A slower month in August, the weather has been lousy and after a busy few months we’ve needed time to take a breather and get brewing for the ACT Amateur Brewing Championships.

We managed a table at the Bentspoke Trivia Night where sadly they had questions not about beer (bummer) but we had a great time all in all.

A few brewers made it along to the Cypher Chaos Realm dark beer festival as well, a great afternoon.

September meeting

This month’s meeting is Thursday September 3 at The Polish White Eagle Club, 38 David St, Turner from 7.30pm.

We’ll go with the tried and true format, starting with an education session followed by club updates, the six pack swap, plenty of shared beer and of course the raffle. Don’t forget to bring beer to share!

Education

Beer and brewing is of course actually older than the Foster Bros introduction of refrigeration to Melbourne, in fact it even pre-dates Hildegard von Bingen. Join us as Stretch blows the dust off old cuneiforms and takes us way back. Should be a blast (from the past)

2026 Oktoberfest

It’s time to dust off the lederhosen and dirndls – Oktoberfest is coming.

This year we will try something a little different for our Oktoberfest club night on the 1 October. Cypher Brewing Co have kindly offered to look after us this year, albeit a little different as we won’t be bringing our own beer to share (don’t worry, Cypher has plenty!).

We will run the normal German beer competition, but only with bottles as miracle boxes won’t be available. Due to licencing restrictions, please only bring beer for the competition or the six-pack swap. 

After talking through some changes to their standard platter to make it more Germanic, the chef asked if he can be a little creative and make something special just for us – something to look forward to!

Tickets will be $40 for financial club members and $55 for any guests you’d like to invite.  As with the Cypher Brew Day, club members head to the forum to register interest and get details on how to pay. Guests can purchase tickets through Humantix. Tickets get you food and a schooner of beer (<5.5%)

Cypher needs final numbers by 24 September.

ACT Amateur Brewing Championships

Registrations are now closed, with 200 beers entered, it’s going to be a great competition! Participants have now got until noon this Saturday 5 September to drop off their entries (see comp website for details). 

Judging will take place from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 September at BentSpoke’s Budding Cells facility in Mitchell. It’s going to be a busy weekend and we will need all the volunteer judges and stewards we can get, so head to the competition website to register or email compsec@canberrabrewers.com.au.

Spring socials

The Tram Crawl – 19 September

Kick off at 12 pm at Cypher Brewing for lunch and a few bevvies, before we meander our way into Civic via The Old Canberra Inn and The Dickson Taphouse to end up at BentSpoke around 7-ish for dinner.

See you all Thursday September 3rd at the Polish Club.

Good day brewers hope you are well and hydrated!

Full steam ahead for the ACT Amateur Brewing Championships. This is the big one and I am sure that many of you have beers all ready to go, whilst others are still thinking (best get brewing!). The comp will be held between 11 and 13 September 2026.

Winning a ‘place’ is your ticket to enter the Australian Amateur Brewing Comp. You could also be named ACT Brewer of the Year and if you win the Best of Show you will brew your beer at the BentSpoke as the prestigious Bent Brewer. Hey you can do all three if you try really hard!

The competition website is up and running with all the relevant comp information. You can now register and enter your beers, ciders and meads. All styles are up for judging. Also read our page about participating in competitions for more information about using the competition website and entering.

Registration for judging and stewarding is also open. It should be a busy weekend and we will need all the volunteers we can get so make sure you register even if you have no beers in the comp.

August meeting

This month’s meeting is Thursday August 6 at The Polish Club, 38 David St, Turner

The format will be the usual exciting formula: education session, club updates, the six-pack swap, plenty of shared beer and of course the raffle. Don’t forget to bring a keg or bottle to share.

Education session – pressure fermentation

Join us as Stretch takes us through the in and outs, not to mention the ups and downs of pressure fermentation. What styles are appropriate? What is pressure fermentation anyway? Equipment to use?  Pressures to ferment at? So many questions and as always so many answers.

Competition update

The Winter Club comp is all wrapped. The comp secretaries ran a small comp with three tables of three judges, judging multiple categories, including some categories with only one entry. The top two scoring beers from each table went into a Best of Show Round. Those beers were:

• Patrick Cole’s Dark Mild
• Leo Alfonzo’s International Pale Lager
• Richard Brown’s Cali Common
• Mick Donovan’s Irish Stout
• Patrick Cole’s Mixed Fermentation Sour
• Richard Brown’s Catharina Sour

The Catharina Sour was awarded best of show, with honourable mentions going to the Cali Common and the Dark Mild. There was some great variety in this comp and some terrific beers. Thanks to the entrants, judges and stewards.

Social goings on

The Canberra Brewers Delegation to the Inner “Wasted” Ale Trail was by all accounts a great success. Kicking off at Batch and visiting amongst others Beer Fontaine, Bob Hawkes Beer and Leasure Centre, Mix Tape, Hopster and One Drop. Apparently everyone was well behaved. Of course what happens on the tour stays on the tour.

Wednesday August 5 the Bentspoke is hosting a Trivia night which is hosted in turn by a man whose mind is not in any way Trivial, Dan Rayner.

See you all Thursday August 6 at the Polish Club

The cold has finally set in but it is never too cold to venture out to the monthly Canberra Brewers Club Meeting from 7.30pm this Thursday 2 July at The Polish White Eagle Club, 38 David St, Turner.

The format will include the usual, education session, club updates, six-pack swap, plenty of shared beer and of course the raffle (featuring some yummy yeast from our wonderful sponsor Mashematics).

Education session – decoction

Ever decocted? Heard about it? Think it is the answer to world beer domination? Consider it outdated?

Join in as Stretch takes us through the mysteries of decoction mashing and leave with a much better idea of what it is and what is does and of course how to do it.

Competition update

The Winter Comp will be done, and quite possibly dusted by the meeting and with luck the results will be in.

In the meantime get brewing for the ACT Amateur Brewing Championships to be held on 11-13 September. Remember a placing will be your entry ticket for the Australian Amateur Brewers Championships (24-25 October in Sydney), a chance to win ACT Brewer of the Year and the Bent Brewer Award for beer of show (or all of the above).

Social events update

Cypher brew day

We had a great turnout for the Cypher Brew Day on 13 June with Matt guiding us through Cypher’s brewing process and members getting down and remarkably clean in the brewery. We got some guided tastings, tried hop sampling with some special releases sent to the brewery and even sampled a special yet that’s yet to be released.

We “helped” brew Incantation, a Red IPA which had a massive 470kg grain bill (Voyager Atlas, Red X, Voyager Dark Voodoo, Simpsons Black and acidulated malt) and, Simcoe, Citra, Krush, Peacharine hops and some specialised whirlpool hop extract, Yakima Chief’s Citra DynaBoost. It’s finished up at 7% and should be in cans and on tap at the end of the week.

Thanks to Matt, Jimmy and Cypher for the great hospitality!

Sydney Inner West Breweries Weekend

Inner West Ale Trail be warned, a delegation of Canberra Brewers will be heading to the Federal seat of Grayndler, which for many years was held by former, or latter King of Canberra, Fred Daly. This trip will feature many delicious brews and ‘succulent Chinese meal’ at the Lucky Prawn at the Bob Hawke Beer and Leisure Centre.

Set 24 to 27 July aside and start booking accommodation for this momentous tap take over, if from the other side.

Keep an eye on the Facebook members group event page for more updates.

Crossing the line: Canberra Brewers serving it up

Starting the year with Canberra Brewers brewing all of our own beer for the National Multicultural Festival, sold alongside this year’s BentBrewer which was Stretch’s Kolsch (brewed with Richard and Tracy at the BentSpoke) and Mozzie’s Cypher collaboration dunkelweizen, The Silent Void.

We and the good citizens of Canberra are now able to enjoy Mozzie’s Void Beyond dunkel weizenbock at Cypher and in cans (re-brewed after some recalculations), and South Coast visitors can try Amber’s collab with Jervis Bay Brewing, a Baltic porter released as part of the brewery’s Winter Solstice festival.

And next we will have Richard Brown’s Spring Comp winning Scottish ale, Glasgow Kiss, hitting the brewing schedule at Cypher.

See you all Thursday 2 July at the Polish Club

Bonjour Canberra Brewers,

Welcome to winter! Even though the temps haven’t fallen we can still bring out the delicious dark beers. Hoping we can crack a few at our meeting next week (don’t forget to car-pool if you partake in a few RIS’s). Join us on Thursday, 04 June 2026, at the Polish Club in Turner from 7:30pm. We’ll have an informative education session, club updates, and plenty of great beer to share.

Education session – beer and food pairing

Our June education session will be a gustation journey on beer and food pairing. Perfect for those of us who eat and drink beer (so literally all of us). Learn why that burger tastes best with hoppy refreshing pale ales and why chocolate does not. If you are feeling nerdy you might want to dust off your copy of Randy Mosher’s Tasting Beer to do some pre-reading.

Competitions update

Massive thank you to Cypher Brewing and those who helped with the Autumn Comp, including Ken and Robin who did a great job organising the comp. It was an excellent turn out with 41 entries across 8 categories. Jeff from Cypher, Gilks and Chuck judged the Best in Show. Massive congratulations to Richard Brown and his Scottish Heavy ‘Glasgow kiss’ which will brewed at Cypher in the coming year.

Can you believe the Winder comp is now upon us?

• Club Comp 1 (Autumn Comp) – Saturday 9 May 2026 – done and dusted
• Club Comp 2 (Winter Comp) – Saturday 27 June 2026 (entry closes 20 June)
• ACT Amateur Brewing Championships – 11-13 September 2026

Get brewing on the following styles for comp 2 – entry registration and drop-off close at 12pm on 20 June:

• Pale Lager
• Amber and dark Lager
• Stout
• Wheat and Rye Beer
• Belgian Ale
• Fruit and Spice Beer
• Speciality Beer
• Mead
• Cider and Perry
• Strong Ale and Lager
• Sour and Wild Ale

Watch the socials and emails for details on entering, judging and stewarding or go to the Canberra Brewers Winter Comp 2026 site.

All are welcome!!

Club business & socialising

Amber’s Baltic Porter brewed with Jervis Bay Brewing for the NOOKIE prize will soon be kegged, watch out for the socials for when it will be available on tap. The 2026 NOOKIE prize was won by Kip at the May meeting – congrats Kip!!

BentSpoke birthday bash

BentSpoke will be hosting their 12 Birthday! Head down to the brew pub on the 5 June – we have booked a table from 4pm. Bentspoke will be providing free canapes, birthday cake, limited edition beanies. Read about the event on the Crafty Pint website, and RSVP on the Facebook members group event page.

Cypher brew day

Cypher Brewing will be hosting a brew day on Saturday 13 June for the Canberra Brewers. At a low cost of $35 bucks for members, you will receive beers, food and an entertaining morning. Registration will occur soon through the socials or forum.

June meeting

As always, our monthly meeting is a great chance to catch up with fellow brewers, talk shop, and sample some homebrew. Don’t forget to bring along a few bottles of your latest creation for feedback and sharing or for the six pack swap.

The kegerator will be set-up to host member bought kegs.

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, 4 June, at the Polish Club. Bring yourselves, your attitude and winter jackets, and — of course — bring your homebrew, either a keg or bottle!

Cheers,
Canberra Brewers Committee