Golden Pints (Ireland) 2014

This year I've done a set of Golden pints just for Ireland because I want to highlight what a fantastic selection we have here. Indeed one of my top five rated brewers this year is Irish. Read on below for more:

I've had a busy year supping almost 200 Irish beers and Ciders in 2014. We've been truly spoilt with 25 new breweries opening in the last 12months alone, almost doubling the total on the island. This should continue apace in 2015 as there are already 16 breweries (that we* know of!) in the planning phases. I'll post a summary of these new openings in the next few days but for now, here's my "best of the best" for 2014.

Best Cask Beer: have only made it down to Dublin a few times but must The Barrelhead dry hopped pale ale certainly stands out in my memory. 
Best Keg Beer Blacks Kinsale Pale Ale was fantastically fresh at the brewery when we visited for our Beoir brewday in 2014. Honourable mention to the much applauded Galway Bay of Foam and Fury
 
Best Bottled Beer A last minute entry Beoir Chorca Riasc Black is just everything you would want from a porter, with added blackberries to boot. Took me by surprise and one of my top overall beers (regardless of origin)Try it whilst its available! Eight degrees Double Irish was excellent, Irish Whiskey Aged Leann Follain s;lipped down far too smoothly. Far too many others to mention!
 
Best collaboration brew Eight Degrees/By The Horns Horn8's nest took the best elements of weisse and IPA to produce an excellent hop-forward hopfenweisse. Brown Paper Bag Project/ Fano Gose was also superb and one I hope will be rebrewed.
 
Best Overall Beer White Gypsy scarlet, the first proper sour in Ireland, refreshing, full of flavour and hopefully not a one off!
 

Best Branding, Pumpclip or Label McGargles (not)..not really sure, haven't been paying as much attention as to what's on the bottle as to what's in it though I'm a big fan of Trouble's bold simple motif, single colour new labels.
 
Best Brewery would have to be awarded to Eight Degrees, for a solid, hop forward and varied range of releases this year.
 
Best NI Brewery Pokertree continue to impress with Dark Nirvana being seriously impressive
 
Best New Brewery Opening 2014 Its been hard to keep track of them, thic and fast openings this year. I'll pick Mescan for their unsual but solid raft or Belgian inspired offerings.
 
Pub/Bar of the Year Norseman (nee Farringtons) for the excellent range of beers and providing a location for thirsty beer bloggers/ homebrew meets/ impromptu bottle shares. They also now have a taplist on their website, which helps we who are looking to sample new beers no end!
 

Best New Pub/Bar Opening 2014 57 The Headline has a proper backstreet local feel to it, lovely interior, solid range of beer and (I've heard) decent food.
 
Best beer and food pairing Franciscan Well Chieftan and Burger & Chips
 
Beer Festival of the Year Only been to the ICBCF which is obviously the best anyway  

Supermarket of the Year M&S has yet again proven itself with a great range of single hopped beers.
 
Independent/Online Retailer of the Year Drinkstore is the stalwart but was also impressed by selection, prices and speed of delivery from Bradleys of Cork
 


Best Beer Book or Magazine Slainte is an excellent guide to Irish breweries as at September 2014. I'm looking forward to more editions of BeoirMag too.
 
Best Brewery Website/Social media Brown Paper Bag Project for release events and excellent manning of the Twitter for questions answering.
 
Most Anticipated Brewery Opening 2015. Jointly between Belfast Brewing and Boundary Brewing...The North is going to be very different beerwise this time next year!

*Beoir

MMXIII:Golden Pints

2013 has been a great year for beer. I've found myself buying fewer beers from overseas in favour of the extensive, generally fresher, often more inventive UK brewers. There's been plenty worth talking about, especially in bottled form (how I've done most of my drinking this year) but can't put everything in!  I've certainly had plenty of decent bevvys, brought to me by a bevy of brewers; so without further ado (and alliteration) here are my golden pints for 2013.*

Best UK Cask Beer 

 I've had plenty of excellent one of cask beers this year (Kernel Glengarioch barrel aged imperial brown stout anyone?) but for drinkability and one I've returned to many times this year its Dark Star Hophead. Most unusual was certainly Fyne & Wilds Cool as a Cucumber.

Best UK Keg Beer

Again, lots of super one-off beers (Summer Wine's rum barrel aged calico jack was superlatively good) but again, a session beer steals the crown..Magic Rock Simpleton is packed full of flavour for its 2.6% and dserves the crown.

  

 Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer

As in past years I've mostly been drinking bottled beers and the three that have wowed me most this year are Wild Beer's Ninkasi, Moor's Hoppiness and Marble's Decadence. Indeed, they're the only beers I've ever gone back for extra bottles of.

Best Overseas Draught Beer

Not really drunk many this year but Brooklyn's There Will be Black was a proper non-roasty bitter bruiser of a BIPA.

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer

Yeastie Boys Gunnamatta was fantastic at the start of the year on my honeymoon and Green Flash St Feullien's friendship brew black saison really pleased me as its exactly what I was looking for in a dark saison.

Best Collaboration Brew

I have a feeling my favourite will be on many people's lists but its a superb beer: Wild/ Burning Skies/ Good George Schnoodlepip. Its just wacky sounding but worked really well.

Best Overall Beer

Of all of those beers above it has to be Wild's Ninkasi that takes the Crown. I urge you to try it if you haven't already.

From Ohbeautifulbeer

Best Branding, Pumpclip or Label 

So many breweries have re-branded this year; so many new breweries have launched with fantastic logos and house styles that this category has become really difficult! My vote has to be for Partizan however for their similar but different individual labels.

Best UK Brewery

Buxton still take the crown for me here, with Colin continuing stronge-ly (sorry!) from where James left off. James' bretted and barrel aged Tsara's were superb and Buxton imperial black rocks still holds the crown as best BIPA for me. The new range of sours the team are brewing now are fab and I really look forward to visiting their new brewery tap some time soon.

Best Overseas Brewery

As mentioned I've not drunk as much overseas stuff this year, but Yeastie Boys really impressed this year when in NZ.

 

Best New Brewery Opening 2013

Again, plenty of contenders here. My top 3 in no particular order would have to be Partizan, Wild & Siren who have all produced fantastic beers and seem to have been around for a long time. 

Pub/Bar of the Year

The Hanging Bat in Edinburgh is a Fantastic showcase to British beers and well deserving of top spot. Staff that care, an easy to see beer list and a token system to al

Best Beer City

Bristol has really flourished in 2013 with 4 new beer bars and 2 refurbishments following hot on the heels of Brewdog in 2012. Bristol beer week was also a fantastic showcase for the local talent in established and up and coming breweries.

Supermarket of the Year

Whilst most supermarkets in Northern Ireland are dire for beer choice, M&S has really extended the range with their own label stuff and don't try to hide who brews it...which I applaud them for.

Independent Retailer of the Year

Beer Ritz are still excellent as is Bitter Virtue in Southampton but this year's nod goes to Drinkstore in Dublin who I also shop with online.

Online Retailer of the Year 

This is a dead heat between Ales By Mail (fantastic idea to do best of London Cases and have put up with me doing part-orders for merging all year) plus Alesela, a one stop shop for decent Scottish beer and random rarities from elsewhere. Drinkstore have been fantastic as usual helping me to get hold of plenty of Irish one-offs. Honourable mention to Brewdog for sorting out their online shop (alesbymail again! 20% discount helps too!).

Best Beer Book or Magazine

Another fantastic year for beer books but best magazine has to go to Hot Rum Cow. Not just beer but all kinds of drinks, its an unputdownable read from cover to cover. Best book definitely For The Love of Hops.

Best Beer Blog or Website 

Its still Boak & Bailey I find myself most enjoying, especially with their longer reads and historical tidbits this year. The Beer Cast **has also really developed this year with plenty of interesting articles and exclusives, I think it won't be long until Rich makes the transition to print...

Best Beer App 

I already did a post on this, don't have a top app but I use ratebeer the most.

Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer Twitterer

I've had less time for twitter this year but the Craft Wankers are always entertaining and certainly deserving of the irreverence and joviality associated with this award. Rob @beerlens also deserves mention for his kind donation of early issues of Hot Rum Cow. Of course I concur that this should go to Simon in its first year.

Best Brewery Website/Social media 

Wiper & True's website is simply designed but packed full of information and easy to navigate. Top marks!  

   

Check Pencil & Spoon or Beer Reviews over the next few days for a summary post of everyone's nominations...who will be crowned brewery of the year?

*as usual I'm writing these at the start of December so as not to be swayed by other people's opinions...but I reserve the right to make changes in light of any decent discoveries in December!

Edit 6/12/13 **Turns out I'm not the only one who enjoys Rich's blog as he has just won a gold tankard for writing in online media...great job!

2012: Beery Roundup

Its golden pints time of year again and as I'm away on honeymoon at the end of the year; I'd better get this typed up now (10th December). As with last year I'll use my rate beer notes plus stuff on this blog to jog my memory, but its not scientific in any way, just things that have made an impression on me.

Best UK Cask Beer

Bristol Beer Factory/ Dark Star Southern Cospiracy


Best UK Keg Beer
Wild Beer Co Epic Saison

Best UK Bottled or Canned Beer

Buxton Imperial Black

bristol beer factory mocha

Best Overseas Draught Beer

Nøgne Ø Imperial Brown Ale

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer

Stone Sublimey Self Righteous

New Glarus Raspberry Tart

Best Overall Beer

Buxton Imperial Black

  

Best Pumpclip or Label

Brewdog International Arms Race

Best UK Brewery

Buxton

Best Overseas Brewery

Stone

Pub/Bar of the Year

York Tap (again!)

Beer Festival of the Year

dublin craft beer fest

Supermarket of the Year

N/A

Independent Retailer of the Year

House of Trembling Madness

Online Retailer of the Year

Drinkstore 

Best Beer Book or Magazine

Shakespeare's Local 

Best Beer Blog or Website

Boak & Bailey

Best Beer Twitterer

Phil Hardy @Filrd

Best Online Brewery Presence

  Magic Rock

Food and Beer Pairing of the Year 

 Lindemans Cuvee Rene Gueuze and Ceviche

In 2012 I’d most like to...

Get back to Belgium


Cheese and beer Pairing of the Year
Marble Saison Special and Stinking Bishop

Breweries of 2011 (as voted by Bloggers)

The deadline for Golden Pints nominations has passed and the Beer Monkey (Hannah) has gone through the painstaking task of compiling the results (thanks!). You can find them here. There aren't many surprises, though thought I'd take a closer look at breweries of the year. (NB only top placed breweries are mentioned)

Kernel 11 votes 

Magic Rock 7 votes 

Summer Wine 7 votes 

Buxton 3 votes 

Fullers 2 Votes 

Marble 2 Votes 

Hawkshead 2 votes 

Adnams 2 votes 

Thornbridge 1 vote 

Otley 1 Vote 

Red Willow 1 Vote 

Dark Star 1 Vote 

Grain Brewery 1 Vote 

Fyne Ales 1 Vote 

Its telling that the top four breweries are of the new breed of hop-forward brewers, with very few traditional breweries making the list at all, with the notable(and deserved) exceptions of Fuller's and Adnam's who have developed some interesting beers in recent years earning their place on the list. Kernel won British Guild of Beer Writers Brewer of the year this year and it seems that there will be no slow down in 2012. Promotion of beer via Twitter has seen both summer wine and magic rock reach a wider audience than perhaps they would have through traditional channels.  I've heard of all bar Grain brewery (now following) and with the exception of Red Willow tried a number of the beers. Plenty for 2012 still though!

I can't help but think there must be some excellent breweries that have slipped through the cracks. If you think there are others we should look out for then say so below!