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We’re delighted to announce the top six brewers – known as ‘The Super Six’ – in our brand new brewing competition Un-Tapped.
They are the amazing Tanisha Bishop from Bewdley Brewery in Worcestershire, udley from Wantsum Brewery in Kent, Maximillian Jackson from Wells & Co in Bedford, Aureja Jupp from Three Blind Mice Brewery in Cambridgeshire, Amber Postlethwaite from Rigg and Furrow in Newcastle and Andrew Thomas from Hook Norton Brewery in Banbury.
A huge congratulations to you all!
What the judges said
The ‘Un-Tapped’ Apprentice Brewer of the Year competition sets out to challenge brewer apprentices to create the best tasting original recipe beer and is judged by esteemed industry experts who are looking for the next best beer in the world of brewing.
Open to all current apprentices on the Level 4 Brewer programme, expert judges are looking for not only technical skills and knowledge but creative skills too.
The preliminary ‘Into the Mash Tun’ round required brewers to submit an original beer recipe and explain the provenance and characteristics of its principal ingredients and how it contributes to the beer’s style and character. They were also asked to provide a story of why they got into brewing, summarising their journey so far.
Judges, including HIT’s Licensed Trade Director Jeremy Scorer, were amazed by the standard of entries and it was a tough challenge to pick ‘The Super Six’.
It was however felt that the best six Un-Tapped brewers particularly stood out for a variety of reasons including creative, original name choices for their brews and high levels of technical understanding in recipe choices. All six also demonstrated great use of emotional language to bring their beer to life.
And so, without further ado…
Introducing ‘The Super Six’
Tanisha Bishop, 23, from Bewdley Brewery in Bewdley, Worcestershire, named her Un-Tapped beer Rootin-Tootin APA and described it as a refreshingly fruity American pale ale complemented by three beautiful hops, Azacca, Idaho 7 and Amarillo. Tanisha was inspired to become a brewer after getting her first job in a small independent pub just after her 18th She learned all the essentials to serving and keeping real ale and this sparked a love of craft beer and an interest in the brewing process. Four years later, she saw a brewing apprenticeship advertised in the next town and got the job. She now designs recipes and was even given the chance to draw a design for their most recent beer.
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Andrew Dudley, 34, from Wantsum Brewery Ltd, Kent, named his Un-Tapped beer Hurricane and described it as a refreshing IPA brewed with mosaic and citra hops. Andrew was first introduced to cask ale by a colleague who took him to his first CAMRA beer festival. He then started to replicate some of his favourite recipes at home and one day decided, after 10 years working in IT, to email all the breweries in his local area to ask if anyone had any work. Since joining Wantsum in July 2017, he has worked his way up from a Brewery Worker to Head Brewer.
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Maximillian Jackson, 28, from Wells & Co, Bedford, named his Un-Tapped beer Grubenmeister and described it as a ‘true to style’ German beer with a good malty backbone and emphasis (although not overtly powerful) on smokiness. Maximillian’s inspiration to become a brewer started as a hobby in his mum’s shed and soon grew to a full-blown passion. Beer, he says, has allowed him to express his passion both academically and practically and he is now coming to the end of his two-year journey through the apprenticeship programme and about to start a full brewer’s role.
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Aureja Jupp, 42, from Three Blind Mice Brewery in Cambridgeshire named her Un-Tapped beer ‘A Box of Sparks’ describing it as a pale ale that is hazy, fruity and very light in colour with a pronounced hop flavour. Aureja has always had a passion for making things at home such as cakes, bread, beer and wine. She loves going out in the wild and picking in season ingredients to cook or brew with. During lockdown, she joined a local craft brewery and helped out with all aspects of the business. She loved the brewing process so much, she decided to focus her career on becoming a brewer and now dreams of having her own brewery and tap room.
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Amber Postlethwaite, 30, from Rigg and Furrow, Newcastle, named her Un-Tapped beer Roost, describing it as a modern American wheat beer with beautiful malty, bready qualities. After a decade in front-of-house hospitality, Amber wanted a change from developing menus and running venues. When an opportunity to do a three-week Brewlab course aimed at getting women into brewing came up, she leapt at the chance. She got a job with farmhouse brewery Rigg and Furrow and now works closely with the head brewer who involves her in every aspect of the business from the brewing process to running the tap room and taking a lead on brew days.
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Andrew Thomas, 31, from Hook Norton Brewery, Banbury, named his Un-Tapped beer Millhop IPA and described it as a golden IPA with two malts Maris Otter and Munich to give it a good body and slight sweetness. As a child, there was a local brewery in Andrew’s village and he went there a lot. Growing up, he always hoped to work at the brewery one day. When a job opportunity came up, he went for an interview and got the job. He’s now working his way up in the brewery extending his knowledge in recipe design and the brewing process through his apprenticeship.
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What’s next?
The top six – known as ‘The Super Six’ – will now go through to ‘The Taste Test’ round where candidates will be asked to provide a sample of their beer to be taste tested by an expert judging panel. This will include a label design which contains the name and any branding associated with their partnering employer.
From there, the top three beers will proceed to the final where they will be served at our Academy Showcase Dinner event in October.
This is where the overall winner will be announced.
Good luck to ‘The Super Six’ as they face the next round. We will keep you posted!
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