Following four rounds of judging, seven bottled beers have been crowned ‘World’s Best Beers’ by the international, highly respected judging panel. Judges have now blind-tasted beers, from nearly 600 entries in *32 countries, in the annual World Beer Awards. Category winners and style trophies have also been named. For the first time this year, a new category has been introduced, ‘World’s Best Label’. The Judges have named Deschutes, Red Chair NWPA ‘2012 World’s Best Beer’ and Le Trou Du Diable, Schieve Tabarnak ‘2012 World’s Best Label’.
WINNERS WORLD BEER AWARDS 2012
*World’s Best Beer – Deschutes, Red Chair NWPA
| Category | Beer |
| World’s Best Dark Beer | Het Anker, Gouden Carolus Classic |
| World’s Best Flavoured Beer | TSA Co., Double Espresso |
| World’s Best Lager | Waldhaus, Spezial Gold |
| World’s Best Pale Beer | *Deschutes, Red Chair NWPA |
| World’s Best Speciality Beer | Fujizakura, Rauch |
| World’s Best Stout & Porter | Deschutes, The Abyss |
| World’s Best Wheat Beer | Weihenstephaner, Vitus |
New category for 2012*
*World’s Best Label – Le Trou Du Diable, Schieve Tabarnak
| Asia’s Best Label | Fujizakura Heights Beer Pils |
| Europe’s Best Label | Loncium, Gailtaler Weisse |
| *The Americas Best Label | Le Trou Du Diable, Schieve Tabarnak |
The judging panel is made up of renowned beer experts, the World Chairman of judges is Roger Protz, European Chairman, Adrian-Tierney Jones, Asian Chairman Bryan Harrell, The Americas Chairman, Stan Hieronymus. The Chairmen are supported by their panel of judges, for a full list of the judging panel go to: www.worldbeerawards.com
The Award stages were as follows:
| World’s Best Regional Style Trophies:Each beer is tasted by style in the region in which it is entered to select the best beer style in Europe, the Americas and Asia. |
| World’s Best Style Trophies:The winning beers from each style in region are then tasted against each other to select the World’s Best Styles. |
| The World’s Best Categories:The world’s best styles are tasted against each other to select the World’s Best Beers by Category.
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| The World’s Best Beers:The world’s best categories are then tasted against each other to select the World Best Beers. The winners are announced on Friday 28th September 2012 via The World Beer Awards website www.worldbeerawards.com |
Notes to Editors:
*Countries include: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, England, Estonia, Germany, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Lithuania, New Zealand, Republic of Ireland, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, U.S.A., Wales.
World’s Best Styles
Dark Beer
| World’s Best Barley Wine | Harvey’s | Christmas Ale |
| World’s Best Belgian Style Dubbel | Het Anker | Gouden Carolus Classic |
| World’s Best Belgian Style Strong | Le Trou de Diable | La Grivoise de Noel |
| World’s Best Black IPA | Thornbridge | Raven |
| World’s Best Brown | Arran Brewery | Dark |
| World’s Best Mild | Thwaites | Nutty Black |
| World’s Best Oud Bruin | Deschutes | The Dissident |
| World’s Best Strong | Brakspear | Triple |
| World’s Best Vintage | Rodenbach | Vintage 2009 |
Flavoured Beer
| World’s Best Chocolate & Coffee | TSA Brewing Co. | Double Espresso |
| World’s Best Experimental | Sam Adams | Thirteenth Hour |
| World’s Best Fruit | Innis & Gunn | Melville’s Strawberry Beer |
| World’s Best Herb & Spice | Midtfyns Bryghus | Chili Tripel |
| World’s Best Honey | Bogota | Cajica Miel |
| World’s Best Smoked | Sam Adams | Bonfire Rauchbier |
| World’s Best Wood-Aged | Petrus | Aged Pale |
Lager
| World’s Best Alcohol Free | Radegast | Birell |
| World’s Best Amber / Vienna | Bierland | Vienna |
| World’s Best Bock | Flotzinger | Josefi Bock |
| World’s Best Dark | Bamberg | Schwarzbier |
| World’s Best Doppelbock | Master | Tmavy |
| World’s Best Dortmunder | Waldhaus | Spezial Gold |
| World’s Best Gluten-free | Brouwerij Huyghe | Mongozo Premium Pilsner |
| World’s Best Helles/Munchner | Flotzinger | Hell |
| World’s Best Low Carb | Waldhaus | Classic 2.9 |
| World’s Best Pilsner | Borg | Brio |
| World’s Best Seasonal | Waldhaus | Ohne Filter |
| World’s Best Strong | Primator | Exklusiv 16% |
Pale Beer
| World’s Best Altbier | Tazawako Beer | Alt |
| World’s Best Barley Wine | Fish Brewing | 10 Squared |
| World’s Best Belgian Style Blonde | Brouwerij De Halve Maan | Brugse Zot Blond |
| World’s Best Belgian Style Strong | Unibroue | Don De Dieu |
| World’s Best Belgian Style Tripel | Het Anker | Gouden Carolus Tripel |
| World’s Best Biere De Garde | Le Trou de Diable | Saison Du Tracteur |
| World’s Best Bitter over 5% | Beartown | Wojtek |
| World’s Best Bitter up to 5% | Sambrook’s | Wandle |
| World’s Best Imperial IPA | Midtfyns Bryghus | Double IPA |
| World’s Best IPA | Rogue | Brutal IPA |
| World’s Best Kolsch | Bogota | Candelaria Classica |
| World’s Best Low-strength | Greene King | Tolly English Ale |
| World’s Best Pale Ale | Deschutes | Red Chair NWPA |
| World’s Best Seasonal | Deschutes | Twilight Summer Ale |
Sour Beer
| World’s Best Gueuze | Mort Subite | Oude Gueuze |
| World’s Best Kriek | Mort Subite | Original Kriek |
Speciality Beer
| World’s Best Experimental | Nasu Kohgen Beer | Nine Tailed Fox 2011 |
| World’s Best Rye | Baltika | Royal Rye Wine |
| World’s Best Smoked | Fujizakura | Rauch |
| World’s Best Steam | Burgdorfer | Dampfbier |
Stout & Porter
| World’s Best Dry Stout | Deschutes | Obsidian Sout |
| World’s Best Imperial | Deschutes | The Abyss |
| World’s Best Oatmeal Stout | Rogue | Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout |
| World’s Best Oyster Stout | Marston’s | Oyster Stout |
| World’s Best Porter | Brasserie du Monde | Big Ben Porter |
| World’s Best Strong Porter | Saku | Porter |
| World’s Best Sweet / Milk Stout | Rogue | Chocolate Stout |
Wheat Beer
| World’s Best Alcohol Free | Alpirsbacher | Weizen Alkoholfrei |
| World’s Best Bavarian Hefeweiss | Fujizakura | Weizen |
| World’s Best Bavarian Kristal | Weihenstephaner | Kristal Weissbier |
| World’s Best Belgian Style Witbier | Unibroue | Blanche De Chambly |
| World’s Best Dark | Weihenstephaner | Hefeweissbier Dunkel |
| World’s Best Strong (inc Weizenboch) | Weihenstephaner | Vitus |
For further information on the awards, regional style winners or images of the winning beers go to www.worldbeerawards.com
or contact:
Sophie Donovan
World Beer Awards
Organiser and Editor
(00 44 (0) 1603 633 808. * Sophie@paragraphpublishing.com
For further press information contact:
Gill Shaffer
Mint Communications
Mobile 00 44 (0)7958 989124 (00 44 (0)1799 218353
e-mail: gill@mintcomm.co.uk
Date of issue: 28th September 2012