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Golden Pints 2011

This is our contribution to The Golden Pints 2011, run by Beer Reviews and Mark Dredge.

Best UK Draught (Cask or Keg) Beer: Penzance Brewing Company Potion 9 (4%)
From our nearest brewery and, in fact, probably the last brewery in the country. (Everything down here claims to be the last, most southerly or most westerly one in the country.) Best consumed where it is brewed, at the Star Inn in Crowlas.

Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer: Fuller’s Past Masters XX Strong Ale (7.4%)
We liked the idea and liked the beer; and, as we’ve worked through a case, it’s slowly become one of our absolute favourites.

Best Overseas Draught Beer: none
We haven’t had a foreign draft beer which has really blown us away. They often seem a little stale by the time they reach the UK and (boo hoo) we haven’t been to Germany, the Czech Republic or Belgium this year.

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer: Westmalle Tripel
A new beer from an up-and-coming little brewery you might have heard of…

Best UK Brewery: Thornbridge
When we go into a strange pub and see a Thornbridge pumpclip, we get excited. Variety, consistent quality (at least in our experience) and style.

Pub/Bar of the Year: The Sheffield Tap
A great idea, great premises and great beer, and still going strong after a couple of years. We look forward to a Tap in every city. (Bristol next, please!)

Beer Festival of the Year: CAMRA Kernow, Falmouth
The only one we’ve been to this year. We had a great time.

Supermarket of the Year: Marks and Spencer
Their own range is varied and interesting and the quality keeps improving. Top marks for labelling, too.

Online Retailer of the Year: Beermerchants
We’ve found them reliable, friendly and they have the beer we want (Belgian, mostly) at the right price.

Best Beer Book or Magazine: CAMRA’s quarterly BEER Magazine
Where What’s Brewing is still the preserve of the man-in-blazer photograph and moldy old Keg Buster strip, BEER feels like a 21st century publication with an inclusive attitude and articles from many of our favourite beer writers.

Best Beer Blog or Website: it’s complicated
Any blog we’ve linked to in a post this year is one we like and/or find interesting. If pushed, though… The Beer Nut does make us laugh, and write beer reviews like nobody else.

11 replies on “Golden Pints 2011”

Aww, thanks!

Lest it look like pass-the-parcelism, you are up for a Golden Pint on the draft version my list. Though that’s not to say you’ll still be there by the time I finish and publish it, mind. Stay hungry.

Interesting choices there, not had anything from Penzance but I take it on recommendation.

Your beer fest winner reminded me to ask you if you’d managed to find any Coastal beers yet, their Kernow was brilliant?
What’s the connection?

Cheers

We did find some Coastal at the Star Inn. (Apart from the PZB beers, it’s also the best place around here to find interesting guest ales.) We loved it and will certainly be looking out for more.

Don’t quite understand your connection question…?

Coastal do a 9% stout (if I remember correctly) called Kernow.

In your post “Beer Festival of the Year: CAMRA Kernow, Falmouth” I had always assumed the name related to something russian because of the beer, hadn’t realised it was a Cornish place until I just googled it. Cheers

Ah, wondered if that was what you meant. Yeah, it’s “Cornwall” in Cornish. (Bonus fact: my school caretaker was called Mr Curnow — assume his family were Cornish way back.)

Concur with you on M&S, the standard for how own brand beers should be made/marketed. On your hope, the most magical of phrases appears on the Euston cider tap twitter feed, “Bristol Tap is on its way”, as a frequent user of Temple Meads, this is fantastic news 🙂

Did it!? We’re not following the Cider Tap feed (only so many taps we can follow…) so missed that. Great news. My little brother lives in Bristol and the worst bit of any trip to see him is sitting around at Temple Meads waiting for a delayed train with only the Wild Pumpkin Coffee Company (or whatever it’s called).

Nice round-up – and I totally agree about the gulf between WB and BEER. On a personal note guys, It’s great to see you back blogging and – if I may say so – your content in the last 6 months has been excellent. Have a great new year….!

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