Untapped – HIT Training’s Brewer Apprentice Competition

HIT’s exciting new brewing competition for 2023

We’re delighted to announce the launch of HIT’s brand new brewing competition giving all our amazing brewer apprentices a chance to showcase their skills on a national stage.

The ‘Un-Tapped’ Apprentice Brewer of the Year competition challenges brewer apprentices to create the best tasting original recipe beer – and with esteemed industry experts lined up as judges, this is a chance for brewer apprentices to make their mark on the brewing world.

Open to all current apprentices on the HIT Level 4 Brewer programme, a team of expert judges will be looking for not only technical skills and knowledge but creative skills too.

What the competition involves

The preliminary ‘Into the Mash Tun’ round will ask brewers to submit an original beer recipe suitable to be served as an aperitif at a prestigious banquet-style HIT event. Entrants will be asked to explain the provenance and characteristics of its principal ingredients and how it contributes to the beer’s style and character.

This will include colour, beer style, flavourings, choice of yeast strain and International Bitterness Units. Ingredients must be readily available at commercial rates from standard industry suppliers to meet entry requirements.

We’ll also be asking apprentices to provide a story of why they got into brewing, summarising their journey so far and offering their ambitions for the future.

Judges will be looking for original flavour profiles and how they suggest certain characteristics in the beer.

The top six entries – known as ‘The Super Six’ – will go through to ‘The Taste Test’ round where candidates will provide a sample of their beer to be taste tested by an expert judging panel.

To decide the final three, judges will mark each beer on its aroma, appearance, flavour balance and mouthfeel as measured against the characteristics indicated in their submission. Judges will also look at label designs which must contain the name and any branding associated with their partnering employer. Allergen labelling requirements will also be considered.

The Final

The ‘Un-Tapped’ competition’s grand finale will run alongside the final of HIT’s ‘Fired-Up’ Chef Apprentice of the Year competition which takes place in October. The top three beers will be served to around 80 guests at The Academy Showcase Lunch where the ‘Un-Tapped’ champion will be announced!

Keeping you posted

The deadline for entries is Tuesday 30^th May – and we’d like to wish everyone the best of luck. Look out for our socials for further updates.