Golden Pints Awards

My first Golden Pints awards. It seems a long way back to the start of the year so these awards may seem a little second-half centric.

Best UK Draught (Cask or Keg) Beer

Cask: Oakham JHB at Tap East

Keg: Magic Rock Human Cannonball at The Craft beer company

Winner: Oakham JHB - So drinkable so I had to go back for a few more.

Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer

Bottled: Kernel Galaxy IPA

Canned: Brewdog Punk (the good ones)

Winner: Kernel Galaxy IPA - (Everyone raves about the Kernel's stouts and porters with good reason, but no-one gets true hop flavour like this into their IPA's)

Best Overseas Draught Beer

Nomination 1: Repoterroir (a five-brewery collaboration; Dogfish Head, Sierra Nevada, Lost Abbey, Avery and Allagash) at the Dogfish Head bar. Cucumber in a beer?...hell yes! Try it if you get the chance. Read about it here.

Nomination 2: Weyerbacher Harvest ale at the brewery Saturday tasting and tour

Nomination 3: Harpoon IPA. 

Winner: Weyerbacher Harvest Ale - Fresh straight from the brewery, awesome! Then again in a growler a couple of hours later. Top beer made with home grown cascade hops.

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer

Bottled: Rodenbach Vintage 2007

Canned: Maui  Big Swell IPA

Winner: Rodenbach Vintage 2007 - Sweet, Sour, Complex, Stunning dark red colour, goes well with just about any food and comes in a champagne style bottle. What’s not to like?!

Best Overall Beer

Winner: Kernel Galaxy IPA - Just proving I'm a hophead at heart. Close call over the Weyerbacher though...

Best Pumpclip or Label (I have gone for branding really rather the particular label or pumpclip)

Nomination 1: Marble

Nomination 2: Otley 

Nomination 3: Magic Rock

Winner: Magic Rock - While I love the simplicity of the Marble and Otley brands Magic Rock has this one by a country mile.

Best UK Brewery

Nomination 1: The Kernel

Nomination 2: Oakham 

Nomination 3: Magic Rock

Winner: The Kernel - not just the best beers.  Evin and his team are just the best bunch of guys and have been very free with their help and information.

Best Overseas Brewery

Nomination 1: Weyerbacher

Nomination 2: Dogfish Head 

Nomination 3: St Bernadus

Winner: Dogfish Head - I know that they don't export over here any more, but the range and innovation of styles makes them stand out.

Pub/Bar of the Year

Nomination 1: Craft Beer Co

Nomination 2: Euston Tap 

Nomination 3: The Rake

Winner: The Rake - Very close call between all three here. The Rake's location tips the scales.

Beer Festival of the Year

Strangely I was only at one professional one...GBBF (the spoons festival doesn’t count, right?) Still the winner is:

Winner: London and South East Craft Beer Festival - a great homebrew festival.

Supermarket of the Year

Waitrose (Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Thornbridge) vs Sainsburys (Brewdog, Brooklyn Brewery, interesting beer hunt) vs Morrisons (Also Brewdog, Worthington's White Shield)

Winner: Waitrose - Torpedo swings it

Independent Retailer of the Year

Nomination 1: Cobbetts Real Ale - Dorking

Nomination 2: The Bottle Shop - Canterbury

Nomination 3: The Beer Boutique - Putney

Winner: The Beer Boutique - Newcomer on the scene, great range (esp in Belgian beers) and great decor. The Bottle Shop perhaps has a better range of beers but Canterbury is a long drive.

Online Retailer of the Year

I have only used one this year so the winner is: My Brewery Tap

Best Beer Book or Magazine

Book: Melissa Cole  - Let Me Tell You About Beer.

Magazine: Zymurgy (an imported US homebrew magazine)

Winner: Melissa Cole - A great book with something for beer novices but also stuff for the more geeky reader. Perfect christmas present fodder.

Best Beer Blog or Website

Blog: Cooking Lager

Website: Jim's Homebrew Forum - Full of useful information

Winner: Cooking Lager - Drop the beer geek act cookie and get back to what you do best. Entertain us!

Best Beer Twitterer

Nomination 1: @SimonJohnson

Nomination 2: Andy Mogg @Chilliupnorth and @BeerReviewsAndy

Nomination 3: @twattdog

Winner: @SimonJohnson  - Funny and seems to consume more beer then the rest of the twitterverse put together.

Best Online Brewery Presence

Nomination 1: Hardknott 

Nomination 2: Dogfish Head

Nomination 3: Brewdog

Winner: Hardknott, with the twitter presence, the blog and now an online shop. World domination is next.

Food and Beer Pairing of the Year

Nomination 1: Brooklyn Double Chocolate Stout and Baked Figs with Mascarpone 

Nomination 2: Spicy Pepperoni Pizza and Repoterroir at the Dogfish Head brewpub in Rehoboth Beach 

Nomination 3: Brewdog Hardcore IPA with Dunsyre Blue Cheese at the Brewdog Burns night at the White Horse.

Winner: Pizza and Repoterroir - Probably has something to do with being on holiday and the atmosphere in the Dogfish Head bar, but given the choice now this is the one I would ask for. The carbonation of the beer lifted the cheese, and the cucumber and mint quenched some of the spiciness of the pepperoni and chilli.

In 2012 I’d Most Like To…

Start a Brewery

Photoblog: Saturday at Weyerbacher

While meandering about the East coast of the USA we happened to be in Pennsylvania where the locals suggested we make the detour to Easton on a Saturday to visit the nice people at the Weyerbacher brewery. 

Here is what we found:

 Well it took us a while to find. Tucked away up what appeared to be a nice residential street we finally came across the little sign.

 Plenty of beers

 A flashy beer menu.

 

 Some interesting branding. Insanity is Blithering Idiot aged in oak bourbon casks.

 Craft beer, brewed in small batches...

...and served in small measures...

...so there was no shortage of people at the bar.

 So on with the tour with our guide Billy Bragg...no not that Billy Bragg...but he does get a proper glass (jealous)!

 These barrels have something interesting and sour in them, no tasters unfortunately.

 The Homebrewers Tap. Some of the workers at Weyerbacher are homebrewers, here is where they showcase their beers to the rest of the staff.

 The tour was interesting...

 ...and Billy was knowledgeable about the beers even though he is not one of the brewers himself. 

 Rented Kegs with the previous labels still on there or a lot of brewery swaps?

 The Big Bottling line

 Little Brother of Bottling Line...hopefully not bottling from the little room behind it!

The only drawback of the visit was not Weyerbacher's fault. The crazy Pennsylvania state laws state that we could only buy a case of 24 beers, no single bottles, no six packs but you could get growlers.  We did not have that long to go with our trip so all we could go was get a growler of the fantastic harvest ale.

Anyone in Pennsylvania should make the effort to go visit these great people and fantastic beer. For UK people wanting to try Weyerbacher beer, it is available in bottles in the Craft Beer Co and the Cask Pub and Kitchen.