Golden Pints 2013 - @PolymathTim
Best UK Cask Beer
1. Thornbridge – Otter’s Tears
2. Marble – Decadence (2011)
3. Offbeat – Dotty DIPA
Honourable mentions go to Salopian Brewery “Automaton”, Blackjack Brewery/Otherton Ales “Phoneticus”
and Durham Brewery “Hellfire”
Best UK Keg Beer
1. Wild Beer/Good George/Burning Sky - Schnoodlepip
2. Siren Craft Brewing – Half Mast QIPA
3. Magic Rock - Dark Arts (Soured In Bruichladdich
With Raspberries)
4. Hopcraft – Statement of Intent
Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer
1. Beavertown – Barley Champagne
2. Buxton Brewery – Stronge Extra Stout
3. Magic Rock – Un Human Cannonball
4. Quantum – Barleywine USA
Best Overseas Draught Beer
1. Emelisse - White Label Barleywine (Buffalo
Trace BA)
2. Toccalomato – Zona Cessarini (Cask)
Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer
1. De Molen - Bommen & Granaten (Bordeaux BA)
2. De Struise – Tsjeeses (Port Barrel Aged)
3. Duvel - Triple Hop 2013 (Sorachi)
Best Collaboration Brew
It’s always fantastic to see the UK brewing scene
engage enthusiastically with the UK homebrewing scene, so when news filtered
through that Weird Beard & Elusive Brew would be upscaling Nelson Saison, I immediately added it
to my wants list. Cue a thoroughly good
day out in Macclesfield for the official launch as part of the Macc Triangle
Twissup to get my hands on some.
Best Overall Beer
This has to go to Magic Rock – Salty Kiss (Gooseberry), for being one of the best all
round reinterpretations of an existing style to hit bars this year.
Best Branding, Pumpclip or Label
Branding wise Wild
Beer Co has been streets ahead of the curve this year, clean and massively
informative as branding should be.
Best UK Brewery
Last year was undoubtedly the year Magic Rock
dominated UK brewing, this year however a shock of southern breweries have
proved to be hot on the North’s trail. Honourable
mentions should go to Partizan, Howling Hops, Weird Beard et al. But Siren Craft Brewing just edges it out,
for putting out there some really quite fantastic beers.
Best Overseas Brewery
De Rooie Dop and Toccalomato are my nominations for this
category. The former for seemingly
having everything in place for a brewery in its infancy and for creating a damn
fine beer in their “Utrecht Strong Ale”.
The later for proving without a doubt that there is definitely a place
for Italian beers at the table.
Best New Brewery Opening 2013
Hopcraft arrived with a bang
and have continued down an uncompromising route since; it helps that in the
brew team they have the irrepressible Gazza Prescott, and a perverse love of
hops. That aside though every single
thing that I’ve had out of the brewery to date has been well conceived and
delivered bags of flavour.
Pub/Bar of the Year
Port Street Beer
House, an excellent ever changing line up of beers, great beery events, knowledgeable
and helpful staff... What’s not to like?!?
Best New Pub/Bar Opening 2013
For simply proving that it’s the little pub that
can: The Craven Arms, Birmingham; in
less than 7 months Chris and Sharon have laid down the blueprint for how a pub
in Birmingham should be operating in the current climate.
Beer Festival of the Year
This was always going to be a difficult one for me
to make a fair nomination for without cries of nepotism being bandied around
due to my involvement in the festival committee for a beer festival this
year. So in the spirit of fairness (and
because I only attended two this year), I am going to make a joint award here
to Birmingham Beer Bash and Indy Man Beer Con. Both festivals to my mind are excellent
examples of how the modern beer festival should be no divisive restrictions on
the delivery of beer, just good simple celebrations of beer in all its many
forms. Throw into that mix the brewers
behind the beers and you have the trappings of a true “beer festival”.
Supermarket of the Year
Say what you will about supermarkets and their
general debasement of beer as a whole, but for me this year Sainsbury’s have gone the extra mile
with their Great British Beer Hunt. Okay
so the eventual winner was far from surprising, but for putting together a
pretty well spread shortlist they get my vote.
Independent Retailer of the Year
For general aesthetic feel this goes to Beermoth; on my singular visit there
this year, I was impressed by the depth of the overall range of beers on
offer. From domestic to the more
fanciful and exotic, all well thought out and fantastically presented.
Online Retailer of the Year
AleselA are the only folks
I’ve ordered any beer from this year; that aside their communication and
delivery was attentive and ultra fast.
Best Beer Book or Magazine
Stan Hieronymus - For the Love of Hops: The Practical Guide to Aroma,
Bitterness & the Culture of Hops
Best Beer Blog or Website
Of the blogs I have read over the last year the one
that seems to me to be the most relevant to me is BeerSay, I could be accused of making this selection based on
geographical proximity. However I would
counter that based on Phil Hardy’s involvement in arranging the Mac Triangle
Twissup, which I am again going on record as saying was pretty spectacular day
out. (Just don’t mention the
“Macclesfield Drop”).
Best Beer App
I’m quite partial to Brewing Assistant from Brewology101.com, nice easy to use brewing
app for quick and easy recipe design when the mood strikes.
Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer
Twitterer
In its first year this should by all rights be
awarded to Simon Johnson himself #RIPScoop
Best Brewery Website/Social media
Website wise there has been a quantum shift in the
layout and overall feel of a lot of brewery websites this year and as much as
it’s a cop-out there seems to be a common theme linking these improved sites in
Lemontop Creative. Similarly a lot of breweries have a grasp of
social media and are happy to correspond with the punter on the ground, so it
would be unfair to single any one out over the others.
Food and Beer Pairing of the Year
Original Patty Men (@OriginalPattyM) – Krispy Kreme
Burger/Buxton Brewery – Axe Rocks (although I concede that the Krispy Kreme
burger could well go with anything and be equally as good).
