Stockport & South Manchester Branch of CAMRA is yet again running a competition for local home brewers, to find five beers for Bar Nouveau for next year's Stockport Beer & Cider Festival.

Judging in progress - some contenders Bar Nouveau was introduced in 2015 and features brand new beers which will be launched at the festival. It's proved to be a very successful feature and we will be running it again next year (the Festival dates are 18-20 June 2026). There will be up to ten beers, the five winners of this competition plus five commercial brews, all served on a separate bar and properly cooled to ensure optimum condition.

Judging in progress - some judges For the past few years we have involved local home brewers and have been delighted by the response. As in past years, each of the five winners will have their beer brewed by a different local, professional brewery. The festival will purchase two firkins of each winning beer and the rest will be sold on to the market by the brewers concerned. If you are a home brewer, this is a great chance to join in a brew day at a local brewery, and also see one of your beers out there on sale to the public.

The brewers who have kindly agreed to host the winners are:

• Steelfish, Manchester (Mild & Brown Ale)
• Marble Beers, Salford (Bitter, Pale Ale & Session IPA)
• Cloudwater Brew Co., Manchester (Strong Pale Ale, ESB & IPA)
• Torrside Brewing, New Mills (Stout & Porter)
• Runaway Brewery, Stockport (Speciality)

Many thanks to these brewers for supporting the competition.

NOW - THE BEERS

The five categories are quite broadly drawn so that you can use your imagination. Here's what we are looking for:

Mild & Brown Ale — This is a chance to take old beer styles and run with them. Maximum ABV 4.5%.
PLEASE NOTE: The maximum strength was reduced to 4.5%ABV so that milds of say 3.4% were not competing with robust brown ales of 5.5%ABV, but the update did not (unfortunately) make it to the Opening Times copy.

Bitter, Pale Ale & Session IPA — Session ales, pale ales, brown, amber or blonde - the choice is yours. Maximum ABV 5.0%.

Strong Pale Ale, ESB & IPA — While we're not style fanatics you should aim for a minimum ABV of 5.0%. Apart from that it's up to you - brown, red, black or white IPAs are all welcome. Maximum ABV 6.5%.

Stout & Porter — Again this is broadly drawn - added flavours and ingredients optional. Maximum ABV 6.5%.

Speciality — This is where you can really go to town. Saisons, bocks, rauch biers - all are welcome. Note - all beers with lactose will fall in this category. Maximum ABV 7.0%.

A FEW THINGS TO BEAR IN MIND:

First - Although the beers will be judged from bottle, they will have to work as cask beers.

Second - In previous years we have asked people to think about the hops and while that's not really an issue, please do consider commerciality. We will be buying some of each brew for the festival but the host brewers will have to sell the rest into the trade so the beers will have to be commercially viable for them.

Third - Please also note that we will be looking to ensure the entries observe the ABV limits for each category - a tiny amount of drift is OK but not huge overshoots.

Finally - The time lapse between the brewing of the beer and its need to be on sale at the Stockport Beer & Cider Festival is no more than 6 weeks, so inclusion of a maturation period of say 6 months is not possible.

How to enter

Just email your name, contact details and which categories you want to enter to: moc.tenretnitb@macots

The cut-off date for entering is 12 January 2026 (but we won't need final details of actual beers until early February).

Judging will take place in late March to early April 2026 (dates to be announced). Final arrangements for delivering your beer will be communicated to you nearer the time.

Winners Win!

For some years now, the beers from the homebrew competition have fared well in the Beer of the Festival voting, and this year was no exception. In fact, Sheffield homebrewer Jon Britton’s beers won at two festivals.

Jon Britton (centre) His London porter, brewed at Torrside under the name Beowulf, took silver in the Beer of the Festival competition at Chorlton Beer Festival, while the imperial version, Grendel, went one better at Stockport, picking up the overall Beer of the Festival. Jon is seen here (photo right) along with Torrside’s Chris Clough and Sarah Rothko-Wright, with a trio of certificates. Jon tells us that Torrside are rebrewing both Beowulf and Grendel for the winter season, so if you’ve not yet tried them, you’ll get a second chance.

Joe Lee (second right) It was Sheffield’s year, because the bronze in the Beer of the Festival was won by another homebrewer from the city – Joe Lee, with Stratagem, a lovely session IPA, brewed at Marble. We haven’t yet been able to present the certificate for this, but Joe is pictured (second right) receiving his category winner’s certificate from Marble head brewer Joe Ince, along with Marble brewers Wyn Davies (left) and Carl Eccles (right).