Hawke’s Bay Winemakers and Homebrewers Club submitted 86 entries into the New Zealand Central Region Home-Brewers and Winemakers Clubs competition.
Hawke’s Bay Winemakers and Homebrewers Club submitted 86 entries into the New Zealand Central Region Home-Brewers and Winemakers Clubs competition.
Hawke’s Bay Winemakers and Homebrewers Club cleaned up at the 70th anniversary New Zealand Central Region Home-Brewers and Winemakers Clubs competition, with the local club taking home an armful of awards, including Best Beer.
Together, the Hawke’s Bay Club submitted 86 entries and won 25 bronze, 17 silver, and four gold medals, for a total of 46 medals. They also claimed 10 Best of Class awards.
Member Jim Batten took home the Best Beer award for his Belgian Strong Ale, which he said had a more interesting evolution than most of his others.
His winning ale started with a Belgian friend bringing him a bottle of Westvleteren 12 from a trip home.
Batten explained that Westvleteren is “often billed as the rarest beer in the world, and you mostly have to queue up at the gates of the abbey on the day that the monks are selling it”.
Hawke’s Bay Winemakers and Homebrewers Club wins big at central New Zealand awards.
The rare beer is bottle conditioned, and there is a trace of yeast left in the bottom of the bottle, so after a couple of years of sitting in Batten’s fridge and after “finally savouring its special flavours”, the home brewer added some fresh wort to the bottle bit by bit and slowly grew that trace of yeast up to a big enough dose for a whole batch.
Battern believes there are many aspects to brewing that make it such an engaging hobby, but said the key to a winning beer is how it is stored.
“Beer should be stored cold and warmed up to drink, not the other way round,” he said.
While the New Zealand Central Region Home-Brewers and Winemakers Clubs competition celebrated 70 years, the Hawke’s Bay club has a history of more than 40 years.
Member and former club secretary Brian Henderson said the club had been around in different variations for some time. As a forerunner to the current club, it was known as the Hastings Amateur Winemakers Club, formed in 1976, and then in 1981 became the Hawke’s Bay Winemakers and Homebrewers Club.
The club, which has 15 to 20 members, is a friendly group of enthusiasts who make and enjoy homemade wines, beers and liqueurs. It aims to encourage members to improve the quality of their production in a supportive and social environment.
Currently the club members are mostly male, although partners frequently attend events.
Henderson added, “Most of us are middle-aged or older as it can be hard to attract younger members to join clubs due to all the information available on the internet.
“We do have lots of experience we can offer as well as loans or cheap purchases of equipment.”
The oldest member of the Hawke’s Bay Winemakers and Homebrewers Club is 93-year-old Norm, who Henderson said has “lots of great knowledge and is still an active wine judge”.
The Home Brewers and Winemakers group is open to new members who are 18 years or older.
Those interested in checking out the club don’t have to already be making their own home-brew or wine; as the club is happy to provide guidance and advice when they are ready to start.
Maddisyn Jeffares became the editor of the Hawke’s Bay community papers Hastings Leader and Napier Courier in 2023 after writing at the Hastings Leader for almost a year. She has been a reporter with NZME for almost three years and has a strong focus on what’s going on in communities, good and bad, big and small. Email news tips to her at: maddisyn.jeffares@nzme.co.nz
