CAMRA Beer Olympics 2012… the winners!
By: JimOldfield
June 27th, 2012
The Trawlerboys of Lowestoft’s Green Jack Brewery netted silver at the CAMRA Beer Olympics, with their best bitter coming in just behind Coniston’s No 9 Barley Wine, as the runner-up in the Champion Beer of Britain (CBOB) contest this afternoon.
Trawlerboys is a 4.6 per cent ale, described as “a rich, malty and fruity copper-coloured full-bodied premium bitter” brewed with English whole cone hops.
It is named after the nickname of the town’s football club, whose Crown Meadow stadium sits opposite Green Jack’s new brewery.
Horsham’s Dark Star Brewing Co took the bronze with its 4.7 per cent American Pale Ale – the yeast for which is specially imported from the USA, along with Cascade, Centennial and Chinook hops.
Light in colour, thanks to the Maris Otter malt, its makers bill it as “seriously full of hops”!
Dark Star scored a double delight – as its Festival ale also took gold in the strong bitters category.
But in the end it was No 9 that brought in Coniston’s second CBOB champion ale, after triumphing over finalists from seven different beer categories… whose brewers ran the gamut from tiny microbreweries to large regionals.
The Coniston ale was declared by the judges to have “fantastic finesse, reminiscent of a fine cognac”.
Beer guru Roger Protz, who was on the panel, said: “The judges were overjoyed by the tremendous quality of the beers this year. There wasn’t a poor beer in the competition.
“It was a tough choice, and the final results were very close.”
Coniston’s David Smith beamed: “We were delighted to win the competition in 1998 with Bluebird, and we are delighted to win again!
“We’ve always been at the top and we’re glad to regain the recognition we deserve.
“It’s an all-British beer using solely British ingredients, very fitting for this Diamond Jubilee year.”
And CAMRA chief executive Mike Benner added: “It’s great to see a rare beer style being championed”.
Hand-Pumped link:
http://gbbf.org.uk
Fun and games to come…
The sporting celebrations of the other Olympics cut across this year’s ale festival, after the London 2012 volleyball event netted GBBF’s usual venue of Earls Court – forcing the move to Olympia.
As a result, last year’s gate of 60,000, sampling 1,000 different drinks, has had to be scaled down – to 55,000 visitors, enjoying 800 drinks.
But the GBBF staged its own games – as darts aces Eric Bristow and Keith Deller gave a performance of speed arrows while attempting to beat a record of just 36 seconds for a 301 finish, set in 1996 by pub games legend Dean Gould.
Deller – the darts world champion in 1983 – stepped up to the oche and polished off an “out” in just 25 seconds – shaving a huge 11 off Gould’s effort, to set a new world record.
And there’s plenty more to go at in “Britain’s biggest pub” – over the five-day festival, which ends on Saturday night.
Among the non-liquid attractions this year will be an auction for a “Brewer for a Day” experience at Thornbridge Brewery, as part of the annual GBBF auctions.
This year’s Hat Day – in which ale lovers are persuaded to show off their cutting-edge, home-made hat creations, will be on Thursday (August 9).
There will be traditional pub games, and seven top acts – from strings to brass bands, with American Roots music in between – are lined up to provide live entertainment each day.
And a cornucopia for food stalls, from Cornish pasties to Thai curries, will be on hand for the feeding of the 55,000.
The CAMRA shop, in the main hall, will have memorabilia – ranging from T-shirts to books – on sale, and Thwaites’ famous shire horses will join the double-decker beer buses in the hall.
The winners
Here is the full list of winners, as supplied by CAMRA. In each case, the brewer’s name precedes that of the winning ale:
Overall winners
Gold: Coniston, No.9 Barley Wine (from Coniston, Cumbria)
Silver: Green Jack, Trawlerboys Best Bitter (from Lowestoft, Suffolk)
Bronze: Dark Star, American Pale Ale (from Horsham, West Sussex)
Milds
Gold: Rudgate, Ruby Mild (from York, North Yorkshire)
Silver: Hobsons, Hobsons Mild (from Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire)
Bronze: Son of Sid, Muckcart Mild (from Little Gransden, Bedfordshire)
Bitters
Gold: Purple Moose, Snowdonia Ale (from Porthmadog, Gwynedd)
Silver: Tintagel, Castle Gold (from Tintagel, Cornwall)
Joint Bronze: Flowerpots, Bitter (from Cheriton, Hampshire)
Joint Bronze: Fuller’s, Gale’s Seafarers Ale (from London, W4)
Joint Bronze: Salopian, Shropshire Gold (from Shrewsbury, Shropshire)
Best Bitters
Gold: Green Jack, Trawlerboys Best Bitter (from Lowestoft, Suffolk)
Silver: Salopian, Hop Twister (from Shrewsbury, Shropshire)
Joint Bronze: Oakwell, Senior Bitter (from Barnsley, South Yorkshire)
Joint Bronze: Milton, Pegasus (from Milton, Cambridgeshire)
Golden Ales
Gold: Dark Star, American Pale Ale (from Horsham, West Sussex)
Silver: Cumbrian Legendary Ales, Langdale (from Hawkshead, Cumbria)
Bronze: Hobsons, Town Crier (from Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire)
Strong Bitters
Gold: Dark Star, Festival (from Horsham, West Sussex)
Silver: O’Hanlon’s, Stormstay (from Whimple, Devon)
Bronze: Highland, Orkney IPA (Swannay, Orkney)
Speciality Beers
Gold: Dunham Massey, Chocolate Cherry Mild (from Dunham Massey, Gtr Manchester)
Silver: Little Valley, Hebden’s Wheat (from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire)
Bronze: Nethergate, Umbel Magna (from Pentlow, Essex)
Champion Winter Beer of Britain (from category winners announced in January 2012)
Coniston, No.9 Barley Wine (from Coniston, Cumbria)
Hammerpot, Bottle Wreck Porter (from Poling, West Sussex)
Cairngorm, Black Gold (from Aviemore, Highlands)
Driftwood, Alfie’s Revenge (from St Agnes, Cornwall)
Champion Bottled Beer of Britain winners
Gold: Stewart, Embra (from Loanhead, Midlothian)
Silver: Great Gable, Yewbarrow (from Egremont, Cumbria)
Bronze: Molson Coors, Worthington’s White Shield (from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire)
Many of the category winners for 2012 are no strangers to success.
Ruby Mild, a 4.4 per center from York brewer Rudgate, won Champion Beer of Britain back in 2009 and has over 10 other national awards to its name.
Purple Moose’s 3.6 per cent Snowdonia Ale improved its standing by two medal places in the Bitter category, after taking a Bronze in 2010. The Porthmadog is also a former CAMRA Champion Beer of Wales.
Chocolate Cherry Mild from Manchester’s Dunham Massey Brewing Company is a 3.8 per center with a hint of cherry. It has a stack of CAMRA branch festival wins to its name, including Beer of the Festival in Skipton, Huddersfield, Chelmsford, Bury and Woking.
Dark Star’s 5 per cent Festival strong bitter winner is itself a tribute to another ale! It reprises Festive, a former great Sussex beer from the King & Barnes brewery, featured recently on Hand-Pumped!
And Edinburgh’s Stewart brewery took the bottled section with its own “tribute” ale – it says its 5 per cent Embra ale is a tribute to American Chinook hops!
