![]() ![]() It’s great to be part of a community and I owe my success as a brewer to it. Has anyone ever broken their yeast starter on a brew day? He has gone from an owner of a store I shop at to a friend. He will even open the store for me when I’m in a jam. Over the years, the owner Nick has been amazing by educating me on all the varieties of malts, hops and yeast. I first walked into my local home brew store, Brew North, not knowing a thing. Going to a meeting really gets the passion bubbling in your veins. When we are passing around beers, at first you hear, “Why would you put that in a beer?” The brewer would say, “Why not?” Then you would try the beer and go, “Why didn’t I think of that! This is amazing!” At meetings you get to try so many unique creations. The creativity in homebrewing is mind blowing. They push and encourage me to be the best brewer I can be. I had no idea there were so many brewers out there. We meet once a month and I get to mingle with other passionate brewers. It has to be the people you meet and the passion and creativity you get from them. I’ve won Toronto Brewer of the Year in 20, 2017 Henderson Cup, medals in the Indiana State Fair, Oregon State Fair, Pennsylvania, and across Canada.ĬHA: What is your favourite thing about homebrewing? I’ve done fairly well in competitions so I can’t complain. With 13 regional sites, that means in the finals you are up agains 39 other beers that already medaled in their region! They only take the top three in the category to move on to the finals. My wake up call for how good the competition was in the NHC was when my Eisbock scored a 45.5 and didn’t place in the regionals. Different areas of the United States and Canada have different tastes. I like to enter a variety of competitions to hit as many regional palates as possible. I’ve been competing for the last couple years in the Canadian Brewer of the Year Circuit and a few US competitions. Turns out it was not just Shane, Dave and I who liked it!ĬHA: What’s your competition history like? How have you done for other competitions previously and have you entered into NHC before? He liked it so off it went. I didn’t enter it with any expectations to win but for feedback and curiosity, given it was such a different take on a saison. I had a friend Dave Cole, who is a BJCP judge, try it. This was my first time brewing this recipe and I thought it was a great beer. It’s an IPA hop combo! Most would read this recipe and discard it. For this take on a saison, I used Citra, Mosaic, and Mandarina Bavaria. The hops used are not your traditional saison hops. They are doing innovative work at Escarpment Labs. Part of the yeast strain is actually cultivated from an Ontario strawberry. Shane’s recipe inspired me to use a local Escarpment Labs yeast that I would not have thought to use, as well as an interesting hop combination for a saison. Another great reason to join a homebrew club! I took that base recipe and made a few tweaks to suit my tastes and brewing techniques. The blueprint for this recipe is actually from a very skilled brewer in our club, Shane Martin. Have you brewed it before? And why a saison? They wouldn’t get all the free beer!ĬHA: Tell me more about the saison you brewed. I know my family and friends can’t either. ![]() It refreshes me, clears my mind and allows me to explore my creative side. Then I discovered brewing and it became my escape. I use to have a hard time dealing with and processing these events. I actually started brewing as a means of therapy for my job. This award is special and one I am very proud of. ![]() When there are over 250 entries in a single category, and they are from the top amateur brewers in the world, you don’t get your hopes up too much. It’s the first time anyone in our club had medaled in the competition. I think they were even more excited than I was! I was just in shock. Our GTA Brews president Eric was at the awards along with a few other members and friends. I had completely forgot when they were announcing the results. Thank you very much! I was relaxing at the cottage when my phone started going off. There were 253 saison entries this year.ĬHA: Congrats! How did you find out your saison placed seconnd in NHC? And how did you feel about it? Michael Vandervoort’s saison took second place in the final round for the American Homebrewer’s Association’s National Homebrew Competition (NHC) in Providence, RI this year. ![]()
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