DEYA's 'Steady Rolling Man' voted UK's #1 beer of 2026

Steady Rolling Man is crowned #1 British Beer of 2026 in the annual Top 50 UK Beer Awards, from We Are Beer. Topping a stellar list of beers winning over key accounts and drinkers alike, the award draws votes from a panel of over 150 beer experts, and over 6,000 drinkers and trade professionals.

The Top 50 UK Beer Awards - now in its third year, celebrates the best-selling, most influential and best made beers available in the UK, hosted by We Are Beer, organisers of the UK's biggest beer festival: London Craft Beer Festival - taking place in its new location, Southwark Park, Friday 17th & Saturday 18th July.

Climbing from #3 in 2025 to re-claim the top spot for 2026 - 'Steady Rolling Man' by Deya - the infamous hazy New England IPA, is brewed with barley, wheats and oats, and described as 'pillowy and soft on the palate with notes of pineapple, mango, passion fruit, and citrus, finished with a balanced, gentle bitterness'. The main-stay of many a craft beer afiananos repertoire, Steady Rolling Man is celebrated for its hazy appearance and intensely tropical, juicy hop flavours, and is also 100% vegan friendly.

Deya founder, Theo Freyne said:

"We are thrilled that Steady Rolling Man is once again top of the pops at #1 on the Top 50 UK Beers list for 2026. Steady has always been the bedrock and yardstick for our business, and still makes up over 50% of our volume, and once again has had phenomenal 12 months.

"Since Steady Rollin Man was top spot in 2024 its volume, reach and brand has continued to grow - this year we are on course to brew over 2 million pints of delicious Steady.

"We have launched our "Steady Rolling Man, pale ale of independents" campaign this year, highlighting Steady's unique position as a beer specifically designed for independent venues. Moreover, we have continued to riff on the OG beer and brand with variants such as SRM Cask and SRM Motueka and SRM Nelson, which have also been hugely successful.

"As always, the biggest focus for us at DEYA is Steady Rolling Man, and making sure every single pint we produce is absolutely perfect. Our beer quality will always be paramount to us, and this accolade proves we must be doing something right. Cheers."

STAR BEER AWARD

The STAR award is given to a brewery who is producing a beer that is shaking up the category, through innovation and taking a different path to their peers. This year's STAR award goes to Beyond Belief Brewing Company, whose flagship 'Payload' beer is uniquely made using pasta offcuts taken from sister company Ugo Foods (see more details below).

The top 3 beers for 2026 in the UK's Top 50 Beer Awards are:

1. STEADY ROLLING MAN by DEYA (Cheltenham)

Still winning taps around the country and turning people around is this hazy, hoppy fruit forward beer. The STEADY ROLLING MAN 5.2%, vegan-friendly pale ale has been an important category driver in recent years, placing #3 in 2025, and #1 in 2024, returning to re-claim the top spot in 2026.

2. FIVE POINTS BEST by Five Points (Hackney, London)

A beer emblematic of the best of modern British beer - both traditional and modern. Exquisitely crafted but also accessible. FIVE POINTS BEST is a single-hopped bitter (4.1% ABV), brewed with local Maris Otter barley and Kentish Fuggle hops, producing a balanced and refreshing drink, with tasting notes of toffee, caramel and biscuit, followed by a floral, herbal finish. Five Points know their community and build beers to serve them well.

3. JAIPUR by Thornbridge (Bakewell, Derbyshire)

JAIPUR is a 5.9% ABV American-style India Pale Ale (IPA) and the flagship beer of the Bakewell, Derbyshire-based brewery. Launched in 2005, it's widely celebrated as the first UK craft IPA, blending bold American hops with traditional English malts to create a crisp, citrus-heavy, and well-balanced beer.

The 'STAR' award for 2026 is given to Beyond Belief for their 'Payload' beer:

PAYLOAD by Beyond Belief Brewing Company (Hertfordshire)

Brewed with Citra and Ella hops, PAYLOAD pours light amber and delivers a crisp finish with very little bitterness. Created by the offshoot of fourth-generation family pasta producer Ugo Foods, the brewing process uniquely takes fresh offcuts from pasta production and uses them to extract fermentable sugars. By swapping out traditional malt for surplus pasta, the brewery cuts down on agricultural land use and saves significant amounts of water and carbon emissions during production. The team have patented much of the process and are working with well known restaurants, pub groups and food manufacturers to create their own top class beers out of surplus from the supply chain. It's worth noting, however, that while the base ingredient in Payload is surplus pasta, the beer itself doesn't add extra carbs to your diet… and is suitable for vegetarians and vegans!

BEER TRENDS FOR 2026/27

Greg Wells, Co-founder of the Top 50 UK Beers Awards, We Are Beer and the London Craft Beer Festival, predicts 3 beer trends of note emerging from the Top 50 for 2026/27:

"NEW LONDON BEER"

Manchester, Bristol, Yorkshire - many places have laid claim to be the epicenter of modern beer culture in the UK. But for 2026, London is enjoying a real renaissance. Five London-based breweries make the Top 10 list this year, including high climbers from 2025: Pretty Decent, Pillars and Saint Monday, alongside more established names Five Points and Anspach & Hobday (whose 'London Black' nitro porter was #1 in 2025). Moving on from the boom or bust story of acquisitions and administrations we've seen over the last few years - London is enjoying some brilliant beers from emerging breweries, confident in their own skin and making some of the best beer in the world right now.

"FLAVOUR FLAV"

There is no doubt there's a big trend right now - one we expect to grow further over the next few years - and that's fruit flavoured beer. People want delicious, they want fun and unusual, and they want accessibility - especially Gen Z. British beer has always been innovative, pushing the boundaries of what's possible with flavour, without negotiating on beer quality; so it's exciting to see more of this on our 2026 list, with 10% of the top 50 being fruit flavoured beer, in some capacity.

"CASK REVIVAL"

The love and reverence for a good ole' British boozer grows only stronger, especially as they're coming under threat. Drinkers love a good pub, and a well poured pint of cask beer is unbeatable. It's no huge surprise that two of the Top 3 beers this year are cask, and Timothy Taylor and a number of other cask producers are firmly on the Top 50 list.

We are Beer are the organisers of the London Craft Beer Festival, hosted this year on 17th and 18th July in Southwark Park, Bermondsey, SE1. With hundreds of beers to taste, music and entertainment and delicious food to enjoy, tickets and more information can be found by clicking this LINK.

For more information:

To arrange interviews with the winning breweries, or for more information please email kimberley@wearebeer.com

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