- Best UK Draught (Cask or Keg) Beer: Blue Monkey BG Sips, best session beer I've had in ages.
- Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer: Currently the Williams' Profanity Stout, although since I've got a bottle of Deus Brut Des Flandres knocking about I'm hoping that's better given how much the wife let me pay for it.
- Best Overseas Draught Beer: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on tap at the Bread & Bitter, if only because I was drinking it to celebrate the birth of our first child!
- Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer: Delirium Nocturnum
- Best Overall Beer: Brass Castle 'Bad Kitty' probably equal with the BG Sips (#1) so I allocated the two pretty much at random - maybe a summer and a winter winner. Also fair play to these guys for avoiding isinglass for guilt-free veggie beer drinking.
- Best Pumpclip or Label: I'll defer to The Pour Curator on this one, if you don't read his blog you should have a look. Some stunning artwork on there.
- Best UK Brewery: Black Iris, Derby. Totally biased since I was party to their opening night through some friends, and spoken to them a few times since. and they're just top guys.
- Best Overseas Brewery: Huyghe, because of #4, and because the pink elephant always does it for me.
- Pub/Bar of the Year: The Pipe & Glass, South Dalton
- Beer Festival of the Year: Robin Hood BeerFestival, Nottingham
- Supermarket of the Year: Sainsbury's (due to the Great British Beer Hunt)
- Independent Retailer of the Year: The York beer & Wine Shop, source of my first ever Hardknott beer.
- Online Retailer of the Year: Beers of Europe, prompt & knowledgeable.
- Best Beer Book or Magazine: Isn't that what the internet's for? I suppose the Oxford Companion to Beer has provided a lot of reading material without me actually reading it. Roll on the second edition.
- Best Beer Blog or Website: Tough one, I enjoy so many. But I'll go for HardKnott Dave, I think because he writes from a different perspective to ones I've experienced in the wine & pub trade.
- Best Beer Twitterer: Simon Johnson. Entertainment.
- Best Online Brewery presence: Summer Wine Brewery. Enjoyable blog,and tweets.
- Food and Beer Pairing of the Year: Bavarian Obazda & fresh pretzels with Hofbräuhaus Oktoberfestbier. We had it for an Oktoberfest party that I never got round to writing about.
- In 2012 I’d Most Like To… Better the best beers of this year!
- Open Category: Steve at Beers I've Known, and The Campaign for Really Good Beer. Kudos.
Cheers, all the best beverages for 2012.
#2 deus is french not uk!
ReplyDeleteCheers for the mention by the way!
ReplyDeleteOK, the (Belgian beer, Champagne yeast/cellaring I think) Deus wouldn't be eligible but it still ought to taste better!
ReplyDelete...and you're welcome.