Norwich Amateur Brewers bring their best to 'Hoptober' competition in Diss

A Diss brewery welcomed some of the best amateur brewers from East Anglia and further afield who put their best pints to the test in the Norwich Amatuer Brewers Hoptober 22 competition last weekend.

Ampersand Brewery in Sawmills Road, a sponsor of the event and host of it for the first time, made space for a team of certified brewing judges to sip and cast their eyes over 100 entries from 85 entrants.

The brewery holds its own monthly homebrew club, but Stuart Morrison, Ampersand’s tap room manager, said the set up of the Norwich group was great to experience.

He said: “It was interesting to see how they work as they are far more established than we are here - not just by the number of entries, but the calibre of them too. We tried some really nice beers.”

The categories for the 12 judges included English IPAs, American Pale Ales, Black IPAs, Hazy IPAs and Belgian, Brut and White IPAs.

Each category winner then went to the next round with the beers being whittled down to the final three, before an American Pale Ale, called Bonus Beer! from brewer Andrew Oldridge was crowned ‘Best in Show’.

Asked why the brewery wanted to help give a platform for amateur brewers to showcase their wares, Stuart said: “I am a home brewer myself and Ampersand’s co-owner Andy Hipwell started off that way too.

“So we thought it was cool for us to get involved and support other like-minded people and try to find someone who could fit the bill as the next established brewer in Norfolk.”