It was a double win for Cornwall at the 2025 Great British Beer Festival. As previewed in the last edition of London Drinker, the GBBF played host to the final round of judging for CAMRA’s 2025 Champion Beer of Britain competition. For the first time ever, a brewery from Cornwall was voted Supreme Champion. In addition, it was with their mild, only the seventh time this style has achieved the top slot since the competition began in 1978.
The winners were the Penzance Brewery and Lewis Elliott and Richard Hickman from the brewery were there to receive the Champion’s Cup. Richard said, “It’s quite overwhelming. I’m glad the style has come back. It’s down to the founder of our brewery, Peter Elvin and his nephew Rob, who showed me the ropes. I can’t believe we are here right now, it’s mad.”
The other two places went to the Midlands with Snowflake, a barley wine from Sarah Hughes, taking the silver award and Church End’s Fallen Angel (premium pale ale) the bronze.
The award for Snowflake is a fitting tribute to the late John Hughes, who passed away in June. He reopened the Beacon Hotel in Sedgley along with its brewery, which he renamed after his grandmother, Sarah. He found a recipe for a certain strong mild in her glasses case! Happily, the family intend to keep both the pub and brewery open.
Gary Timmins, CAMRA’s awards director, commented, “I’m over the moon for Penzance, with Mild being a deserving Champion Beer of Britain. From CAMRA members nominating their favourites, through to those tough regional rounds, to the final panel of judges, this is a vigorous and fiercely independent competition and Mild has come out on top.”
Cornwall also took the Gold in the Champion Bottled Beer of Britain competition. St Austell are no strangers to winning this category and Proper Job was crowned winner for the second time. It previously won in 2011, with Big Job winning in 2017. Their brewing director, Georgina Young, said, “We are very honoured and delighted to be recognised in this category with our amazing Proper Job IPA, which was first brewed in 2004, using Chinook and Cascade hops. It’s incredibly rewarding to see it still standing out two decades later.”
A woman brewer also took the silver in this category. Pam Honeyman, co-founder of Monty’s Brewery in Powys, designed their golden ale, Mischief, when she was training at Brewlab in the late 2000s. It is also the first time that any Welsh brewery has taken home a medal in this competition.
All was not lost for London brewers however. Kernel received the bronze in the bottled beer judging with their Imperial Brown Stout and, of course, Georgina Young was head brewer at Fuller’s before heading off to the south west in 2020.
The Champion Bottled Beer competition has now been revised to include canned beers. There are two categories: 4.3% ABV or below and 4.4% ABV or above.
Finally, the other competition judged at the GBBF was CAMRA’s Home Brew competition, sponsored by Nailmaker Brewing Co and Brew at Home. The award showcases the best in home brewing and encourages the brightest brewers of the future. Matthew Winter won with his Black Magic Tropical Stout (7% ABV), with Richard Taylor winning silver with The Bishops Tripple and James Bailey the bronze with Because I’m Hoppy IPA.
And it now begins all over again! If you are a CAMRA member, then this is your chance to have your say. Members’ nominations for the 2027 Champion Beer of Britain competition opened on 1 September. 2027 isn’t a misprint; the competition takes two years because of the number of different categories, each of which has a regional judging round. Voting is open until 31 October. To vote, login to the CAMRA website https://cbob.camra.org.uk. Don’t be put off by the number of beers and voting categories. You do not have to vote in them all and you do not need to use all five votes. You can vote for just one or two if you want. All of the information that you need is available there on the website.
No beer from London has been voted Supreme Champion since Fuller’s Chiswick in 1989.
Christine Cryne
