2007 World Beer Awards
‘Beers of the World’ magazine is one of the industry glossies that sings the praises of the planet’s favourite beverage. I’ve not read one, but apparently they have the usual brewing news and tasting notes on a series of beers. They sponsor annual gongs – the World Beer Awards – the latest winners of which were announced last Friday. Several BeerCast favourites were amongst those collecting trophies, so time for a quick run down of the brews highlighted by Roger Protz (the man gets around) and the panel.
World’s Best Ale
Bitter & Twisted, Harviestoun Brewery, Alva (Sco) 4.2%
Roughly 30 miles from BeerCast HQ in Edinburgh, Harviestoun are one of Scotland’s best brewers. Bitter & Twisted is possibly my favourite beer, so to see it given the coveted ‘best ale’ award was fantastic (it came through the tough pale ale category). By some co-incidence, the night of the announcement half of the BeerCasters were in Kays polishing off a large amount of Harviestoun’s other cracker, Schiehallion, which is simply wonderful on cask.
World’s Best Lager
Budvar Dark, Budweiser Brewery (Cze) 4.7%
Original and best, the Czech Budweiser brewery came out on top in the lager category with their dark beer. Our panellist MrB assures us that it’s seriously good stuff, and rest assured Lagerboy will be looking out for it soon to review. If it’s anything like their lighter coloured Budvar, it’s going to be tremendous.
World’s Best Stout/Porter
Obsidian Stout, Deschutes Brewery, Oregon (USA) 6.4%
American porters are highly rated, and the brewery in Bend, Oregon, now has the world’s best example. Named after the planet’s largest expanse of the shiny black rock, which conveniently occurs just near the town, Obsidian Stout is a ‘satisfying beer with underlying espresso and chocolate flavours’. We’d love to try one, if only we could find it over here. However, the runner up was Fuller’s London Porter, which we’ll be sampling in an upcoming podcast.
World’s Best Wheat Beer
Grolsch Weizen, Grolsch Brewery (NL) 5.3%
I have to say that Grolsch lager is truly awful stuff, so surprising that their wheat beer is deemed worthy of an award by the panel – particularly with the quality of wheat beers from Germany or Belgium. Still, the panel of experts clearly know what they are doing, so hats off to Grolsch. Or should that be ‘strange bottle tops’ off to Grolsch?
In the minor categories – i.e. the beers that didn’t quite get through to snare one of the top four prizes, notables for us have to be the Meantime brewery in Greenwich collecting an impressive haul – their best in show chocolate stout is currently in my cupboard ready for our upcoming London BeerCast. Edinburgh’s Caledonian Golden Promise won the award for ‘Best Experimental beer’ – we sampled that local beauty in BeerCast Episode 1 (thankfully for us we gave it the highest score). Also the award for ‘Best Fruit Beer’ went to Cain’s Raisin Beer from Liverpool (BeerCast Episode 3). Not bad for prune juice, eh Shovels? 😉
