A Huddersfield pub has run a competition for its customers to find the best home brewers with the winner developing his ale with a professional brewery.

The competition was organised by The Sportsman pub on St John’s Road in Huddersfield town centre in collaboration with Mallinsons brewery in Lockwood.

The Sportsman assistant manager Ryan Robinson said: “The quality and creativity of home brewed beers has grown significantly over recent years with many home brewers producing products that would rival many of those found on a bar.”

To recognise the talent that’s out there in Huddersfield, The Sportsman joined up with Mallinsons to offer a local ‘Homebrew Hero’ the chance to brew their beer on a large scale in a professional brewery.

Those who entered the competition had to create a pale ale with an alcohol by volume between 3.5% and 4.5% to be judged by an expert panel.

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The prize included the chance to brew their beer at Mallinsons on a large scale, name their beer, see it sold on the bar on all Beerhouses pubs and take home a gallon of their own beer. The Beerhouses pub in Huddersfield are The County next to Huddersfield Town Hall and The Sportsman along with The West Riding at Dewsbury Railway Station.

The judges’ final decision was extremely close, so much so that the rules were slightly bent, naming a winning beer but inviting the runner up to help brew it and take a gallon of it home too.

The winning beer, called When Willamette You Again? was devised by Joseph Lee. It’s a 3.9% session pale/blonde using Willamette as the main boil hop with flame out additions of cascade, centennial, citra and chinook. It used medium hopping levels to allow for the nice bready malt flavour to come through.

The runner-up was a brew called Unbeerleavable by Graeme Dodgson which was so close on its heels that Graeme will be helping Joseph out with the brew.

Ryan added: “We want to say a big thank you to everyone who participated and came along to watch the judging. The standard was way higher than we were expecting and, to be honest, pretty much all of the beers wouldn’t look out of place on a bar. Homebrewing has seen a recent boom in quality and this event really showcased that.”

Keep following The Sportsman’s socials for news of when the winning beer will be for sale on the bar.

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content and copywriting.