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It’s the big one - the competition that every brewer of real ale wants to win. Every year at CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival, the Champion Bottled Beer of Britain is announced.
The winner this year is one of the most interesting beers we’ve ever had: Harvey’s Imperial Double Stout, a worthy victor. Beer Hawk’s co-founder Chris France was one of the judges. He says: ‘This year’s panel really struggled to pick a winner. In the end Harvey’s edged it due to the complexity and quality of the flavours going on, but others like Mordue, Wye Valley and Otley’s Oxymoron were all battling hard. So another great event and nice to see so many more dark beers coming through this year.’
Beer judging is a very serious business... no really! Each competition has its own criteria and rules. CAMRA’s guidelines state the following: ‘The underlying question for CAMRA events is ‘Is this beer true to style?’’ To aid with that, judges are given detailed descriptions for each style with bittering unit and original gravity ranges for each and indicative statements like ‘Diacetyl should be minimised’ (Bitters) ‘should have little or no malt’ (Golden Ales). You then simply try each one and mark it out of 10 against appearance, aroma, flavour and finish, with flavour being worth double points to give a score out of 50. There are seven judges and the highest three scores are then re-tasted, partially for pleasure (!) and to decide the rankings.
THE WINNER: Harveys Imperial Extra Double Stout (The Champion)
Beer Hawk co-founder and Champion Bottle-Conditioned Beer of Britain judge Chris France said: ‘Simply the most intense beer I have ever tasted. The complexity of the flavours are so huge it’s hard to break them out. It’s thick treacle, huge boozy fruits, sherry, maybe port and a hundred other things all distilled into this little bottle and then marinaded in melted oak. A must-try.’
The 15 finalists: Harveys Imperial Extra Double Stout (The Champion)
Mordue IPA (Runner Up)
Otley Blonde
Castle Rock Elsie Moe
Elland 1872 Porter
Fullers 1845
Hook Norton Double Stout
Otley Oxymoron
Rebel Bal Maiden
Wye Valley Butty Bach
Stewart Radical Road
8 Sail Damson Porter
Beowulf Dark Raven
Coniston Bluebird
Hobsons Old Henry
Father’s Day, 19th June 2022, is the special date in the calendar when we celebrate and give a nod to the Dads in our lives. It’s an excuse to spoil them with a little something to say thank you for being awesome. If you’re looking for inspiration for a craft beer-loving Dad, then check out our top 7 Father’s Day beer gifts.
Every year, Beer Hawk releases a lineup of limited edition craft beer mixed cases for the holiday season. This year's lineup of festive Christmas beer gifts is guaranteed to put a smile on everyone’s face.
Remember the childhood excitement of opening a new door on your advent calendar every day in the run up to Christmas? It gave each day a little sparkle of festive magic, even though those tiny chocolates behind the doors were always a bit rubbish. How would you like to recapture that childhood magic, but with bottles of delicious beer instead of powdery chocolate? Sounds amazing, right? In that case, you need to get your hands on our Craft Beer Advent Calendar.
Pairing beer and food together isn’t all rules and science. That would make for a terribly boring dinner party! Instead, it’s the art of taking a good beer, some good food and partnering them together to make something even better. It’s the adventure of discovering what works, what doesn’t and what you like. It’s you taking a bite, taking a sip and then declaring your undying love for that imperial stout and chocolate cake.
Barrel-ageing beers is not a new thing, but it is getting more and more popular, and has probably never been as inventive. Adrian Tierney-Jones explores the new wave of ageing beer in wood
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