Champion Beers of Britain 2013

Elland 1872 Porter crowned Champion Beer of Britain at the Great British Beer Festival.

After a year of local tasting panels and regional heats leading up to the finals, CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, is today proud to announce that Elland 1872 Porter has been crowned the 'Best Beer' in Britain at the Great British Beer Festival, Olympia, London.
The West Yorkshire brewed real ale was judged the Supreme Champion over a host of other
finalists in 7 different beer categories (Bitters,
Best Bitters, Strong Bitters, Golden Ales, Milds,
Winter Beers, and the Speciality class), including
beers from both small microbrewers and large
regional brewers.
Colin Valentine, Chair of the competition and
CAMRA Chairman, spoke in praise of today's
winner. He said:
“It was a really tough decision but Elland 1872 Porter is a fantastic beer and a well deserved winner. A 6.5% abv, rich and strongly flavoured porter with flavours of coffee and dark chocolate, this result makes it two years in a row that our Champion Winter Beer has gone on to win the Champion Beer of Britain competition.”

Michael Wynnyczuk, Head Brewer at Elland, had
this to say,
“I’m utterly shocked. It’s a great beer but after we won the Winter Ales competition you wonder about it in the summer GBBF competition, as people may prefer different styles of beer in warmer weather. But we know it’s a great beer and we’re really proud to be crowned Champion
Beer of Britain.”
This year's Silver went to Buntingford (Hertfordshire) Twitchell, whilst the Bronze award went Fyne Ales (Argyll) Jarl.
Elland 1872 Porter is available at the Great British Beer Festival this week.

Overall winners-
Gold – Elland – 1872 Porter (West Yorkshire)
Silver – Buntingford – Twitchell (Hertfordshire)
Bronze – Fyne Ales – Jarl (Argyll)

Mild category-
Gold – Great Orme - Welsh Black (Conwy)
Silver – Cotswold Spring - Old Sodbury Mild
(Gloucestershire)
Bronze – Fernandes – Malt Shovel Mild (West
Yorkshire)

Bitters category-
Gold – Buntingford – Twitchell (Hertfordshire)
Silver – Moor – Revival (Somerset)
Bronze – Surrey Hills – Ranmore Ale (Surrey)
and Buttcombe Bitter (Somerset)

Best Bitters-
Gold – Mordue – Workie Ticket (North Shields)
Silver – Surrey Hills – Shere Drop (Surrey)
Bronze – Purple Moose – Glaslyn (Gwynedd) and
Woodfordes – Nelsons Revenge (Norfolk)

Golden Ales-
Gold – Fyne Ales – Jarl (Argyll)
Silver – Buntingford – Polar Star (Hertfordshire)
Bronze – St Austell - Proper Job (Cornwall)

Strong Bitters-
Gold – Beeston – On the huh (Norfolk)
Silver –Marble – Dobber (Greater Manchester)
Bronze – Castle Rock – Screech Owl
(Nottingham)

Speciality Beers-
Gold – Growler Brewery, Nethergate – Umbel
Magna (Suffolk)
Silver – Saltaire – Triple Chocolate (West
Yorkshire)
Bronze – Conwy – Honey Fayre (Conwy)

Champion Winter Beer of Britain (from category
winners announced in January 2013)-
Elland – 1872 Porter(West Yorkshire)
Bartram’s – Comrade Bill Bartram’s EAIS Stout
(Suffolk)
Kelburn – Dark Moor (Old Ale/Strong Mild)
(Glasgow)
Hog’s Back – A over T (Barley Wine/Strong Old
Ale) (Surrey)

Champion Bottled Beer of Britain winners-
Gold – Molson Coor’s – Worthington White
Shield (Burton on Trent)
Silver – St Austell – Proper Job (Cornwall)
Bronze – Harvey’s – Imperial Extra Double Stout
(East Sussex)