Canberra Brewers 2024 Annual Report
March 2025
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President’s Report
Canberra Brewers have had a very active and busy year with some great events, club member engagement, and a number of new initiatives improving our membership and financial situation (see Treasurers report below).
Canberra Brewers held two successful home-brewer competitions and ACT championships which included many winners going on to the Australian Amateur Brewing Championship. It is incredible to see the high standard in brewing and judging Canberra Brewers continue to offer. I particularly want to thank Nicole Coombs and Ed Wunsch, the Competition Secretaries, for their tireless efforts in making the competitions happen. Thanks to all judges, stewards and helpers over the multiple days. Congratulations to Andrew Lewis as Champion Brewer and Craig Evans for winning the Bent Brewer award for 2024.
The Beer Judging Certification Program (BJCP) was a huge success with club members and staff from Cypher and Capital Brewing participating. Thanks to Patrick Baggoley for running the course again to such a high standard. I am looking forward to a new crop of certified beer judges in 2025.
During the year Jason Reilly purchased a 150L pilot system and set it up at Zierholz Brewery. With agreement from Christoph Zierholz (owner) and with a lot of help from Charles Newton and members, a number of beers were brewed (under the Zierholz Brewery liquor license) and sold at Multicultural Festival in February 2025. This was a massive success and was a rewarding experience for all who participated. We have already been considering how we can make this happen again in 2026. A huge shoutout to Jason Reilly and Charles Newton for this effort.
Although we had a vacancy of Social Secretary in the committee this year, there was still some great social events. Members participated in 4 group cycles around Canberra ending at a brewery. Canberra Brewers purchased barrels from Callington Mill Distillery to commence a barrel project. Recipes were formulated and members contributed their home-brewed Wee Heavy or Barley Wine to the barrels. Thanks to Craig Evans who is holding the barrels at his property just outside of Canberra. A brew day was held at the Cypher Brewing Co with the head-brewers taking us on a tasting journey through their beers. Charles Newton made everyone breakfast. Other events included Oktoberfest at Zierholz and the Christmas Party at BentSpoke. Dave Johnson did an extraordinary job at organizing and wrangling all the beer for the 24-pack swap with donations from Cypher Brewing Co, BentSpoke, Zierholz Brewing, Wild Polly, Mountain Yeti, Capital Brewing Co, and Ale Mary with donations from Mashematics, Belco Brew Supplies and Brew Your Own At Home. Members are still raving about the beers.
A kegerator was raffled this year through volunteer points which was organized by Phil Dufty, Editor (massive thankyou to Phill). Congratulations to Charles Newton who won. I also want to say congratulations to Amber Hutchison who took out the Member of the Year Award and won the NOOKIE prize.
Canberra Brewers continue to have challenges that we will look to adjust in the coming year including the breadth of communications required, ICT issues and the membership database.
I also wanted to say thank you to any outgoing committee members who did an incredible job, these include Stephen Neilson as the Education Secretary and Phill Dufty as Editor.
Anthony Ween
President
Treasurer’s Report
Although the financial year for the club is not over yet, I would like to reflect on some of the cost-savings that have occurred this year which have improved Canberra Brewers financial position enabling us to support member endeavours. The Multicultural Festival was an incredible success pulling in approx. $10,000 in profit for the club. The initial outlay was higher than usual as ingredients were bought for the club made beer and the club bar was fixed. We increased our membership fees reflecting increases to club expenses such as insurances, rent and cost of raffle prizes, this is the first increase in fees for 10 years or so.
A large expense for the club for many years has been the storage of our shipping container. A generous offer from BentSpoke was made to host the container at no-cost which expands the contributions of BentSpoke as our Major Sponsor. This is a significant contribution to the club, saving the club around $2000 per year, and one which will take considerable pressure off our expenses. Zeirlholz Brewery also supported the club by allowing us to use their brewery rent free for the BJCP and club competitions, and supporting our mini brewery using Jason Reilly’s equipment, integral in allowing us to brew the Multicultural Festival Beers.
In 2024 (and into 2025) we are making a number of changes to our financials and budgeting to better understand Canberra Brewers financial situation.
Amber Hutchison
Treasurer
Sponsors and supporters
We would like to thank all our amazing sponsors and supporters who are integral to the survival of Canberra Brewers.
Club sponsors
Club Supporters
- Belco Brew Supplies
- Capital Brewing Co.
- 3 Sons Cider
- Stone Dog Meadery
- Plonk
- Page Bottler
- Brew Your Own at Home
Key activities
Multicultural Festival
Another successful Multicultural Festival for 2025. This year Canberra Brewers brought the bar out to serve member brewed beers on tap to …‘Think Global to Drink Local’. Fantastic efforts from Charles Newton, Darren Blackhurst, Richard Watkins (BentSpoke) and Ed Wunsch to add fans to the base board and attach the conduit ensuring chilled and perfectly poured beer all festival. Punters loved the range of beers on tap which included seven member brewed beers. Five beers brewed at Zierholz Brewery and two brewed at BentSpoke with co-owner Tracy Margrain as part of an initiative to support winners of the Bent Brewer award. Tap beers included:
- Dortmunder Helles Lager (Germany) – Andrew Lewis
- British Golden Ale (UK) – Corey Fisher
- Tropical Fruit Sour (Brazil) – Richard Brown
- Table Saison (France/Belgium) – Daniel Davenport
- American Amber Ale (US) – Mark Overton
Brewing Competitions
The Canberra Brewers had another great year of competition, bringing together brewers, judges and sponsors to promote excellence in brewing across three competitions. Awards and feedback are guaranteed when you enter.
We had Patrick Baggoley’s Red IPA on tap at Cypher Brewing following his Best of Show award at our first competition of 2024. Neridah Robinson was a first time entrant in our winter comp and came away with a first for her English Cider. And in September 2024, Andrew Lewis took out the ACT Brewing Championships, pleasing the judges across his five ale and lager entries. Craig Evans finished the year taking out the BentBrewer award with his American Light Lager (and had his American Pale Ale coming tied second). And in November, Rob Barnsley’s 2023 entry into the ACT Championships – a smoked wheat beer – was put on tap by BentSpoke, to high acclaim.
But competitions are also about feedback from disciplined teams of judges. The Competition Secretaries want to thank David Gilks for his role as Head Judge across the three competitions and for his support to all the judges and stewards to keep our standards high. A big thank you to Pat for his role in building a pool of judges and to all the members and friends who judged, stewarded and helped behind the scenes. Thank you also to BentSpoke (for generous awards and support), Zierholz Brewery (for generous use of their facilities) and Cypher Brewing Co for looking after us on site and on tap early on in the year.
Beer Judge Certification Program
The Canberra Brewers’ Beer Judge Certification Program course in 2024 highlighted the club’s ongoing partnerships in the local beer community.
Zierholz Brewing provided free access to their taproom, while Cypher Brewing Co regularly donated beer used during the course and Ink Printing in Mitchell donated the course books. This generous support helped us both reduce the cost of the course for participants and leave a small profit which will help prepare for a BJCP Judging Exam in May 2025.
The 2024 course attracted 13 participants, including three members of the Cypher team and a brewer from Capital Brewing, speaking to both the calibre of the course and the strong relationship with the club and the local brewing community. Participation rates remained high throughout the 11 sessions, which included sampling of more than 110 beers across 77 BJCP styles.
Differing to most clubs around the world, the Canberra Brewers annual BJCP course has a strong focus on sampling styles across the BJCP guidelines, understanding flavours, recipes and brewing techniques and building sensory vocabulary with only a basic introduction to judging. This course is run independently of our exam preparation, which spends less time discussing style and has a more intense focus on judging and completing scoresheets.
A course aimed at preparing candidates for the BJCP judging exam will begin in March.
2024 Carton Swap
Twenty four members provided 24 bottles or cans to the carton swap ensuring a diverse and delicious carton of beers to take home at the 2024 Christmas party last year. Massive efforts to Dave Johnson and other helpers on the day for organising and a huge thanks from our amazing sponsors for donating prizes and beers for the swap.
Sponsor lucky draw prizes:
- Mashematics – 25 kg bag of grain
- Brew-your-own-at-home Kambah – 60 Litre Fermzilla Unitank
- Belco BrewSupplies – 25 kg bag of Simpson’s Golden Promise, 240g Superdelic Hops, 3 x twin packs of London ale yeast
Local Canberra brewing companies each sponsoring a carton each: - Zierholz – carton (Premium Lager)
- Wild Polly – carton (gluten free – Hop Harvest Ale)
- Mountain Yetti – (Gurkha)
- Cypher – carton (new Dream Collision)
- Capital Brewing – carton (new Haze Oasis)
- Bentspoke – carton (Bract to the Ditch)
- Ale Mary – carton (Hazy IPA)
