The list starts with
several standard categories, then we're free to add categories of our
own as we wish – non-UK writers are invited to substitute their own
location for “UK”; as I'm both, I'll add categories for Germany.
Best UK Draught Beer
1. Windsor & Eton
Conqueror 1075 – all the Conqueror variants are superb, but I was
lucky enough to catch the full-strength one on cask when it's
normally only available in bottles. In bottle it's great, in cask and
well-kept, it's stunning.
2. Thornbridge Bracia
(Pedro Ximénez Aged) – I'm going to be strict here and only vote
for beers I drank during 2012. This eliminates some of my favourites
as they're seasonal and I wasn't in the country at the right time.
This was one where I was in the right place and time – and
fortunately had enough cash on me, as it was £12 a pint!
3. Twickenham Entire
Butt – I got to try this at the brewery, it's an experiment by
brewer Tom Madeiros to try producing an old-style porter by blending
aged strong ale with fresh bitter and for me it worked brilliantly. I wasn't
sure if I should include it here as it was a one-off, but apparently
it has had a limited commercial release so here it is...
Best UK Bottled or
Canned Beer
1. The Kernel Export
Stout London 1890 – Evin's historical beers are just so complex and
wonderful, especially the Stouts.
2. Fullers Vintage Ale
1999 – all the Vintage Ales are great, and usually more so with a
few years on them, it so happens that this 13 year-old was the one I
enjoyed this year.
I'm tempted to put the
Twickenham Entire Butt in here too, as I was gifted a litre in a bottle to take home to Mrs BeerViking, but it's not regularly bottled, so...
3. The Kernel Imperial
Brown Stout London 1856.
Best German Draught
Beer
This is a tough one,
because finding anything other than (boring) Pils or Weizen on
draught is tough, except in places with local specialities such as
Rauchbier and Braunbier in Bamberg, maybe Märzen in Munich, or Kölsch in Cologne.
1. Klindworths
Sauensieker Pale Ale – where most
German brewpubs' output is pretty staid, these guys like to
have fun. Their take on an English Pale Ale is a bit of a
hop-bomb, yet malty and well balanced.
2. Paffgen Kölsch –
on tap at the tap. Fresh beer is not always best, but this was one
time when it was – well, as fresh as lagered beer can be.
3. Maisels Dampfbier –
one of the few darker beers I can get regularly on draught, this
Steambeer is a lovely example of a Franconian amber ale.
Best German Bottled or
Canned Beer
If I wasn't pulling
them out separately, I'd quite possibly not have any German bottled beer in
here at all. There's a lot of good German beer and some very good
German beer, but I've not found a lot of really really good German
beer yet. Some brewers are starting to experiment with different flavours
and so on, but quite cautiously so far.
1. Kyritzer Mord und
Totschlag – from a North German abbey brewery that's done a number
of recreations of medieval dark beers, this one's a smoked black-beer
from the 1700s.
2. Weltenburger Kloster
Asam Bock – one of the classic Doppelbocks, rich and sweet, yet
roasty and burnt.
3. Propeller Nachtflug - that rare beast, a German Imperial Stout, it's rich, dry, roasty and slightly salty (and no, it doesn't have double-headed eagles on the label!).
Andechser and Einbecker
would both be in here as absolute classics, along with Störtebeker
Stark-Bier, except I'm being even more strict in this section, and
listing only beers that were new to me this year.
Best (non German or UK) Draught
Beer
1. Emelisse Imperial
Russian Stout – as black as sin, and almost as tasty.
2. Southern Tier
Choklat – a superb Stout made with cocoa.
3. Evil Twin Yin –
UK or not? I'll say not as it's a Danish brew, even though
the brewing apparently took place at Brewdog. It's black and thick as
liquorice, and as tasty as the best bits of coffee, port, liquorice
and treacle toffee, all rolled together.
Best (non German or UK) Bottled
or Canned Beer
1. Nøgne Ø Imperial
Stout
2. Thisted Limfjords
Double Brown Stout
3. Long Trail
Brewmaster Series Imperial Porter
I have a sneaking
suspicion that my drinking preferences might be showing by now....
Best Overall Beer
W&E Conqueror 1075
– I've been doing some thinking and reading around Black IPA, as well
as discussing it with beer historians, and I've come to suspect that
it is a genuine historical style, but with the wrong name. Everyone
knows the story of IPA, that it was shipped to India for the troops –
well, no it wasn't. IPA was shipped to India for the officers and gentry –
the troops got Porter. Indeed, Ron Pattinson's research suggests
Porter shipments to India were more than double those of IPA – and that Export India
Porter was a hopped-up 1800s Porter at around 7-8%. Not far off a
Double Black IPA, eh?
Best UK Brewery
Magic Rock – for
consistency, variety and fun. OK, so none of their beers made it into
my top three individually, but Magic Rock's average is significantly
above almost any other UK brewery working today.
Best German Brewery
Klindworths, I must go
and visit them soon!
Best (non German or UK) Brewery
Alvinne, for great beer
and also for the Alvinne Craft Beer Festival.
Pub/Bar of the Year
It's a bit of a zoo,
but as a bar and for craft keg I still like the Euston Tap. For cask
ale and a proper pub experience, it's my London local, the Magpie &
Crown in Brentford.
Beer Festival of the
Year
Another tough one. It
was great to have GBBF back at Olympia this year, and I enjoyed
working at the Twickenham beer festival too, but for the variety of
both people and beer I think it has to be the Alvinne Craft Beer
Festival.
Supermarket of the Year
OK, this is a beer
supermarket, but all the branches of Hol'Ab I've used have impressed
me. Like most German drinks shops there's crates and crates of boring
Pils, but there's usually a whole wall lined with unusual stuff as
well, a lot from Franconia and Bavaria-proper but also some others
too. Don't expect to find much foreign beer though, unless you're
desperate for Guinness or Heineken, or are a gastarbeiter needing
Tyskie or Lech for a taste of home.
Independent Retailer of
the Year
Bierland in Hamburg,
for a great selection of hard-to-find German beers, plus a sprinkling
of decent foreign stuff.
Best Beer Blog or
Website
1. Shut Up About Barclay Perkins – more beer history than you can shake a stick at,
the dry numbers amply counterbalanced by Ron Pattinson's erudition
and dry wit.
2. Pete Brown's BeerBlog – great writing.
3. Boak and Bailey –
almost always thought-provoking.
Food and Beer Pairing
of the Year
The London City of Beer
launch at the Red Herring, in particular Fuller's Bengal Lancer with
a variety of cheeses. I should try more IPA/cheese pairings.
In 2013 I’d most like
to...
Get more beer writing
gigs, lead more guided tastings, get to the European Beer Bloggers Conference again, and generally get to more beer
events.
Dear gods, I'm already
over 1300 words – no wonder this has taken days to research and
write... Merry Yule and Frohe Weihnachten, everyone!
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