Before becoming a professional brewer myself, I had entered several homebrew competitions, including the Elusive 6th Birthday competition. I decided to run my own homebrew competition as part of Bríd’s Cross’ second birthday celebrations.

Undine was the winning beer in a competition judged by myself, Matt Curtis (Pellicle Magazine), and Dan Brett (The Baum, Rochdale).

The need for lagering time meant it was a tight squeeze to get it ready for the Birthday Bash, but the winning homebrewer, Matt Durant joined me in early July for the brew day.

Matt had decided he wanted to brew a German beer style, and he was inspired by the German novella Undine, published in 1811. It is a complex story, with a bittersweet ending.

By contrast the beer it inspired is simple and easily enjoyed. Matt’s homebrew version was excellently executed and I hope that the Bríd’s Cross version lives up to his expectations.