Marlow Dragon Boat Regatta - Otters go for two crews on the podium!

Ah, the drowsy river on a gentle summer's day. The far off song of leather on willow, the gentle chirruping of tits as they flit through the hedgerow, Pimm's in a tall glass and the lazy splash of swans dappling the water.

But hold on ... what's that I hear? Is it the far off thundering of war drums, the furious cacophony of paddles beating the water into a foam and the bloodcurdling roar of that mightiest of war cries: 'Go the Otters!' And there, high above, drifting down, the scent of something undefinable yet familiar; intoxicating yet intangible. Yes, that's it: VICTORY.

Saturday 14 June. Race briefings from 0800. First race at 0930. Unspeakably overexcited already? You don't know the half of it.

Cry havoc and let lose the Otters of war. Today Marlow, tomorrow, THE WORLD!


**************************************


And now, some more sober and sensible information from Kayte:

Fellow dragonboaters,

All set! We’re in for Marlow; had my confirmation this morning. We have 2 teams – The Chertsey Otters and The Even Nicer Chertsey Otters. Hope everyone is running and training and eating chicken.

Training:

There are still training slots available on 2 June on the river in Marlow, but inconveniently timed. One at 1730 and one an hour later. I know some of you were keen to do this. It costs £100 for the hour and we’d need at least 10 people. Methinks is going to prove too difficult, but let me know if you are keen and we’ll see what sort of response we get all in all.

[Editor's note: this would also seem to run counter to the Otters' ethos of 'just turning up and winning']

Gazebo:

We can hire a Gazebo and patch for the regatta day itself which will be super if it looks like rain. I suggest we get one per team which will cost a couple of pounds each.Any objections let me know! We’re not allowed to take our own, due to pesky revenue-collecting rules…

Fancy Dress:

If you are keen, don’t think this will interfere with our winning power and are willing to take the lead (cos I’m not!) , please go ahead!

Okidoke. Till Philippi. Per aspera ad Marlow. Etc.

K

Woodwammer - now available in cans!

The design genius behind Woodwammer's award-winning label, Ben Gilbey, has just taken Sean's ale to the sort of dizzy heights it probably doesn't deserve ;)

Inaugural Chertey Otters St George's Day Beer Competition - the Winners!

Update: Here's the Flickrstream of the event: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37893203@N08



Will put up some more detail and photos, etc shortly, so this is just a quick post to say thank you to all the brewers who took part and to the many spectators and supporters who came along to the Crown on Sunday. I think everyone will agree that the standard of the entries, which included a Tudor butter beer and a late entry all the way from Argentina, was absolutely astonishing - and I mean that in a good way!

Special thanks to Hugo, who judged the beer in an amazingly thorough and professional way (although he stopped short of actually trying the butter beer), and Tony, the landlord of the Crown who has once again allowed us to use his premises for the nefarious aims and purposes of the Otters. In fact, Tony was so astonished that it wasn't just three beardy fat blokes from the local branch of CAMRA that he's agreed to hold it as an annual event. This year the inaugural amateur beer comp, next year the inaugural Chertsey Beer Festival? (Year after that, the WORLD!!! Mwah-ha-ha...).


To the results, which were:

Best name:

1. Floozing Flax Wench (Kayte Cable)
   
2. The Otterman Empire (Uli Kleinsteuber)
3. Blind Lynesman (Craig Hazledine)

Best label:

1. Woodwammer (Ben Gilbey)
2. Dragon Slayer (Debbie Greenwood)
3. The Otterman Empire (Kate Lumsden)

Best beer

1. Willingale's Willing Ale (Myles Willingale) - 12 points (of 14 possible)
   
2. No Thanks I'm Driving (Richard Cable) - 12 points
   
3. B'George (Steve Dobson) - 11 points
   
4. Woodwammer (Sean Parry) - 11 points
   
5. Patricio's Beer (Patricio Zapata) - 10 points
   
6. Queen B (Big Gay Al Davis) - 9 points
   
7. The Otterman Empire (Uli Kleinsteuber) - 7 points
   
8. Blind Lynesman (Craig Hazeldine) - 7 points
   
9. Dragon Slayer (Chris Greenwood) - 6 points
   
10. The Unknown Soldier (Patrick Martin) - 5 points
    
11. Floozing Flax Wench (Kayte Cable) - Ungraded

(All tiebreaks settled by judge!)

ST GEORGE'S DAY BEER CHALLENGE FINAL - 4pm, Sunday 26 April at the Crown, Chertsey

FOR THE 2010 BEER CHALLENGE, GO TO:

http://chertseybeerchallenge.blogspot.com/



Fellow Otters and other aquatic mammals, please clear your diaries for this Sunday 26 May for the Chertsey Otters' inaugural St George's Day Beer Challenge FINAL.

Venue: The Crown at Chertsey

Time: 4pm cocktail reception, 5pm award ceremony, 7pm closing pyrotechnics.*

Please feel free to bring as many friends, relatives, children, Otters and fellow beer enthusiasts as you see fit.


Judging panel

Best Beer will be judged by Hugo, the head brewer for Budweiser UK, who is a personal friend and confidante of Phil the Pilot, in addition to being an all-round smashing bloke and sainted individual.

Best Label will be judged by our mystery expert panellist (mystery because we don't know who it's going to be just yet).

Best Name will be judged by a similarly mysterious expert panellist. Details TBC.


Submitting your beer: information for competitors

All competitors must submit the following on competition day:

- Four bottles of their competition ale.
- Three of these bottles should be unmarked for the double-blind taste test.
- Only one bottle should bear your ale's label and name.
- Entry fee of £2.


Competition format

Best Beer: Hugo will taste and score each of the competitor beers one by one, according to a randomised list. His final verdict will be announced in front of a live studio audience. In the event of a tie-break, Tony the Landlord will have the final say. Competitors will have three attempts to present a drinkable bottle of beer (hence submitting three bottles, in case two have gone off) after which they will be scored on their best effort.

Best label: This may be of any format or size, so long as it fits on the bottle. The name of the ale must be clearly legible. Competitors must declare who created the artwork for their label and be able to describe the creative journey that led to its creation. This can take the form of a short written submission, or competitors may simply choose to wing it with an oral submission (oo-er) on the day. Additional points will be awarded for flair in presentation.

Best name: The name may be of any length and in any language, so long as it fits on the bottle and is acceptable for a (fairly broadminded) family audience. Competitors must be able to explain how they arrived at the name. Again, this may take the form of a short written submission, oral submission (fnar!) or an explanation through the medium of interpretative dance. Additional points for flair. Ballet pumps not provided.

Related links

Rules of the competition
List of Competitors
Prize Categories

*FYI, the Mayor of Runnymede's annual pub quiz is being held at the Crown that evening, so you might want to get a babysitter and make Monday morning at work truly disastrous.

Venue announced for the Beer Challenge Final!!!

Tony, landlord at the Crown, has agreed to host the final of the Otters St George's Beer Challenge. Ideally we'll do it on 26 April, the first Sunday afternoon after St George's Day, subject to availability of all parties, and especially our pro-brewer judge. Craig?

Correspondence:

No problem as long as you promise NOT TO STAY FOR THE QUIZ

Cheers Tony

Yours Sincerely
Tony & Sian OBrien
General Managers
www.crownchertsey.co.uk
crownhotel@youngs.co.uk

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Cable
Sent: 31 March 2009 21:19
To: .Crown Hotel
Subject: FAO Tony: Chertsey Amateur Beer Festival

Dear Tony,

I don't know if you've heard of Chertsey Otters RFC, but it was founded in your pub (see potted history below). The latest endeavour of the club is a strictly amateur brewing competition (http://chertseyotters.blogspot.com/2009/03/st-george-beer-challenge-try-your-hand.html), which comes to a head (geddit?) around St George's Day 2009. We have a professional brewer coming down to judge the entries, of which there are about 12 at present.

What we lack, however, is venue to do the tasting and have the prize-giving. Now, you might think it's a bit odd to contact a pub and ask the manager if we can bring unaffiliated ales onto the premises for the purposes of a beer competition that doesn't involve Messrs Youngs or Wells directly. But bearing in mind that the only person tasting these beers - many of which stand a good chance of being unpalatable swamp juice - is the hapless out-of-town brewer; and that everyone else will be drinking your own fine selection of chilled beverages; and those no doubt in pretty alarming quantities; and that you are nothing less than a benevolent and sainted individual, I thought I'd ask anyway.

The plan was to do the afternoon of Sunday 26 April, with a good chance plenty of people will stay on for the quiz afterwards. Appreciate if your response combines 'direction away from' plus a command related to procreation. Fingers crossed, eh. What do you reckon?

All best,

Ichi

PS Promise never again to bring up the fact that the crab is an animal.

PPS Or mention that Wales came fourth.

I love the smell of paintball in the morning...

Who fancies going paintballing? The Surrey Paintball Centre does a £20-a-head package, including 200 paintballs and lunch, and the place looks pretty good. This shouldn't be viewed as a chaps-only outing, of course. Las Chicas, who in my experience are generally complete cold-eyed killers, should definitely be volunteering for some action. (That probably didn't come out sounding right...)

Here's a video to get everyone really excited! Get ready to hop in a Slick and haul ass with the other red legs, go find us some Charlie at the LZ. Or something.

Beer challenge - prize categories

FOR THE 2010 BEER CHALLENGE, GO TO:

http://chertseybeerchallenge.blogspot.com/

• Best beer
• Best label
• Best name

Any other suggestions?!?