HALIFAX, NS – At a gala event held last night at Garrison Brewery in Halifax, the winner of this year’s edition of the annual Ultimate Brew-Off Homebrew Challenge was announced, and the first commercially brewed batch of last year’s winner was served for the first time.
The winner of this year’s competition – which challenged homebrewers to create a Belgian Blonde Ale – was Peter Welton. His recipe was chosen by judges Patrice Godin (owner of nanobrewery Acadie-Broue), Mark Haynes (co-owner of Noble Grape Urban Winery) and Tracy Phillippi (beer columnist and private tastings consultant) as being the best in a range of 69 entries from all three Maritime provinces.
As is the custom at this annual event, the gala also featured the unveiling of a batch of last year’s winning beer made on Garrison’s brewing system. 2012’s winner Kellye Robertson worked with Garrison brewmaster Daniel Girard to scale up her recipe for Kellye R’s Wild Rye’d IPA. The result is available now in bottles at the Garrison retail store and private liquor stores in Nova Scotia, and will also be on the shelves at select NSLC locations in early April.