Mild, a 3.6% beer from Crowlas-based Penzance Brewing Co, has triumphed in the mild category of CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain competition.

Penzance Mild at the Star Inn

It beat Brains’ Dark and McGregor’s Mild, from Five Kingdoms Brewery, which picked up silver and bronze respectively.

With no Great British Beer Festival this year, the results were announced at Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire, during the venue’s Beer and Cider Festival.

There is a consistently strong fan base for Penzance Mild, a 3.6% ABV easy-drinker, packed with malt and fruit flavours. Prior to the temporary closure of The Star, earlier this year, it was a consistent favourite, especially with Midlanders on holiday. “That’s proper mild, that is,” they’d exclaim with glee.

I recall Pete Elvin, the original brewer, who passed away in 2023, telling me that the recipe was based on Banks’s famous mild, which would explain why those visitors loved it so much. And the Penzance version will live on while the Banks’s comes to an end under Carlsberg’s stewardship.

Elsewhere in the results, there was silver for Sharp’s Sea Fury in the premium bitter class, and for St Austell Proper Job in the category for premium pale, blond, and golden ales.