Adam Waterson has won the Campaign for Real Ale’s Homebrewer of the Year competition with a 4.7% ABV dark beer called Black Bob.
Elusive Brewing’s Andy Parker, who presented the awards ceremony
The brew won the category for session stouts and porters up to 4.9% ABV before going on to be declared overall winner.
Adam now has the opportunity to brew the beer on a large scale at the London Brewing Company, with the support of head brewer Alex Woods.
The final judging of the competition and the announcement of the winner took place at The Bohemia, in North Finchley, London, on Wednesday, presented by Elusive Brewing’s Andy Parker.
Adam said: “I’m absolutely thrilled about the win as a relatively new homebrewer. As I started under two years ago, this is quite something!
The new CAMRA book, The Modern Homebrewer
“Black Bob has been a project I’ve been perfecting for the last nine months and represents a meld of flavours; balancing coffee and chocolate with some fruit undertones and finishing with a softness that makes you want to take another sip.
“I can’t wait to experience brewing my own beer with the team at London Brewing Company on a commercial scale. It’s something I only had as a pipedream and an experience I hope to learn more brewing tricks from. I’m also glad this gives me the opportunity to share this beer with more people, and hope they feel the same way too.”
The overall silver award went to Ian Benfell with his beer Old Geoffers (6.3% ABV). This won the category for brown and red ales, old ales, and strong milds, 4.1%-4.6% ABV. Ian won a free case of eight craft beers every month for a year, courtesy of competition sponsor Beer52.
Third prize was awarded to Tom Wright for his Great Scot! 80 Shilling (4.75%), a premium bitter, with Tom picking up four tickets to the Great British Beer Festival 2025 in Birmingham.
CAMRA’s awards director Laura Emson
Andy Parker said: “The standard was incredible this year, especially the beer that won. It really turned our heads as judges. We had four or five beers that really stood out in the final, and they each won their category. Overall, the quality was just outstanding.”
Andy is the owner of and head brewer at Berkshire-based Elusive Brewing and champions the vibrant British homebrewing scene, where his love of beer and brewing developed. His new title The Modern Homebrewer, written with renowned homebrewer, author and beer judge Jamil Zainasheff, was recently published by CAMRA.
CAMRA awards director Laura Emson said: “It’s fantastic to see that the passion in the beer community runs all the way through from the people that love to brew, to those that want to celebrate and drink good beer, at a fantastic venue. CAMRA is very proud to be celebrating the brewers of tomorrow — a huge congratulations to all our winners.”
