Ryan Sabey, Deputy Political Editor at The Sun, Named Beer Drinker of the Year 2026

The All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group has named Ryan Sabey, Deputy Political Editor at The Sun, as its “Beer Drinker of the Year” for 2026.

This is the first time this award has been granted to a political journalist. Ryan has been Deputy Political Editor at The Sun since 2022. Part of the paper’s politics team since July 2015, he has covered three general elections, six Prime Ministers in office and one Brexit referendum. He has travelled with several Prime Ministers around the world including covering Sir Keir Starmer at NATO in Washington DC, Rishi Sunak at the COP climate conference in Dubai and David Cameron at the United Nations. He contributes to Sky News, Talk and also guest hosted The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots show during the general election.

The Beer Group Chair, Tonia Antoniazzi MP, said “Ryan has long supported the local pub and brewers through the Sun’s Save Our Sups campaign, shining a light on all the issues facing the sector today, from Business Rates to the Bevvy Levy, pint prices to pub closures. I am delighted that he has won this year’s Beer Drinker of the Year Award”.

The Beer Group also presented a number of other Awards at the Annual Beer Awards Dinner:

• Award for Excellence in Brewing: Martyn Weeks, Director of Brewing and Operations, Robinson’s Brewery

• Brewer of the Year: Eddie Gadd, Ramsgate Brewery

• Lifetime Achievement: Des O’Flanagan, Chairman, PubAid

• Beer Parliamentarian of the Year: Will Forster, MP for Woking

• Pub Parliamentarian of the Year: Richard Quigley, MP for Isle of Wight West

• PubAid Highly Commended Award: Admiral Taverns

• PubAid Corporate Hero Award: Greene King

Notes to Editors

Previous Beer Drinkers of the Year:

Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke QC MP (1994) | Jack Charlton OBE (1995) | Anna Chancellor (1996) | John Lowe (1997) | John Cryne (1998) | Michael Parkinson OBE (1999) | Edward Kelsey aka Joe Grundy of the Archers (2000) | Darren Gough (2001) | HRH the Prince of Wales (2002) | Lord Jones of Cheltenham (2003) | Roger Protz (2004) | Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown MP (2005) | Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff (2006) | Michel Roux (2007) | Nick Hewer (2008) | David and Robert Aynesworth (2009) | John Grogan (2010) | Sriram Aylur (2011) | Peter Hendy OBE (2012) | Rt. Hon. George Osborne MP (2013) | Robert Humphreys MBE (2014) | The Sun Newspaper (2015) | Cathy Price (2016) | Andrew Griffiths MP (2017) | Candice Brown (2018) | Jodie Kidd (2019) | Tom Kerridge (2022) | Mike Wood MP (2023) | Craig Williams MP (2024) | Kevin Hollinrake MP (2025)

For more information:

Rita King, Honorary Secretary, All Party Parliamentary Beer Group | rita@beergroup.org | 07768 876793

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