Te Pahu Home-Brewers

2005-2006 Competition

Held on the 10th February 2006, in the Te Pahu Movie Theatre. (Movies were cancelled as the Home Brew competition was such an important event). (The Te Pahu Library - adjacent to the Movie Theatre - remained open throughout).

Graeme Cairns, by virtue of his skill at brewing, and by combining various plant extracts into his brews, succeeded in taking First, Second AND Third places. Well done Graeme.

Rather than sulking as most people in this situation would, we congratulated Graeme, and have now formed a new Te Pahu Home Brew group, "The Te Pahu Home Brewers".(Graeme is not a member). With this new catchy name we intend to achieve great things. Meetings are to be held weekly at the Te Pahu Library, Sunday nights.

Enquiries e-mail homebrew@tepahu.org.nz or phone Adrienne 8259933

Competition 2004

It was particularly exciting this year, with 22 entries!This year’s beers were judged on the following criteria: clarity, behaviour, difficulty in brewing, labelling,

imagined health giving properties & other household uses. And without further ado, here are the winners:Third place- Graeme Cairns’ Albion Ale ‘Buff’ label

Second place- Fulton/McCarthy

Needless to say, by the end of the night everybody was pleased the testing was over.

It's Official- The Winner

Te Pahu Home-Brewers

Competition 2002

Amid a convivial, semi-formal atmosphere in Brian Gordon’s garage, after much deliberation and high-jinx, the Te Pahu Homebrewer’s Group announced the results of their 2002 annual brewing competition.

Judged by all present, on a variety of categories, including: Behaviour, Flavour, Clarity, Labelling, Bottling, Imagined Health-Giving Properties, and Other Potential Industrial Applications, of the twenty entries, these were the outstanding beverages:
× Third place went to Adrienne Carthew for her saucily-labelled and flavoursome “No Frills Bitter”; × Runner-up was last years winner Graeme Cairns (aka Laird McGillicuddy) with his now famous “Albion Ale (Red Label)”;

But this years awards were carried off by:

ã Overall winner: relative novice Wayne Humphries, with his tasty and beautifully-presented “Karearea Black Mountain Stout”.

ã Worst beer of the whole year: recent émigré Paul Hitchman (in absentia) with his much misunderstood “Hay-makers Lager (Lite)”.

Other highly commended beers were:

· John Norman’s delicious Stout;

· Kelvin Krippner’s tasty but ambiguously-named “Grease The Old Manifold”;

· Gerry Kessels’ highly imaginative “Tangatawhenua Red”;

· Gavin Bax’s hilarious and almost unpronounceable “Alarmed Llama Lager”;

· Martin Dew’s euphoric and aptly named “Flyer”;

Dave Turney would like to sincerely thank Paul Hitchman for saving him the embarrassment of coming resoundingly last, with any or all of his three entries.

The Te Pahu Homebrewers group meets about once a month for tastings and a wee chat, and welcomes new members interested in the science, art and entertainment of brewing fermented beverages.

Contact any of the above-mentioned enthusiasts for more details or e-mail

For your complimentary bottle of Hitchmans Haymakers Lager contact Graeme Cairns on 825-9933.