event, if possible, or by email soon afterwards. The entry judged the best will win a beautiful hand turned wooden mazer.
You can print a PDF of the recipe and competition details here. Queen Elizabeths Methaeglen
Original recipe from ‘The Feminine Monarchie, or a Treatise concerning Bees and the due ordering of Bees,’ 1609 By Charles ButlerChapterX “Of the Fruit and profit of Bees. Part 2” 1609 facsimile (Transcribed below)
Transcription by Justin du Coeur http://jducoeur.org/Cookbook/bees.html :
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One excellent Receipt I will here recite: and it is of that which our renowned Queen Elizabeth, of happy memory, did so well like, that she would every year have a vessel of it.
First, gather a bushel of Sweet-briar-leaves, and a bushel of Thyme, half a bushel of Rosemary, and a peck of Bay-leaves. Seeth all these (being well washed) in a Furnace of fair water:
let them boil the space of half an hour, or better: and then pour out all the water and herbs into a Vat, and let it stand till it be but milk-warm: then strain the water from the herbs, and take to every six Gallons of water one Gallon of the finest Honey, and put it into the Born, and labor it together half an hour: then let it stand two days, stirring it well twice or thrice each day. Then take the Liquor and boil it anew: and when it doeth (?seed?), skim it as long as there remaineth any Dross. When it is clear, put it into the Vat as before, and there let it be cooled. You must then have in a readiness a Kive of new Ale or Beer, which as soon as you have emptied, suddenly whelm it upside down, and set it up again, and presently put in the Metheglen, and let it stand three days a working. And then tun it up in Barrels, tying at every Tap-hole (by a Pack-thread) a little bag of beaten Cloves and Mace, to the value of an ounce. It must stand half a year before it be drunk.
Canterbury Faire Meeting and Tasting
Monday, 20th January and 1pm. Lunch time in the Cultus Faunus encampment (the one with the “stone” gate next to the war field.) See you there!
ATTENTION: Canterbury Fairers
Whether we would like to run a brewing competition for next Faire.
Thoughts and ideas on guild ranking.
Ales and Beers
Meads
Wines and Ciders
Spirits and Liqueurs
Agenda Items for Rowany Festival
If anyone has anything they would like added to the agenda for the Festival meeting, please email them to the Guild Clerk, Rurik before 12th night.