Fifteen thirsty blues travellers ventured to the annual Söder chess championship on 7th November with more than just chess on their minds… it was also the 1st ever Söder AFC Brewing Championship!

The competition saw 3 brewers (Larry, Jordo and Brissles) enter a total of 5 beers. Larry entered 1 beer, whilst the other two brewers each had two entries (to the dismay of Larry).

Everybody in attendance was a judge of the beer contest and a 3-2-1 voting system was enacted.

After all the votes were tallied, there was a clear winner of the 2014 Gold Medal – O’Larrys Brewery (Master Brewer Larry Hagberg) with their LIPA.

“A traditional Liljeholmen IPA (LIPA, pictured above) fermented over 5 days using American Ale yeast (1056) and served chilled 4 weeks after bottling. A blend of Amarillo and Citra hops provides a prominent citrus aroma and gentle bitter taste. With an inviting dark amber colour and an ABV of 4.5% this brew is preferably enjoyed with ‘husmanskost’ or in the company of good friends.”

Silver and Bronze went to Jordo with an IPA which was dry hopped with centennial hops for 4 days. ABV was 4.5% and the beer was approximately 5 weeks old. Jordo’s 2nd beer was a wiess beer with ABV 4.5% approximately bottled 1st September. It was not evident which beer was which and after losing the Gold, Jordo refused to give any more details. It did appear that the 1st bottle Jordo opened for one of his beers was contaminated, and unfortunately instead of receiving votes, received comments such as: “F***in p!$$” and “$h!t” from early voters. Realising his shocking misfortune, Jordo scrambled to open a different bottle, which began receiving a few 3-votes, however it was too late and the damage was done, consigning Jordo to be eternal bridesmaid at Söder social events. After the event, Jordo quipped “I’ve brewed over 200 litres of beer in the past year and never had a contaminated bottle, bl00dy typical it had to happen now”.

The 4th and 5th placed beers in the competition fell flat, literally. Brissles was a very late entrant in the contest after discovering he had some brews left over from batches made over 4 years ago… and although the age of the beers wasn’t revealed until after the competition, it was evident that they had completely lost their fizz over time. One of the beers did claim a 3-vote and the other claimed 4 seperate votes, however Brissles won’t get away with submitting this sort of juice in future competitions.

Congratulations to Club Legend Lars Hagberg for being the 1st ever Söder Master Brewer 2014. One thing for sure is that competition will be tougher and there will be more entrants in 2015, so get brewing if you want a piece of the action!