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Golden Pints 2016

2016 was an odd one. I don’t just mean politically, historically, environmentally - I mean on a personal, more human level, down in the trenches where I can be found crawling around. It was touched by grief and by joy - a bereavement and finding out I was going to be a dad, respectively - and besides those things, everything else seemed slightly greyed out in comparison, like the softly-blurred middle distance of a photograph, focused on something else.

Blogging took a back seat, unfortunately, as the slowly diminishing archives of BAPD shows - even if the drinking didn’t, what with it being there to comfort you in the down times and toast you in the good. In fact, I can say without a doubt that 2016 was my best drinking year ever - for quality, for diversity, maybe even for volume, though maybe not that, since I was a student once. Quite literally, from the moment the clocks chimed midnight and ushered 2016 into being, I have been drinking good beer - I started with Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout 2015, and the as final vengeful seconds of 2016 ticked away, I was sipping a Trappistes Rochefort 10. The pace and the pleasure rarely let up. Hopefully that been reflected in the blog, even if not as regularly as I would have liked.

The accepted way to celebrate the year in beer on the internet is in the form of Golden Pints - a kind of communal awards, shouting out all the things you loved most from the past 12 months. Having gone right over the year end, just in case anything was going to sneak in under the wire, here are my prize winners, in whatever categories I feel like recognising:

Beer of the Year - Cloudwater DIPA V10

It feels like Cloudwater’s evolving DIPA series has become almost emblematic of UK craft beer and the culture surrounding it - a high ABV your dad would wince at, scarcity in the select bottle shops it turns up in, and a series of eye-catching designs meaning the bottles are as satisfying to look at as they are to open. But despite its cultural dominance, it’s barely been 12 months since the first iteration appeared and made everyone lose their collective shit. Now on a monthly schedule, and harnessing the accumulated experience of nine past iterations, December’s DIPA V10 saw the addition of alchemical hop powders and oats to the grist, for their most billowingly fruity effort yet. DIPA defined the year. Bring on the cans.

Brewery of the Year - Brew by Numbers

It feels almost impossible to pick a brewery of the year when there were so many good breweries making great beer this year - the aforementioned Cloudwater, Magic Rock and Siren all made strong showings - but ultimately I picked Brew by Numbers because I couldn’t think of another brewery making such strides with such diverse styles as they have this year. From barrel-aged imperial stouts to semi-legendary saisons, via hazy pale ales and sticky IPAs, there isn’t a dice roll of digits that hasn’t worked for them.

Venue of the Year - waterintobeer

Sometimes, you just get lucky. This year, my sleepy corner of south east London discovered, in the space of a few days, that it was getting two bottle shops. Both turned out to be excellent, and I maintain Salthouse Bottles may be the most pleasingly laid out shop in the capital. But waterintobeer has a special place in my heart, thanks to a) having seats allowing you to sit in and drink b) playing excellent records and introducing me to bands like Martha. It’s a home away from home already.

Location of the Year - Brussels

I’m almost embarrassed (humblebrag!) by the number of places I went this year where beer was a centrepiece of the trip. I did a cask ale crawl round the charming pubs of Derby. I drank my way through the dankest offerings Brooklyn’s Other Half had to offer. I crushed cans of Jai Alai in the Florida sun, and crammed in as many bars as Manchester and Leeds had to offer. All of these are worthy beer trips to make, but nothing else quite matched up to my first trip to Belgium. After a bad teenaged run in with a bottle of Leffe, I’d never truly come to appreciate Belgian beer, but a weekend in Bruges and Brussels soon changed that. Sitting in the sunny yard of a puppet theatre drinking Westvleteren XII was close to a religious experience.

Writers of the Year - Matthew Curtis / Will Gordon

Whether on his own site, Total Ales, or doing beautifully illustrated stories for Good Beer Hunting, I’ve loved reading Matthew Curtis’ work this year. He writes with passion and precision, and an uncommon clarity about the broader industry that always makes me pause to consider the bigger picture. Meanwhile, Will Gordon remains the chief inspiration for me bothering to tell other people what I like to drink, with a voice that combines humour and insight in equal doses. I hope they both keep up the good work.

Moment of the Year - The British Guild of Beer Writers Annual Awards

This is shamelessly self-obsessed, but after two years of writing a blog read by a small circle of family and friends (usually during their toilet breaks, I’d imagine), being named runner up in the Best Young Beer Writer category at the British Guild of Beer Writer Awards was overwhelming. On top of that, it was a cracking evening, with friendly, welcoming company, (especially the team at Hall & Woodhouse who kindly hosted me), top notch food and plenty of beer. It showed me, as much as anything else, that the world of beer is a good place to be, whatever year it is.

#beer #craft beer #writing #review #goldenpints #golden pints #Matthew Curtis #Will Gordon #Good Beer Hunting #Jai Alai #Other Half #Westvleteren #Bruges #Brussels #Belgoum #cloudwater #waterintobeer #brew by numbers

Golden Pints 2015

I figured I’d go through this Golden Pint process, if only as a little bookmark about my first year (or 8 months) in Britain.

What it’s reminded me is just how many great people and lovely beers I’ve come across this year. From the whirlwind trip in February, for Craft Beer Rising and the various launch events for the NZ Beer Collective, to the long term move here in April... first to London and now digging in for winter in Kent.

So many breweries visited, a few we’ve brewed with, and so many good beers drunk and laughs had. It’s been an incredibly tough year for myself and my family, moving across the world with three kids and a dog isn’t easy... and British bureaucracy certainly doesn’t make it any easier!

I’ve maintained (since before I even arrived here) that UK, and to a lesser degree Europe, is going to be the place to be for beer lovers in the next ten years. It’s got a fantastic traditional beer scene and all of the right ingredients for a fantastic new wave scene. It has only just begun... I’m excited to be here and to be a part of it.

Anyhow... without further ado, here’s my Golden Pints for 2015. Thanks for having me!

Cheers, Stu.

Best UK Cask Beer

You know those pints where you don't even want to pause between mouthfuls? Where you get so lost, in how drinkable it is, that you almost wish you were alone. And, possibly, naked… That was my pint of Moor Amoor at The Curfew Micropub in Berwick North. An absolute classic and a great travesty that I've not seen it again on my travels this year. What's wrong with you Britain? Where are all the dark milds, porters and stouts?

Special mention to Fuller's Black Cab Stout, which is another delicious dark beer I'd like to see a lot more of on draught around the country. It’s fine in keg and bottle but it’s a classic from the cask.

Best UK Keg Beer

Given the riches of keg beer in New Zealand, I’ve drink a lot more cask than keg… But Camden’s Gentleman Wit is a lovely drop that occasionally feeds my bergamot addiction. I cannot wait to see what Alex Troncoso and the team at Lost and Grounded do in 2016.

Best UK Bottled Beer

Beer geeks are so past it but Brewdog Punk IPA, for me, is still the leader of the pack. We're having a couple of our beers made at Brewdog (and possibly two more next year) so I have made it a habit of picking up random bottles on shelves as I've made my way around the country. Quality assurance, you see. I always buy an American-brewed pale ale or India pale ale at the same time... In comparison to the import, Punk has a 100% success rate (and nothing else has come close).

Special mention to everything from Burning Sky. They’re going to make some waves when they get their new canning bottling machine cranking this coming year.

Best UK Canned Beer

All the Moor. Without a shadow of a doubt the most consistent cans in UK right now. Everything I've had from them has been very good, whereas others can be great one week and terrible the next (even from the same batch). This will change as the mobile canners get better at their game and the bigger breweries move to much better canning machines. I’m all for cans, just like I am for screwcap wine. Let’s all go there and get better at it.

Special mention to Rooster’s Baby-Faced Assassin, which is probably my favourite UK brewed IPA on its day. And to Magic Rock Salty Kiss, a latecomer that nails how I like my sours (drinkable every day!)

Best Overseas Draught

I had the pleasure of traveling through Hong Kong, Portland, Stockholm and all over New Zealand this year. There’s been too many excellent beers to single out one… we’ve come a long long way in regards to general availability and consistency of quality. In my time in UK, and at risk of sounding a little nepotistic, I’d have to go with Tuatara Sauvinova – a beer I predict will do big things in the UK market in 2016.

Best Overseas Bottled Beer

Again it is hard to pick a single one. I've drunk British brewed beer 99% of the time since arriving here in April. I virtually drunk draught only on all my other travels.

So I’ll go with Mongozo Coconut on the train back from a lovely day with Brewsters in Grantham. Sometimes a beer transcends what’s in the bottle and you seriously had to be there to experience my personal Mongozo Moment. Ask Jayne Peyton about it sometime.

Best Overseas Canned Beer

Firestone Walker Union Jack. My favourite west coast brewery and a regular train beer for me whenever I get the chance. Quality.

Best collaboration brew

I’m not sure if I even drunk one this year and it’s very rare that I love them.

But I was involved in a few and every one of those has been a great experience. And the next one will be too… I like hanging out with good beer people and having fun. And I love the fact that we can muck around and then blame each other if it goes horribly wrong.

I even enjoyed the Collaboration with Lompoc Brewing, Portland, even though I spent half the day in hospital with two broken arms. At least I carried the hops there with those broken arms... True story!

Best Overall Beer

As you can probably tell, I like to choose every day beers and breweries for these kinds of things. I like a Geueze and an imperial stout, as much as the next beer lover does, but I’m an every day beer drinker and I wish I could drink Burning Sky Saison À La Provision all day every day.

Best Branding

Garage Project. Setting the standard worldwide. Nice beer too. And lovely fellas to boot.

Best Pump Clip

I prefer a good blackboard, where giant pump clips and oversized phallic tap handles don’t get in between me and my favourite barkeeps. The Pint Shop in Cambridge have a lovely one. And I’m quite fond of the more rustic look at The Hanging Bat, too.

Best Bottle Label

We won a gold medal for our range at the Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards. I was pretty happy about that and it went a long way to helping me forget about the people who kept banging on about how our old ones were better.

If I have to choose.. I’m pretty fond of the whole range but Mikkeller’s Spontan series were lovely.

Best UK Brewery

Fullers. I got into brewing by homebrewing NZ hopped real ale. I even had three beer engines running off my kitchen bench on a good day. To now be able to walk into classic pubs like The Harp, The Dove, The Star and drink a great pint of Pride or ESB is an absolute treat. I always manage to sneak in a pint at The Parcel Yard when I travel out of King’s Cross. It’s the only time you can guarantee I’ll be early for an appointment.

Special mentions to some other favourites from this first 8 months in Britain… Burning Sky who are already making incredible beers; The Kernel for having the nicest feel of any brewery I’ve ever been into; Wild Beer for making the most interesting beer in the country; Thornbridge who continue to make some of the best “left off centre” beers in the country; Brewdog for opening so many minds and doors, for taking things to the next level and for putting out better beer every year. And to all the UK brewers who have welcomed us New Zealanders into the fray.

Best Overseas Brewery

Every year, always: Logsdon Farmhouse Ales. Thankfully, this year, I found someone who appreciates them as much as me.

I’m a big fan of Jolly Pumpkin too, as anyone who caught up with me at GBBF could probably tell. The USA bar couldn’t get rid of me until the last Oro de Calabaza fell.

Best New Brewery Opening 2015

Excuse the beer lab joke but this one is TNTC.

I love beer. And I love beer people. And I love it when my friends become successful... so keep on opening breweries. There's plenty of room in the pool. Not for another dozen Brewdogs or Camdens, or possibly even Beavertowns, but we can double the amount of breweries if we keep chipping away at the market share controlled by the industrial brewers. And making really good beer that keeps people drinking it.

Pub/Bar of the Year

So many good ones discovered all over the country this year... from The Curfew in Berwick upon Tweed to The Vaults in Devizes. But I'll go with The Harp, Covent Garden. Almost as good as my local to me, given I train in and out of Charing Cross a couple of times a week.

Special mention to my London locals over the summer… Brewdog, Clapham Junction and Craft Beer Co, Clapham North.

Also to the Penthouse at NZ House. Serving great NZ Beer Collective beers and with possibly the best view in London.

Best New Pub/Bar Opening 2015

New pubs? I've got no idea whether some of these pubs are 300 years old or 100 days old...

Beer Festival of the Year

Leeds International Beer Festival. Relaxed. Amazing brewery and beer selection. Great food. Fantastic people on both sides of the bars. And, what we all want in any beer festival, it was BUSY. Up there with the best festivals downunder.

Special mention to Oregon Brewers Fest, which goes a step further than any festival I’ve ever seen… free entry, bring your own food, bring the family and then the beers and food stalls have to stand up on their own. It’s a sign of just how far ahead of us all USA is (and it’s really very little to do with beer quality).

And Indy Man, of course...

Supermarket of the Year

Booths ... simply due to the fact that they stock our beer because they like it and it sells well. Importantly, the know people will pay good money for good beer so they don’t ask for us to make a loss on it!

Special mention to Marks & Spencer because I've caught so many trains this year and I can always get a fix of my beloved Adnams at any one of them. And to Odd Bins, a kind of mini-supermarket for booze.

Independent Retailer of the Year

We launched our NZ Beer Collective with Hop Burns & Black way back in February and I fell for the place from the moment I first stepped in the door. I love it when the line between a beer shop and bar is blurred... and it's even better when you throw in great hot sauce and music (possibly my favourite thing beside beer). They’re so very much a part of the community, which gives them an extra gold tick in my book.

Online Retailer of the Year

I don’t know many of the players here yet but I’m impressed with Honest Brew. This is going to be a fantastic space to watch evolve over the next couple of years and the team at Honest Brew are setting a pretty high standard.

Best Beer Book or Magazine

I like the look of where Original Gravity is headed, so they get the special mention, but I do also love a thing of beauty… and that’s why Hops & Barley takes the top spot. Less content but more likely to make me fall in love with beer, if I wasn’t head over heels already.

Best Beer Blog or Website

I’ve not read a lot of UK stuff since arriving, not nearly as much as I would like to have, but that just gives me a chance to introduce you to The Bottleneck. And Beer Diary. Two of New Zealand’s best beer blogs though, unfortunately, day/night jobs get in the way neither write as much as I wish they would. Write more, please!

Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer Twitterer

No doubt about it, there’s only two in this game and @twattybeerdoodles pips @brouwervanklomp… because a picture says a thousand words (which means, as good as Van Klomp is, a doodle will always beat 140 characters).

Best Brewery Website/Social media

I seriously think I’ve only looked at www.cloudwaterbrew.co (thanks to @totalcurtis retweeting this seriously good (and almost prophetic) blog by Paul... he’s well worth reading and listening to when he gets going. And, like the bloggers above, I wish he’d write more).

See also: My Golden Pints 2012 and Golden Pints 2011. And a 2014 year in review, in lieu of Golden Pints (because my brain was too frazzled by business).

#golden pints #2015 #UK

The Golden Pints 2011 - Stu's picks

I was recently alerted to the "Golden Pints" awards - a series of beery 'Best of' lists and blogs by the UK beer blogging/tweeting community. James Kemp of Buxton Brewery (formerly at Thornbridge and Champion Homebrewer of NZ 2009) let me know about the Golden Pints after nominating Rex Attitude for 'Best Foreign beer' in

I'm not aware of any idea (or desire) for people to collate the results but they do make interesting reading and are a good source of conjecture... something most beer geeks seem more than happy to participate in. It's a great way to catch little snippets of what people enjoy in their region.

I thought it might be nice to kick off a New Zealand version of these awards so, without further ado (and subject to change over the next couple of weeks), here are my "Golden Pints for 2011"...

Best NZ Draught (Cask or Keg) Beer: Golden Ticket Emperor Strikes Black (with Emerson's Bird Dog Ale as runner up).

Best NZ Bottled or Canned Beer: Emerson's JP 2011 (with a one-year-old Epic Thornbridge Stout as the runner up).

Best Overseas Draught Beer: BrewDog Punk IPA (after Rex / Hud-a-wa' release tasting at Local Taphouse Darlinghurst - this was the first time BrewDog wowed me... and bow-wow-wow!!! The Brewdog bite finally lives up to the bark).

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer: Orkney Dark Island Reserve (from @slowbeer Melbourne in May, opened with my dad and Scottish-based brother the night after my mum's funeral - where, coincidentally, the piper played The Dark Island).

Best experimental beer: Garage Project People's Project No. 2 (Green-beaned Saison).

Best Overall Beer: Orkney Dark Island Reserve (such an easy choice... this beer was in a class of its own, just as Mikkeller Sauvignon was for me last year).

Best Pumpclip or Label: Hallertau's entire range... from their simple numbered 'Original four' to their more elaborate special vintage releases.

Best NZ Brewery: Liberty Brewing (nanobrewer extraordinairre, and the brewer who renewed my interest in IPA...).

Best Overseas Brewery: Coronado (these guys seem, to me, to be to US brewing what Emerson's are to NZ... exquisute, consistent and underrated amongst the beer geeks).

Best New Brewery: Cassels and Sons... plenty to choose from here, and many will feature in 2012 no doubt, but this is a lovely little brewpub in the emerging suburb of "Coolston" (formerly "Woolston"),

Pub/Bar of the Year: Little Beer Quarter, Wellington (great to have a craft beer pub back in the venue where Sam and I fell in truly love with craft beer)... so many runners up in our bright and burgeouning bar scene but I'll give the nod to Pomeroy's as runner up.

Bottlestore of the Year: Regional Wines and Spirits (the combination of all those fill-yer-owns and a well thought out bottle list).

Supermarket of the Year: New World Island Bay (well worth travelling to).

Best restaurant beer list: Ortega Fish Shack, with very honourable mentions to Logan Brown and Cafe Polo.

Online Retailer of the Year: Beerstore - great site with some excellent rare beers.

Best Beer Blog or Website: Phil Cook's Beer Diary - I'm thankful he doesn't blog more or I'd never get anything done.

Best Beer Twitterer: @epicbeerkel (a very entertaining and thoughtful blogger as well).

Best Online Brewery presence: almost all the NZ breweries via NZ Craft Beer TV

Best event of the Year: Good Beer Week, Melbourne - we could all learn a lot about the way Melbourne incorporated their bars, cafes and restaurants into a fantastic week of beer... well done @thecraftypint. The runner up goes to the BrewNZ Awards - it was very special for us to pick up the Morton Coutts Award for Rex Attitude and what a great occasion to see Soren Eriksen of 8 Wired win Champion Brewery after less than 2 years in the professional game! The power of passion.).

In 2012 I'd most like to... not run out of beer as much as we did in 2011! It has been a brilliant year for beer drinkers and I think 2012 will be even better.

Slainte math

Stu

#JustMigrated #awards #golden pints #mad props

The Golden Pints 2011 - Sam's picks

The Golden Pints 'downunder edition' are well and truly underway in 2011, with the multi-talented Kieran Haslett-Moore of Regional Wines and Spirits (and Capital Times) even picking us out for some props on his blog post.

Living in the craft beer desert that is our largest city, Sam's picks for the Golden Pints were never going to be quite as easy. But I think most will agree that he's done a very commendable job here... and Auckland's beer scene may well be on the rise in 2012. Next year things might not be so easy!

Best NZ Draught (Cask or Keg) Beer: Townshend Sutton Hoo (casks now being sent up to Galbraiths – and then this went on it was as perfect an example of a session ale as you get). Joint runners up: Emersons Brewers Reserve Tally Ho! / Golden Ticket Black Emperor NZ Edition

Best NZ Bottled or Canned Beer: Australis Romanov Baltic Stout (shared from Keith's secret stash – still amazing after 13 years). Runner up: 8 Wired Tall Poppy India Red Ale.

Best Overseas Draught Beer: Moon Dog Cock-sockin’ Ball-knockin’ Chipotle Stout (and passed through at Randall of smoked chipotle peppers at the St Kilda Local Taphouse – which took it to another level). Runner up: Ballast Point Sculpin IPA.

Best Overseas Bottled or Canned Beer: Stone Sublimely Self Righteous Ale

Best experimental beer: Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout (I don't know how they did it, but it was just like Crème Brulee in a glass)

Best Overall Beer: Moon Dog Cock-sockin’ Ball-knockin’ Chipotle Stout (I daydream about reliving that glass of beer often)

Best Pumpclip or Label: Hallertau Maximus/Minimus pump clips (I wanted them, until Steve told me how much they cost!)

Best NZ Brewery: 8 Wired – hard to argue with this year's Champion NZ Brewery Award

Best Overseas Brewery: Stone – sometimes maligned, but I have had some top beers of theirs this year

Best New Brewery: Garage Project – simply doing cool stuff

Pub/Bar of the Year: Brasserie 4:20, Rome (simply awesome – even if it kept me there until 4am when I had a flight at 7am that same morning). Auckland bars in general – because we've been waiting a while, and many are now going about building a good range of craft beer without the hooha.

Bottlestore of the Year: Mt Eden Village Winery (the team here seem to be forever rearranging the store to accommodate more craft beer)

Supermarket of the Year: Victoria Park New World – still the standout in Auckland.

Best restaurant beer list: Alas, Auckland restaurants still a little slow on the uptake. But Coco's Cantina is an early adopter with a couple of taps.

Online Retailer of the Year: www.beerstore.co.nz – offering the opportunity to taste so many beers that were just a dream for most Kiwi beer nerds a few years ago

Best Beer Blog or Website: I'm enjoying Alice's http://beerforayear.wordpress.com/. Humorous and an obvious love of good beer.

Best Beer Twitterer: @yeastieboys – ever since Stu removed my access to the account!

Best Online Brewery presence: Beervana – facebook profile on the ball with all the current NZ brewery news

Best event of the Year: Australian International Beer Awards night in Melbourne. After mixed (and that is me being polite) report from the previous year, this was a great night. The beer was good (as it should be), the food was great, and the company was terrific. Memorable sharing the table with Brian when the Craftsman Chocolate Oatmeal Stout picked up a trophy – and Brian taking 10 seconds to realise it had won and he had to go up to collect it.

In 2012 I'd most like to... Drink less Heineken (the downside of RWC corporate hospitality)