The grain bill contains BEST Heidelberg and BEST Heidelberg Wheat malt. The hops are Hallertau Mittelfrüh.

Tomas Sirtautas comes from the western part of Lithuania and has been brewing under the label “Relaxed Man” for nine years. He has been running his own homebrewing shop since 2020. Previously, Tomas lived and brewed in the United Kingdom for several years. There he had a three-stage Powel Brewing Herms 100 liter system at his disposal. He designed and built the Craftbeerpi3 controller himself. His brewing setup in Lithuania is even more simple: an HLT tank, a mash tun, and a kettle – all designed for 50 liters.

Jan Mordhorst from Seevetal in Lower Saxony also relies on understatement when it comes to brewing. He uses two pots of 36 liters each, a stirring system, an induction plate and several glass fermentation containers. This setup is enough for success – in 2019 he was runner-up in the Maisel brewery competition.

For the BestBrewChallenge, the passionate brewer of hoppy beers ventured into completely new territory: “It was my first wheat beer, so I was quite excited to see the result myself. The challenge with a maximum of 3.5% alcohol was a lot of fun,” said Mordhorst. The jury praised his beer creation with the name “Endless Summer” for the nutty smell and taste as well as the general harmonious impression.

Compared to the winning beer, its grain bill is much more complex: In addition to two wheat malts, it contains Pilsener malt, Vienna malt, Caramel and Munich malt. The hops are a Hallertauer Tradition (see also the video from the brewing day).

While Jan Mordhorst’s next project is the German Championship of Hobby Brewers on September 11, 2021 in Stralsund, Tomas Sirtautas is already looking forward to the BestBrewChallenge 2022 and assures: “I’ll be back!”

The conditions for the 2022 Challenge are expected to be announced by the end of this year.

The second-place winner is Jan Mordhorst from Seevetal in Lower Saxony, Germany, with his beer creation “Endless Summer”.

The third and fourth places were also taken by two Lithuanians: Arūnas Pimpė and Vladimir Šumilovas (both from Vilnius). Lutz Hoppe from Bad Hersfeld (Germany) came in fifth.
It became clear immediately after the registration deadline that Lithuania, with 73 registrations, took the top spot ahead of Germany (53 registrations) – which was well reflected in the geographical distribution of the winners.

We will announce the conditions for the BestBrewChallenge 2022 presumably at the end of the year and look forward to breaking the 500 mark in the number of participants!

Watch the winner announcement ceremony below:

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Endlich steht der Termin fürs Tasting fest: Freitag, der 2. Juli 2021. Einblicke gibt’s mit Fotos und Videos auf unserer Facebook-Fanpage (und in diesem Blogbeitrag, aktualisiert am 7. Juli 2021).

Several participants from abroad told us about shipping problems caused by the pandemic. For this reason, we will still accept any deliveries that will arrive within the next few days.

We are currently planning the tasting and ask for a little patience until we can give you more specific details.

At the end of February, Messe München announced that the drinktec fair will be postponed from October 2021 to September 2022. Both the award ceremony and the main prize of this year’s BestBrewChallenge were largely linked to the drinktec fair. This will now be adapted as follows:

The award ceremony will take place as an online event. The precise date will be announced shortly.

The main prize remains a trip with the following options: either a visit to Heidelberg including a meeting with the BestBrewChallenge team members in 2021 or a visit to the drinktec 2022 trade fair in Munich (each including travel and accomodation for two).