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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

...And The Winners Are:




Belatedly, here are the CAMRA Winter Ales Festival/Champion Winter Beer of Britain award winners:






Old Ales and Strong Milds -

Gold- Breconshire, Ramblers Ruin (Brecon, Powys)
Silver- Leeds, Midnight Bell (Leeds, West Yorkshire)
Bronze- Beartown, Black Bear (Congleton, Cheshire)

Porters -
Gold- Elland, 1872 Porter (Elland, West Yorkshire)
Silver- Sulwath, Black Galloway (Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway)
Bronze- RCH, Old Slug Porter (Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset)

Stouts -
Gold - Acorn, Gorlovka Imperial Stout (Barnsley, South Yorkshire)
Silver- Beowulf, Dragon Smoke Stout (Brownhills, Staffordshire)
Bronze- Wapping, Stout (Liverpool, Merseyside)

Barley Wines
Gold- Robinsons, Old Tom (Stockport, Cheshire)
Silver- Kinver, Over the Edge (Kinver, Staffordshire)
Bronze- Otley, O8 (Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan)

OVERALL -Gold- Elland, 1872 Porter (Elland, West Yorkshire)
Silver- Breconshire, Ramblers Ruin (Brecon, Powys)
Bronze- Acorn, Gorlovka Imperial Stout (Barnsley, South Yorkshire)

A big well done to Elland for thier silky porter. Deserved, I think. Nice to see (blatant nepotism aside) Leeds' Midnight Bell getting kudos. I've maintained since day one that although Pale probably is more popular, Midnight Bell is Leeds' best beer by far. And, for personal taste, I would have rated Otley's masterful 08 a little higher. But that's just me.

3 comments:

Katie said...

I love Midnight Bell. I think people get a bit frightened by the darker ales. The pale probably looks a bit more familiar to the every day drinker.

I tried the Otley 08 at the Leeds beer fest last year. It was delicious.

Leigh said...

Hi Katie. Yeah, I think you're right - a lot of people (Non-beer nerds!) probably look at darker beers and think 'ah, its a stout - its not for me' - without any knowledge of the world of dark milds. that's why we try to educate, I guess!

Matt Gorecki said...

Big up 1872!

Excellent choice - one of the best in the UK..

If not the world.