CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain 2012

[oldboots]

Do you know how many ales were initially sampled before being whittled down to this awards list ? Does a brewery have to submit an ale to CAMRA for it to be part of this process,or can any CAMRA member suggest an ale which will then be judged ? Are there breweries who do not want to be part of this awards process ?

The voting system changed this year. All members of CAMRA were invited by an article on the front page of the January edition of What's Brewing to vote on line for their favourite beers, you could vote for up to five beers in each of the categories from a list of beers brewed in your region (Yorkshire & North East in my case). There were some options for those who "don't do computers" to have a vote.

I can't find out all the details about how the regional lists were assembled, ours is seven sides of A4 long but doesn't include every beer (just most of them). I think CAMRA's Brewery Liasion Officers had the biggest say in what beers were eligible under the rules and there was no scope for member nominations off list.

Mallinsons isn't on the 2012 regional list, but Magic Rock had a number of beers listed and I'm very surprised Curious or Cannonball aren't among the winners. Mallinsons probably could have been on it but may have fallen foul of the rules, the beers need to have been available for 3 months or more every year and the brewery must supply the OG rather than ABV to be eligible (I have no idea why the OG is required, it's supposedly something to do with how they are put into categories). Newer breweries were also excluded as the qualifying date was 1st October 2011.

After all members had their say, I believe the winners went to a regional panel who whittled it down then it was whittled down again on a national basis ending up at the GBBF final selection. The winter CBOB is slightly different as the winner is finally picked at the Winter Ales festival.

I think Hardknott have some beef with CAMRA and someone else refused to supply to the GBBF one year in a fit of pique at not being shortlisted for CBOB (NOT Brewdog!) other than that I think brewers like to be considered for awards.

[Spinko]

The voting system changed this year. All members of CAMRA were invited by an article on the front page of the January edition of What's Brewing to vote on line for their favourite beers, you could vote for up to five beers in each of the categories from a list of beers brewed in your region (Yorkshire & North East in my case). There were some options for those who "don't do computers" to have a vote.

I can't find out all the details about how the regional lists were assembled, ours is seven sides of A4 long but doesn't include every beer (just most of them). I think CAMRA's Brewery Liasion Officers had the biggest say in what beers were eligible under the rules and there was no scope for member nominations off list.

Mallinsons isn't on the 2012 regional list, but Magic Rock had a number of beers listed and I'm very surprised Curious or Cannonball aren't among the winners. Mallinsons probably could have been on it but may have fallen foul of the rules, the beers need to have been available for 3 months or more every year and the brewery must supply the OG rather than ABV to be eligible (I have no idea why the OG is required, it's supposedly something to do with how they are put into categories). Newer breweries were also excluded as the qualifying date was 1st October 2011.

After all members had their say, I believe the winners went to a regional panel who whittled it down then it was whittled down again on a national basis ending up at the GBBF final selection. The winter CBOB is slightly different as the winner is finally picked at the Winter Ales festival.

I think Hardknott have some beef with CAMRA and someone else refused to supply to the GBBF one year in a fit of pique at not being shortlisted for CBOB (NOT Brewdog!) other than that I think brewers like to be considered for awards.

It would be interesting to see the original poll and then the "CAMRA-sanitised" one to see which beers their cliques don't like. I expect a large number of paler beers were excluded.

[Bucking Fastard]

Thanks oldboots for the very detailed answer.I will attempt to vote on line for some beers brewed in my region next year,shame I can't register a vote for some of the great beers I have consumed that are brewed outside of my" home"region.

[Bucking Fastard]

It would be interesting to see the original poll and then the "CAMRA-sanitised" one to see which beers their cliques don't like. I expect a large number of paler beers were excluded.

You would think in these days of databases and spreadsheets ,it would be possible for the whole whittling process as described by oldboots to be totally transparent.I suspect that a motion on total transparency would have to be tabled at the CAMRA AGM and be voted on by the membership.From my point of view an "open " process would lead to much greater credibility for the awards,although it may expose the judging decisions to a lot of debate from the general membership.

[aleandhearty]

Worthington White Shield in the bottled category is interesting, don't see it much these days.

Always on sale in my local Booths supermarket

Saw it in Morrisons, this lunchtime. Knocking it out at £2.09 a pop.

[Aqualung]

I'm not surprised to find that there are so few beers in this list that I haven't tried given the micro explosion in recent years. This competition has been going since long before brewery web sites, social media and the micro explosion. Given all these factors I find it hard to see how it is ever going to please all of the people all of the time. There was a big outcry years ago when GK IPA won the award, but to be fair if it's kept really well then there's nothing wrong with it. The same goes for London Pride. They are "boring" because so many pubs seem to stock them.

Personally I would like to see a beer from my local brewer Brodies in there, but to be honest they brew so many different beers I would have trouble deciding which one to nominate!

[sheffield hatter]

I expect a large number of paler beers were excluded.

They'd rightly be excluded from such categories as MILD , but when the champion bitter, Purple Moose Snowdonia Ale can be described as "a golden hoppy ale, with a refreshing bite, easy drinking with a strength of 3.6% abv and a bitter aftertaste" and the overall bronze is Dark Star APA, I think your conspiracy theory is groundless.

[Mobyduck]

They'd rightly be excluded from such categories as MILD , but when the champion bitter, Purple Moose Snowdonia Ale can be described as "a golden hoppy ale, with a refreshing bite, easy drinking with a strength of 3.6% abv and a bitter aftertaste" and the overall bronze is Dark Star APA, I think your conspiracy theory is groundless.

Sadly not a beer Iv'e had the pleasure of trying, but if the description is correct why was it not in the golden ales category as opposed to the bitter category?

[Andy Ven]

I think there's an agenda to promote / save certain beer styles.

A mild has won it for the previous couple of years (although last year's overall winner, Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde Mild, oddly doesn't even make it into the top 3 milds this year) and now a barley wine has won it.

Whether it's GBG entries or beers, CAMRA voting is political and not as open as I would like it to be.

BTW: Purple Moose Brewery's Dark Side of the Moose was fab on my recent visit to Snowdonia and I look forward to finding it locally, either from a cask or in bottles.

[Oggwyn Trench]

Sadly not a beer Iv'e had the pleasure of trying, but if the description is correct why was it not in the golden ales category as opposed to the bitter category?

The two Salopian beers in the bitter and best bitter catogries are both Golden ales as well , the Hop Twister is a very similar beer to the Hobsons Town Crier which got Bronze in the Golden Ale class , and Shropshire Gold , well the clues in the name

Purple Moose is available round here on a regular basis and is bloody lovely , one of my favorite breweries