It's that time again, folks where we reflect on a year in beer. It's been a cracking year, which made choosing my nominations for some of the categories very, very difficult. There was simply too many nice beers to choose from. So, I've listed, in some categories, the runners up but I could have easily extended it further and made a list as long as my arm.
Best UK Draught Beer
1. Hawkshead Windermere Pale - the perfect session beer
2. Fyne Ales Jarl
3. Tempest Brewing Long White Cloud
4. Millstone Tiger Rut
5. Redemption Brewery Trinity
Best UK Bottled/Canned Beer
1. Magic Rock High Wire
2. Fyne Ales Jarl
Best Overseas Draught Beer
1. Matuska Fastball 9
2. Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
Best Overseas Bottled/Canned Beer
Caldera Brewing IPA
Best Overall Beer
Hawkshead Windermere Pale
Best Pumpclip/Label
Magic Rock
Best UK Brewery
1. Hawkshead
2. Fyne Ales
3. The Tempest
Best Overseas Brewery
Matuska - Their beers at GBBF blew me away.
Pub/Bar of the Year
1. The Jolly Butcher's, Stoke Newington. Beer and Spurs. Spurs and Beer. Perfect
2. The Beer Hall, Staveley. It's got the lot. Great cask, excellent bottles and superb food.
3. The Southampton Arms, Kentish Town
Best Beer Festival
1. Hawkshead Summer Beer Festival - 2 gloriously sunny days and 70 of the best British beers. Bliss.
2. The Paisley Beer Festival - I put a few shifts in and enjoyed every minute
3. Tempest Tap Takeover at The Bow Bar, Edinburgh
Supermarket of the Year
Booths
Independent Retailer
The Bottle, York
Online Retailer
My Brewery Tap - the addition of their beer pick and mix selection was very welcome.
Best Beer Blog
1. Are You Tasting The Pith?
2. The late lamented Cooking Lager
3. Reluctant Scooper
Best Beer Twitterer
Simon Johnson
Best Online Brewery Presence
Magic Rock
Open Category - New Scottish Blogs To Keep an Eye On
The Three Sheets
Walking and Crawling
It's been a great year for beer. Here's to 2012 being even better.
Cheers.
