Its like the Olympics of Beer and South Africa’s local Brewmistress is on her way to Nashville to judge them.
Highly regarded beer writer and judge, Lucy Corne will put her highly-trained taste buds to use at the World Beer Cup, an international beer competition which crowns the world’s best breweries.
Lucy has been “researching” beer for many years, tasting microbrews in North and South Korea, propping up bars across Canada and enjoying more than the occasional ale in her native UK. Since settling in South Africa she has become an avid participant in the booming beer scene.
Lucy is the author of South Africa’s first dedicated beer book, African Brew, a qualified BJCP judge and an all-round hophead who can usually be found sniffing and sipping IPAs, all in the name of research.
A self-confessed “hophead”, Lucy was selected as one of 200 highly qualified beer professionals from 30 countries who will judge more than 90 styles of beer.
The bi-annual competition known as “the Olympics of Beer”, is organised by the Brewers Association, a trade group representing America’s small and independent craft brewers, to celebrate the art and science of brewing.
Lucy, a Brit who has called Cape Town home for the past decade, said she applied to be a judge at the World Beer Cup last year.
“The application process is a fairly simple procedure; you send your resume along with references from industry players. It is huge honour to have been selected to be a part of the competition – a challenge that is in equal parts mildly terrifying and extremely exciting!”
This year, 10 South African breweries have entered beers in the competition– a record number of entries from local soil.
In 2016, the competition judged 6 595 beers from 55 countries. The three most entered categories were American-Style India Pale Ale, Imperial India Pale Ale and American-Style Pale Ale.
Judging is taking place in Nashville in late April, with the winners announced at a gala dinner on May 3.
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