I am not a beer blogger and I am an incredibly infrequent homebrew blogger so I'm cheating somewhat but since this has been a transitional year I thought I'd stick my oar in and sum up my year o' beer.
Best UK Draught Beer
The beer that I will always order if I see it on tap: Thornbridge Halcyon. I tried to brew a clone of it and didn't even come close - for me, it's the best beer I've tasted and characterises my love of Thornbridge. A Double IPA which doesn't tow the malt heavy / hops heavy line and instead lets the malt lift the beautiful hop flavour and aroma upwards. Fresh it's fantastic and with a bit of age it's really good.
Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer
When Brewdog starting selling Hardcore in Tescos I went crazy and bought maybe 12 or so bottles and then forgot about them. After a year and a bit of age Hardcore is an incredible barley wine with a great balance of bitterness and malt flavours, it's even slightly better than when it's fresh for me. Having said that I'd be an idiot to to say Fuller's Vintage Ale as the bottled beer that I look forward to the most and gives me the most enjoyment. This year I've worked through fresh and old versions and it always delivers and I love the wee booklet that tells you the malts and hops they've used.
Best Overseas Draught Beer
I spent 3 months in the US this year so I'm a little spoilt for choice: Pliny, Supplication, 120 Minute, Evil Twin, Racer 5? But for me, what impressed about the US was not the freshness or the IPAs on tap but the incredible range of beer styles that were available anywhere you went. Stopping in a random pizza place in the UK will probably lead to a Peroni or maybe some other lager options. In California, my accompaniment to an average pizza was a glass of Lost Abbey Saison. My vote goes for Bear Republic Tartere. Don't get Racer 5, think it's a well below average IPA but this Berliner Weisse (a style which seems to be very popular in the US at the moment, had loads of great examples) was really fantastic and super sour. Awesome
Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer
Again, I tried as much as my liver could take and, again, it was incredible how easily available beer was. I saw more Mikkeller and Evil Twin than I've seen in the UK for sale in Whole Foods. But one beer was just so good: Firestone Walker Double Jack. The best Double IPA I have ever tasted and so far ahead of anything else. As my good friend Matt said after I brought a bottle back with me: Everything tastes like swill now. Massive malt and hop flavours and for once a genuinely punishing bitterness - the first time I tried it it was like getting punched in the face and it was good.
Best Overall Beer
Overall, the beers I've drunk the most of are Halcyon and Chiron but I think my overall beer for this year has to be Thornbridge Bracia. Again it's Thornbridge's skill at building beers that lie outside of style boundaries that are just so good. It's just stunning, fresh or with a little bit of aged. I tried some of the first batch this year, some of the new versions and a some of the 2010 - each was an incredible experience - send some to CA please!
Best Pumpclip or Label
I would vote for that awful Pumpclip Parade beer that everyone fawned over at EBBC, the same place where everyone chugged down Top Totty but I won't. Instead I'll vote for Ilkley's new style pumpclips - they're nice and clear and look appealing. For beer labels any of Johanna Basford's ones for Brewdog - the Old World Russian Imperial Stout is particularly good.
Best UK Brewery
Thornbridge. No question - when the Hallamshire House opened I thought I would spend a small amount of time in there due to their Thornbridge only policy. It's now pretty much my local, nothing finer then ending a week with a top notch Jaipur, or Raven.
Best Overseas Brewery
Out of the bottles I tried in the US I was really impressed with Heretic's bottles: Tartuffe (Berliner Weisse again), Evil Cousin and Worry were all really great beers and Evil Twin on draught was a good beer.
Pub/Bar of the Year
In the US there was only one for me: City Beer Store in SF (though the Trappist in Oakland was a close second). A beautiful small bar with about 10 taps, each well chosen and rotated regularly. Love that place - the attention to detail is spot on, I loved the way the barman (with a fantastic two tone beard) would inspect the glass to check it's clean before pouring. Great place. The Trappist was notable for having two bars - front and back (with different beers) and a *daily* menu. Every day, a new menu was printed making choosing beers a doddle. Great place.
In the UK - DaDa is my favourite bar in the city now, great selection of beers, good bottles, staff are great and the decor is fantastic. The new nights they're putting on are fantastic too. Really nice bar.
Beer Festival of the Year
Only went to the Sheffield Beer Festival this year so I'll vote for that. It was good and one beer was so full of Lacto Bactus it was incredible. To be fair the beers were okay but the company was good and I laughed more there than I would down the pub. I'm not a big beer festival person to be honest, it's never been a great experience for me.
Supermarket of the Year
I'm going to cheat and say Whole Foods. In Whole Foods you can buy 1000 IBU, Double Jack or a Growler of a local brewers beer. Bonkers.
Independent Retailer of the Year
The Dram Shop, Sheffield. Been going here for years but in the last year or two, the range has expanded and it's become a place where a visit every two weeks or so, always turns up some new and interesting stuff.
Online Retailer of the Year
Haven't bought a beer online this year (see above).
Best Beer Book or Magazine
I read Brew Your Own and Zymurgy. The latter slightly edges the former for me, though the former has a better iPad presence. Zymurgy is good though, the articles are interesting and the recipes are great.
Best Beer Blog or Website
Michael Tonsmiere's Mad Fermentationist blog is a really great resource for homebrewers interested in going outside the box every now and then. I brewed his hoppy Saison recipe and it's one of the best beers I've made (despite it naturally being somewhat 'lively'). Also the story behind the beers for Modern Times has been one of the best adverts for the "craft" in craft beer that I've read.
Best Beer Twitterer
Simon Johnson. Of course. I still have a box of beer for you sir.
Best Online Brewery Presence
Magic Rock. The website is good, the blog is interesting (though could do with a bit more frequency) and I love the webcam idea. I'm not a huge fan of the beers but I don't see them often enough to give them a fair rating.
Food and Beer Pairing of the Year
It was a few years ago to be honest but Nanny State with a curry was one of the few times I felt that both the beer and the food were working together. This year, I've not really been that bothered about pairing food and beer, it seems to be an art with a fair amount of hokum involved.
In 2013 I’d most like to...
Brew less but more often. My experience of tipping away 30 bottles of a levitation clone that wasn't bad but wasn't worth keeping or sharing has told me that 5G batches are too much - I want to stick with a lower brew length but do more experiments. I would also like to brew a good sour - my experiments here so far have been great but a little too proper craft for my liking.
Open category – you decide the topic
1. Top disappointment of the year
Drinking through my set of beers that I decided to cellar over the course of a day with some good food and good company. So many promising beers that had aged really badly (see below)
2. The #propercraft countdown
Ahh proper craft - the tales of chucking things together, shouting loudly about things and over charging for mediocre beer:
5. Summer Wine - Barrel Aged Kopi Beer
Why there is a trend for Kopi beers I don't know - it may be the best coffee in the world but putting in a a beer is a little like having caviar with Fish and Chips in my mind. But this Barrel aged version coming in at 10 quid for a 330ml bottle tasted like any average stout that had sat in a whisky barrel for far too long. Such is my love of craft though I really want to try the base beer, and the other aged one. Just to check.
4. London Breweries 'Keg' beer
I can't find the link that went round but this was a great example of craft: Brewing a regular beer then adding back some malted grain into secondary, mixing it with various things and chucking it all in a keg. Taste was described as a little "Belgian".
3. What the Hell is Craft Beer
Enjoyable discussion at Indy BeerCon. Despite all his chest thumping I think James Watt was the only person really nailing it. A craft brewery is any brewery in the UK producing less than a million barrels. So, basically, every brewery is a craft one. Even Skinners, and Pin Up beers who's entire range could make the pumpclip parade. Craft has now become a word that sets off alarm bells for me.
2. Abstrakt Range
I stopped buying this after the terrible 05 one which should never released and the "deconstructed stout" which tasted like swill. The only good one is the Black IPA which Brewdog are the only brewery to get right over here I think (I don't class Raven as a true Black IPA mind). As part of the above tasting we went through 03,04,07,08 all were pretty bad, some infected, some just nasty. For a series that's "designed for ageing" they're not ageing that well.
1. All My Homebrew.
Yep, if you've got one of my beers make sure you open it over the sink as it's liable to go everywhere. From the smoked marzen which I over carbonated to give it a bit of a kick to the miscreant bottles of my NZ Barley Wine which decorated the ceilings of people who were lucky to receive bottles. I've got the gush. Also my Garlic Spiced Beer Geek Breakfast clone which stank and tasted of death. My sour experiments never drop gravity points despite lengthy aging and I replaced the Crystal in my levitation clone with Fuggles which was pretty stupid and made it taste wrong. Overall I've been the living exponent of "chucking it in and seeing what happens" Also Skittlebrau - both versions. Lessons learned: don't put skittles in beer, it's rank.
3. Homebrews of the Year
3. Ian Cracknell's Black IPA
Homebrewed black IPAs are awesome and this was a straight up winner - good balance of hops, malts and roast.
2. Barl Fire's Simcoe PA
I love simcoe more than life itself so this was a total no brainer
1. Broadford Brewer's Belgians
I think there were two, both were spot on. Love the style and David knocked it out of the park - top stuff.
