Bad Tattoo Brewing is set to add a home brew to their season lineup on Canada Day after a Kelowna man’s lager was declared the winner of a year-long competition put on by the Brewery.
Derek Hyde will have his lager, selected from 15 different homemade beers, brewed at Bad Tattoo’s brewing facility by head brewer Robert Theroux, with a launch party set for Canada day.
Bad Tattoo hopes to make the event an annual one in collaboration with OKBrewers (the Okanagan Home Brewers Club).
Hyde is one of the founding members of OKBrewers with over 10 years experience.
“Sometimes when I tell people I make my own beer, they think I’m brewing bathtub gin. Brewing with Bad Tattoo legitimizes my hobby,” Hyde said. “It was great to see that the whole competition brought some home brewers out of the woodwork and helped grow our community.”
Martin Lewis, co-owner of Bad Tattoo Brewing, said they plan on brewing and featuring one home brewer a year.
“(The competition) is growing and they’re growing members because of us,” Lewis said, adding that Okanagan Home Brewers Club members came to the competition from Kelowna, West Kelowna, Peachland and Penticton.
Five times a year there is a home brewers night at the brewery with a unique challenge each time, with competitors aiming to impress a panel judges.
A winner is picked at each event as brewers are given seasonal challenges or specific ingredients. The first challenge was to create an IPA with locally picked hops.
“We had some local cascade hops and we gave each brewer a pound of hops and said go off and make a beer,” Lewis said.
Hyde was able to shine in a particularly difficult category for home brewers, the Oktoberfest challenge to create a home-brewed lager. Hyde came in third in the Winter Beer and Scottish Ale challenges.
“The other three winners were quite comfortable in saying that yes, he certainly had the skill because the lager category is sort of the hardest one to do. Especially for home brewers, making lagers is difficult for home brewers. Very few home brewers actually challenge lagers very often,” Lewis said.
Longer conditioning times and a process that leaves little to hide behind flavour-wise are challenging aspects for home brewing a lager.
“There’s nothing to hide behind in a lager, you can’t cover it with black malt or hops or whatever, if there’s a fault in the beer it stands out,” Lewis said.
Fifteen home brewers took on the challenge making five gallon batches of beer, resulting in an impressive group of lagers, Lewis said.
“Every one of them anybody would be able to drink, they are good brewers, they are actually great beers. We wanted to honour that a little bit,” Lewis said.
Bad Tattoo is now going to work with Hyde to brew 2,000 litres of his homemade recipe.
“We picked the beer we thought was fun and commercially viable as well because at the end of the day we still have to sell it,” Lewis said. “We picked a beer that is going to make all kinds of sense for a Canada Day launch.”
Bad Tattoo has partnered up with CC Orchards in Naramata with 100 litres of fresh-pressed cherries for a cherry Belgian witbier for the tap at Bad Tattoo as well as some bottles for the home brewers to take home. Bragging rights will be on tap for Hyde who will also get a unique label for his beer created by Bad Tattoo artists.
“It’s a great way to partner with that sector. Obviously craft brewing has its roots in home brewing. if it wasn’t for home brewers, craft brewing may have never got started,” Lewis said. “We see those guys as our allies, they are the guys who drink all the craft beer when they go out, so we really want to be friends with those guys.”
New Tattoo brew at Fest
Bad Tattoo is launching a brand new beer at Fest of Ale. Lewis’ lips were sealed on any details, but fans of the brewery can expect something notable, and he guarantees it will be the freshest beer at the festival.
“It’s our goal to always have something that people are going to talk about after the festival, and I think we’ve got something this time as well, so stay tuned we’re going to be pouring something new,” Lewis said.
The beer is going to be kegged at 1 p.m. April 8 and poured at Fest of Ale at 2 p.m. Lewis said.
