The Champion Beer of Britain is one of the most prestigious beer competitions in the world. It is the ultimate honour for UK brewers and has helped put many into the national spotlight. It is awarded every year at the trade session of the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF).
The competition starts with individual nominations from CAMRA members and tasting panel nominations, then area competitions.
At the GBBF, the Champion Beer of Britain judging spans real ales across the categories for milds, session bitters, premium bitters, IPAs, session pales/blonds/golden ales and premium pales/blonds/golden ales. These are combined with the Champion Winter Beer of Britain category winners from the GBBF Winter (held in February) – session stouts/porters, strong stouts/porters, brown ales/red ales/old ales/strong milds, barley wines/strong ales, speciality beers (differently produced) and speciality beers (flavoured)– to create a shortlist for the final round of judging.
There is also a competition for the Champion Bottled Beer of Britain with two categories: ABV 4.3% or below and ABV 4.4% or above.
The process for next years competition starts with member voting opening on 1 September until 1 November inclusive and this will be the first year with the new beer style categories, of which there are 12. To vote log in at cbob.camra.org.uk and in the meantime keep an eye on What’s Brewing, the online members’ newspaper for more information.