Brewing enthusiasts all over the world are now being called upon to brew an Altbier for the Best Brew Challenge 2022, a contest hosted by Bestmalz, a malting company based out of Heidelberg, Germany. The contest requires registered brewers to mash in on the same date and time and brew a particular beer style using ingredients as designated by Bestmalz. The participants then submit bottles of beer for judging for a chance to win a trip for two to Munich Germany for the international trade show, drinktec.

For 2022, the beer style is Altbier. This beer style is popular in Germany and has an excellent international reputation due to the inclusion of specialty and roasted malts that give it its unique flavor profile. The Challenge specifies that brewers must include BEST Chocolate malt. This roasted malt gives the beer a darker color and a chocolate aroma with light foam. The beer submitted also needs to be brewed in accordance with the German Purity Law and only use four ingredients, water, malt, hops and yeast. Other than those requirements, the remainder of the grain bill is often a well-kept secret.

Both breweries and home brewers can participate. Registration is now open through March 24th, 2022. The worldwide joint brew-in begins on Friday, March 25th, 2022, at 2 pm (CET).

The closing date for submitting the beers to Bestmalz in Germany is June 1, 2022, where they will be blind tasted by a panel of experts shortly afterwards. Each beer submitted will be professionally judged and the brewers will receive individual feedback. A social wall will be used to display posts about the Challenge from social media on the event website.

The winning beer will be brewed on a larger scale for the drinktec industry trade fair (September 12th-16th, 2022 in Munich) and served at the Bestmalz trade fair stand. The award ceremony will also take place there. Second and third place winners will be rewarded with vouchers for the Bestmalz webshop. In addition, the most creative packaging and bottle labels will also be rewarded with webshop vouchers this year. All details as well as the registration form can be found on the BestBrewChallenge website (www.bestbrewchallenge.com).

Commercial brewers in Australia and NZ can purchase Bestmalz malts from Cryer Malt