The World Beer Cup disaster South Africa could have won
Things fall apart, no matter what you do!
The 2018 World Beer Cup was held in Nashville, USA, featured over 6 000 beers from around the world, and was the biggest beer competition of its kind.
Gilroy’s Brewery was invited to compete by submitting their legendary Gilroy Serious (the beer that James Bond drinks). The Muldersdrift brewery was buzzing with excitement until it all went wrong.
Steve Gilroy tells all.
“We got the invitation to compete with the big boys in November last year. I thought ‘It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog’. We’ll go for it! We brewed the Gilroy Serious for the Strong Ale category, which must be be over seven per cent alcohol. So, we brewed it the way we did in the old days – Serious Strong Ale at 7,2 per cent.
“With everything weighed, measured, and tested, we decided to brew through the night to avoid interruptions, because everything had to be perfect.
And everything was … until the final casting when the usual Muldersdrift power cut occurred. The first disaster. So, we had a beer, gave up and went home for breakfast.”
Steve said they brewed again the next night, with great success. After pitching the yeast, the first stage of the perfect beer was complete. Six weeks later, when Mother Nature had performed her miracles, the beer was fermented, conditioned, and ready for bottling. Now for the final stage – tasting!
“We tasted a few and confidently called in the big guns, Danie Odendaal and Lee Carpenter – both accredited international master beer judges. It was agreed by all that the beer couldn’t possibly be better, and that we had a strong contender. Barry Skjoldhammer printed special labels, and we were ready to take on the world. That was the hard part finished. The next bit should have been easy, but that’s when the perfect plan started to fall apart.”
They contacted several global courier companies and delivered the beer to them (they were taking no chances), but were told that beer is considered dangerous cargo.
What happened next will leave you in stitches and gasping for more, so make sure you get your hands on a copy of this week’s edition of the Krugersdorp News and turn to page 3.
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