West of England hop grower Tom Spilsbury has been selected as overall champion in the Institute of Brewing & Distilling (IBD) British hop awards.
Tom Spilsbury (left) with brewer Tony Jones and their Champion Challenger beer
Having taken the hop merchants cup for the category combining high aroma intensity, Tom’s sample of the Challenger variety was one of eight category winners from which the overall champion was selected.
Presenting the awards at the new Charles Wells brewery, the IBD’s Steve Curtis said it was very pleasing to have a field of 212 hop samples presented for judging, with 18 different varieties appearing on the winners list.
“The judges’ decisions were made on their abilities first and foremost as brewers, and so they chose the winning hop sample in each category that they would most want to use to brew their own beers.
“From a fantastic array of entries, the judges were unanimous in selecting Tom Spilsbury’s sample of Challenger as the overall champion, with its signature aroma of spicey, green tea, cedar, and citrus notes.”
Challenger has historically been recognised as a dual-purpose hop used to add bittering as well as aroma/flavour, but Tom says its potential has been overlooked by craft ale brewers in favour of more exotic new world counterparts.
Champion Challenger
To demonstrate the point, the Spilsbury & Jones Brewing Company, run by Tom and brewer Tony Jones, has now come up with a new single-hopped cask ale called Champion Challenger.
Tom describes it as “a surprisingly citrus, single hop, blond ale of 4.4$ ABV, which celebrates the heritage and sustainability of truly British pale ale”.
He added: “While new world hops bring powerful aromas and interest to craft ales, that comes at a price. Their carbon footprint is colossal compared with domestically grown hops.
“Our hops are carted directly from our hop yards to our brewery at the centre of the farm. I don’t think beer could be brewed with a smaller carbon footprint.”
