Best beers of Britain 2024 have been revealed
1st November 2024
Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) has announced the winners of Champion Beer of Britain 2024.
An Essex-based brewery, Crouch Vale, has been crowned the champion beer for its Amarillo, while silver prize went to The IPA from London-based brewery Anspach & Hobday.
Suffolk manufacturer Green Jack Brewery won the bronze prize with its Trawlerboys Best Bitter.
The winners were exclusively revealed at Kelham Hall Beer and Cider Festival trade session on 23rd October in Newark, following a rigorous and hard-fought final round of judging.
The long-standing CAMRA award is one of the most coveted and well-respected cask beer competitions in the world, putting the winner firmly in both the national and international spotlight.
Commendable winner
Festivalgoers were able to enjoy this year’s newly crowned champion, along with the well-deserved silver and bronze winners’ beer, on sale during Kelham Hall Beer and Cider Festival.
Champion Beer of Britain judging panel organiser Christine Cryne described Amarillo as having “a tangy aroma with a faint note of biscuit, full of tropical and citrus notes on a sweet biscuit base. A full flavoured beer with a dry sweetish bitter finish.”
She added that it was a “commendable winner, worthy of the respected title despite exceptionally strong competition.”
The IPA from Anspach & Hobday was described by judges as “a wonderful fruity new world IPA. Aromas of citrus and tropical that are also on the palette where the developing bitterness is perfectly balanced by the bitterness leading to a dry, spicy finish. Morish for a six per cent beer.”
Bronze winner Trawlerboys Best Bitter from Green Jack Brewery, Lowestoft, was described as being an “attractive orangey brown beer with a honey biscuit nose. Sweet orange marmalade with nutty notes and slight hint of chocolate. The finish is fruity and sweet, becoming bitter and dry. It’s complex and very drinkable.”
We are still making great beer
Judging for the competition takes two years to complete, starting with individual nominations from CAMRA members and tasting panel nominations, then regional competitions. Each round of judging uses a strict blind tasting policy.
Directors at Crouch Vale, Colin and Fiona Bocking said: “We are delighted. We have been doing this for half of our lives. We won in 2005, and we won in 2006, and there has been a 19-year hiatus.
“Hopefully, this will demonstrate to people that we are still around, and we are still making great beer. This is a beer that has been brewed for 30 years, at the time, when a lot of these very exciting American hops were coming on the market, we decided to use Amarillo hops from Washington State in the USA, and we are still using them today.”
Laura Emson, CAMRA’s awards director, added: “After many years of CAMRA holding this competition, the Champion Beer of Britain final is still one of the most exciting days for us as well as for all the brewers involved. Only two points separated first and second place.
“We’re hugely grateful to Kelham Hall Beer and Cider Festival for hosting this year’s judging and announcement, it’s a fantastic setting to celebrate fantastic beer. These awards cannot happen without the incredible work of volunteers that give up their time to see a worthy winner crowned.
“This process begins with CAMRA members nominating their favourite tipples and ends with a decision from a highly experienced and professional judging panel. Crouch Vale should be incredibly proud of this accolade, and I hope that beer lovers across the UK will seek out and try Amarillo and Trawlerboys Best Bitter out for themselves.”
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