An international judging panel has identified the best beers entered in each country of the 67 styles in the annual World Beer Awards.
With more than 1,500 beers from more than 30 countries entered into this year’s awards, winning a ‘country’s best’ is quite an achievement, say the organisers.
The final round was held in London on August 11, when 50 international brewers, industry experts and journalists tasted and voted on the world’s best in each of the eight categories before the 2016 country winners were announced. The overall winners will be revealed in September.
St Peter’s Brewery, based in Suffolk, was named country winner in the brown ale category for its St Peter’s Dirty Tackle, mild country winner for its St Peter’s Crafted Classic Mild, and stout country winner for its Cream Stout.
Chief executive, Steve Magnall, said: “We’re very proud to have received so many awards at this year’s International Beer Challenge and to be named country winners in two categories at the World Beer Awards. Our team is dedicated to brewing excellence, so having our beers judged to be among the best in the world by experts in the field makes all the hard work worthwhile.”
Black Sheep Brewery’s Riggwelter was the United Kingdom winner in the English brown ale category. This latest honour completes a hat-trick for the beer after it was shortlisted in the final of the strong bitter category at the Great British Beer Festival and was awarded a gold medal at the International Beer Challenge. In last year’s World Beer Awards, it also claimed a silver medal in the strong dark beer category.
Electric Bear Brewing Co won awards in three categories with Mochachocolata Ya Ya!, Heisenberg and Samurye.
Mochachocolata Ya Ya! a coffee, caramel milk stout (5.1% ABV) topped the chocolate and coffee flavour category. Heisenberg, a double decoction dopplebock (9.1%), won the best strong lager category, and Samurye, the brewery’s rice and rye ale (5.6%), came first in the best experimental group.
The brewery’s Chris Lewis said: “To say we’re over the moon with these awards is an understatement. When we set up the brewery we knew we were ambitious and wanted to win awards for our beers, but to actually achieve this in such a short timeframe is testament to everyone who’s involved in the Electric Bear team.
“Huge credit has to go to our head brewer, Guillermo, who has worked tirelessly to take us from a solid and consistent core range of beers to the more experimental flavours we’re now putting out. These awards stand us in great stead going into year two and we can’t wait to see how we get on at the World Beer Awards finals next month.”
