75 beers from all over the world divided into 13 beer styles, which were evaluated in nine tasting sessions by ten sommeliers from across Germany – these are the impressive statistics of BESTMALZ’s 2018 Best Brew Challenge (BBC) beer tasting.
“The scope of beers ranged from very classic styles to modern, downright wild creations. For example, one porter was brewed with moss,“ said sommelier Marlene Speck, who is a brewing master herself and works at the Doemens Genussakademiein Munich. “All in all, the beer quality was very solid, we were able to work in a concentrated fashion and I believe the BBC offers beer enthusiasts a wonderful platform to showcase their craft.” In a similar assessment, novice sommelier Michael Bock underscores one of the Challenge’s goals: “All of the brewers receive independent feedback from professionals to help them improve their recipes.”
In the fourth year of this BESTMALZ event, the jury once again consisted of highly qualified, internationally proven testers. They surveyed the submitted beers regarding taste, color and other criteria.
The beer tasting was organized by BESTMALZ Marketing assistant and beer sommelier Annika Klee, who is responsible for coordinating the Best Brew Challenge. Together with highly motivated members of the Heidelberger brewery’s service personnel, who provided access to their historical kilning room for this event, Annika Klee ensured that the tasters were served a total of 13 beer styles in nine “flights”, including IPAs, Porter, Marzen, Lager, Alt and Sauerbier.
The professional jury’s detailed feedback regarding each beer will be sent to the participants shortly. The best brewing team will win a trip to Heidelberg and will be welcomed in the BESTMALZ headquarters. In acknowledgement of this year’s BBC champion, 15 hectoliters of the winning beer will be brewed by an established German craft beer brewery. As in former years, the winners will be announced at the “BRAU Beviale” fair in Nuremberg and will be able to delight in their beer together with hundreds of visitors at the BESTMALZ stand.
So save the date now and meet us “BRAU Beviale” fair in Nuremberg at the BESTMALZ stand in Hall 1, Booth 1-512! The winning beer from this year’s BBC will be available from 13 to 15 November 2018 along with other top beers made from specialty malt from our Heidelberg-based family business, which, incidentally, will be will be celebrating its 120th birthday in 2019.
Photos & videos from this year’s beer tasting can be found on Facebook and Twitter.
