Golden Pints 2015

Of course it should really be "Golden Cans" this year as 2015 has definitely been the year of the can (schooners are so 2014). My own can consumption must be well into single figures which I think shows my commitment to the can revolution. 

So on to the prizes:

1. Best UK Cask Beer: I have to admit this one surprises me but the beer that most blew me away was Black Sheep Bitter. Only 3.8% ABV too. Must be because I'm a lightweight nowadays. Honourable mention to another 3.8er: Thurstons Horsell Gold.
2. Best UK Keg Beer: Yes, definitely had some this year. Though I'm not sure if the pint of San Miguel I had when I saw New Model Army counts as UK. Actually being one myself I had a half of Southpaw from Gipsy Hill when I saw it and that's definitely British so that one.
3. Best UK Bottled Beer: I've mostly been drinking homebrew at home. It's so much cheaper that way. Number 93 was particularly pleasing, but I can't really have that as a winner. So far as bought stuff goes the Fuller's Vintage 2010 that rounded off the Christmas drinking was also particularly pleasing.
4. Best UK Canned Beer: I did buy a can this year, though it was shortly before I bought a pint of keg San Miguel as it wasn't very good, so I'll have to go with one of the freebies I got: Vocation Heart and Soul.
5. Best Overseas Draught: I've been abroad a few times this year but for draught beer I'll go with the only one I can remember the name of from my trip to Portland: Freshly Squeezed IPA.
6. Best Overseas Bottled Beer: Since I found out there's bleedin' nitrogen added to Orval it's not been the same so Rochefort 10 gets the gong this year.
7. Best Overseas Canned Beer: I bought some cans in Greece but they were rubbish so again it will have to be a freebie: Liberty Ale.
8. Best collaboration brew: The beer didn't taste great, but I've had fun with a culture I made from the dregs so All Bretts Are Off.
9. Best Overall Beer: Black Sheep Bitter.
10. Best Branding: The Brewers' Company.
11. Best Pump Clip: I did see one the other week that had both a red LED and a bell so that one if only I could remember what the beer was.
12. Best Bottle Label:
    
    
13. Best UK Brewery: For overall brewery I'm going with the one I've drunk the most of over the course of this year, and some cracking beers they've made too. It's my local brewery: Thurstons.
14. Best Overseas Brewery: Rochefort without a shadow of a doubt, all that gleaming copper. The beer's good too.
15. Best New Brewery Opening 2015: Can't think of one.
16. Pub/Bar of the Year: As if a bar could hope to compete with a pub! The Crown in Horsell.
17. Best New Pub/Bar Opening 2015: Can't think of one.
18. Beer Festival of the Year: The Great British Beer Festival. I had a cracking day.
19. Supermarket of the Year: Booths, again.
20. Independent Retailer of the Year: Cobbetts Real Ale.
21. Online Retailer of the Year: the ones that sent me free beer.
22. Best Beer Book or Magazine: Brewing Microbiology edited by Annie Hill and with a chapter by me.
23. Best Beer Blog or Website: one blog this year has taken the world of beer nerdery by storm with superb posts filled with fascinating facts: Larsblog.
24. Simon Johnson Award for Best Beer Twitterer: Pierre van Klomp @brouwervanklomp
25. Best Brewery Website/Social media: can't think of one.