Britain’s best beer revealed with ‘refreshing’ and ‘chocolatey’ taste

A lesser-known beer has been bestowed with a prestigious award for being the country’s best – and it’s not a lager or a bitter.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) hands out its sought-after Champion Winter Beer of Britain award every year, in a competition that showcases “the best traditional winter brews in the country”, according to its website.

Beers up for consideration have to be nominated by CAMRA members, followed by a year of blind-tasting panels and regional heats.

After more than a year of local blind-tasting panels and competitive regional heats, the final round of judging was held at the CAMRA Winter Beer Festival, which took place between February 12-15.

All beers must be nominated by individual CAMRA members and evaluated by a tasting panel.

This year, entries were judged across seven distinct categories, including:

• Overall Winner
• Brown Ales, Red Ales, Old Ales and Strong Milds
• Session Stouts and Porters
• Strong Stouts and Porters
• Barley Wines and Strong Ales
• Speciality, Differently Produced
• Speciality, Differently Flavoured

Scottish brewer Cairngorm’s Black Gold was the overall winner of the competition, which is highly prized in the industry and can introduce cult favourite brews to a much wider audience.

Champion Beer of Britain judging panel organiser Christine Cryne described the taste of the 4.4% traditional Scottish milk stout as: “Roasted coffee nose with dark fruits and earthy hops.

“The flavour is of refreshing coffee with sweet malt, orange and dark fruits, leading to a satisfying dry, chocolatey finish. Very easy drinking,” she added.

The stout has won a number of awards in the past and was previously named SIBA UK Supreme Overall Bottled Beer Champion for 2013.

Cairngorm’s Sales Director Merlin Sandbach said: “After winning Champion Beer of Scotland two years consecutively, and four years in total, the team is ecstatic.

“Our head brewer Liam, Gemma from Productions and I are absolutely over the moon!”

The runners-up for the overall prize were the Sarah Hughes Snowflake (8% ABV), which took silver, and and Grain Slate (6% ABV) with the bronze.