Beer of the Year 2012

[Thuck Phat]

With apologies to ROB if I'm jumping the gun but if I don't kick this off now I'll completely forget what I've had!

Four standouts for me this year other than the ever reliable Oakham Bishops Farewell:

Titanic Plum Porter
Salopian Kashmir
Marble Lagonda IPA
Blue Monkey Ape Ale

Sadly, circumstances didn't allow a 3 pint test on the first two, which I hope will be rectified in 2013.
The Lagonda IPA always flies down and is one of my all time favourite beers, if not all time favourite and has been a BOTY for me before.
Which leaves my BOTY Blue Monkey Ape Ale which for a 5.4% IPA style beer just seemed to disappear. Magnificent!

[Mobyduck]

Hmm difficult,Have had some excellent beers but how do you separate the different styles if you arepartial to more than one?
My shortlist is
Darkstar American Pale Ale (now overtaken Hophead as my favourite Darkstar regular)
Whitehorse Village Idiot(sensational when drunk in the Royal Blenheim in Oxford this summer)
Buntingford Galaxy.(Damn good)
Darkstar Greenhopped IPA (just an awesome ale)
ELB Quadrant Stout (fantastic)
Titanic Stout (mind blowingly good

They're all winners but I will choose the most recently tasted ,(freshest in mind),
TITANIC STOUT (http://www.titanicbrewery.co.uk/p/our-beers/titanic-beer-stout.html) drunk in the Alehouse (http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/1661/)Reading.

[Aqualung]

To me this is an impossible conundrum so I'm going to answer it with the three breweries that have impressed me the most this year.

These are Brodie's, Redemption and East London Brewing Company.

It would not be fair to make a comparison between the three as I've probably tried over 30 Brodie's beers and only three of the other two. There have been some fantastic brews from Brodie's plus the odd turkey but the other two have all supplied fantastic brews.


I would also add an honourable mention to London Fields brewery.

[Wittenden]

I was thinking of doing a sort of "Golden Pints" thing, but most of their criteria are too damn poncey for me-I don't drink keg or lager, and never go (or drink) abroad. Notwithstanding that this was the year in which I discovered Jaipur IPA for the first time, the beer that I have thought most about is Kirkstall's Black Band Porter, taken at the York Tap back in February. Other highlights were Abbeydale's Black Lurcher, Jaipur, Twickenham Naked Ladies and Old Dairy's Snow Top. On a more realistic level I've noted Oakwell's Barnsley Bitter, Hopdaemon's Golden Braid and Timothy Taylor's Golden Best alongside the ever faithful Larkin's Traditional and Harveys Sussex Best Bitter.
In fact, not many duff pints, and a few dull, including Marston's EPA.

[Bucking Fastard]

This is where not being organised and having everything down on a spreadsheet counts against me,I really can't be bothered to go through a whole years worth of BOTW posts to make the final judgement.

But the pint that springs to mind, and it's a true classic,that gets this award is Marble Lagonda IPA quaffed on two occasions in the Marble Arch.

The mutts nuts.

[london calling]

i really look forward to drinking green hop beers and Dark star who have once again provided so many good beers this year nailed it.
darkstar-green hop 6.5
such a long time to wait for next years crop.ah well

[MJ71]

My favourites of the year:

Ludlow -Stairway (5%)
Cairngorm - Sheepshaggers Gold (4.5%)
Batemans - GHA (4.2%)
Titanic - Plum Porter (4.9%)

[aleandhearty]

Finally got round to wading through my BOTWs and really struggled to get them down to a dozen. My top twelve are:

Revolutions - Severin Dark.
Great Heck - Brave New World.
Rat - Rat-touille.
Roosters - Buckeye.
Roosters / Odells - The Accomplice.
Acorn - Yorkshire Pride.
Ascot - On The Rails.
Great Heck - Yakima IPA.
Rat - Red Rat.
Hawkshead - Windermere Pale.
Kirkstall - Dissolution IPA.
Acorn - Old Moor Porter.

The Accomplice, tried in the summer, was always going to be the beer to beat. Nothing really came close. However, Yorkshire Pride would certainly win my session beer of the year.

I like Aqualung's idea of mentioning breweries that perform consistently well. My favourites this year have been:

Acorn.
Roosters.
Kirkstall.
Magic Rock.
Titanic.
Rat.
Great Heck.
Fernandes.
Oakham

[Pubsignman]

I'm finding it hard to narrow things down as well this year, so here are the ten which have really stuck in my memory, in no particular order:

Fuller's London Porter
Marble Draft
Saltaire Triple Chocoholic (these first three all got two BOTW nominations from me this year)
Salopian Oracle
Dark Star Revalation
Hawkshead NZPA
Buxton Axe Edge Double IPA
Dorking Black
Dark Star/Magic Rock Rock Star
Sunny Republic Dolphin Amber

If I have to pick from that lot, I think the Saltaire Triple Chocoholic just pips the Buxton and Hawkshead.

Breweries with the most BOTW nominations were

Fullers/Gales - 4
Dark Star, Marble, Oakham, Magic Rock - 3
Salopian, Thornbridge, Red Willow, Hawkshead, East London Brewery, Twickenham, Buxton, Dorking, Saltaire - 2

A cracking year for good beer.

[Spinko]

I think I'll go with Kirkstall Pale Ale. it was a definite mainstay of the first half of the year while I was in Leeds with it being a permanent in North Bar and a regular in The Grove.

I've not found a similar go-to beer in Manchester while I've been back. Marble are always a great brewery in the nearby, and I've had some fantastic beers in Port St whose strength generally means I forget them or whose price means I only have them once!

There's still a good number of old-style brewers like Hydes, Lees and Holt's hanging on over here, which means ale pubs for me tend to be a bit more difficult to really enjoy. That's unlike in Leeds where most local brewers had a very good pale ale, to which you can refer to Aleandhearty's list but also include Ridgeside and York Brewery.

[Bucking Fastard]

I too like Aqualung's idea of picking out some top brewers for the year,invariably if I see a brew from the following I will give it a go.

My top 10 for 2012 (in alphabetic order)

Bathams
Blue Monkey
Dark Star
Great Heck
Magic Rock
Marble
Oakham
Red Squirrel
Ridgeside
Titanic

These boys also seem capable of brewing excellent ale across different styles.Hope to find some other top brewers in 2013.

[oldboots]

Being fortunate enough to live in God's own county my lists echo those of Ale & Hearty and to some extent Spinko.

for the breweries that always delight me,

Acorn - for Old Moor Porter especially and the fine traditional Barnsley Bitter
Collingham - a new brewery that has got off to a flying start with Journeyman
Ilkley - who else can pack so much into a 3.5% beer?
Kirkstall - unbeatable form in 2012, Three Swords, Black Band, Dissolution and the majestic Accomplice
Knaresborough - the newest, smallest and most radical brewery in Yorkshire
Magic Rock - goto brewers for your hoppy requirements
Mallinsons - can these girls make a less than brilliant beer?
Oakham - their reputation is so good no comment is necessary.
Roosters - getting better and better since the Fozard's took over


The Accomplice was a superb beer but I think Kirkstall Dissolution IPA just has the edge as my BOTY.