Toper Talk: And The Winner Is...

In this new weekly column, Toper Talk delves into the shenanigans surrounding 'best beer' awards. Castle Rock, as seen here, were rightly proud to have Screech Owl crowned as the SIBA Midlands Supreme Champion beer. But should one-offs like this be allowed to win regional championships? What about American festivals where brewers pay to enter a competition? And does the plethora of awards end up devaluing the truly great beers that deserve praise and recognition. Read on, dear toper....

I was at Nottingham beer festival last week and was surprised to see that Screech Owl had won the Midlands round of the SIBA championship. Surprised as I didn't think it was that great - good, but not award-winning. Other drinkers were surprised, though, that a monthly special had been allowed into the competition. As it happens, Castle Rock have announced plans to re-brew the beer following its success. But what if it won in the national awards and no-one was able to buy it? Would it be fair to generate demand for a beer no longer readily available? Or would the award-winning status spur the brewer back into production, given the clear commercial potential that the award would confer?

Some fellow brewers were dischuffed, too. One grumbled to me that he could have 'ramped up' a recipe and produce a one-off to attract the judges' palates. But this sounds like a case of sour hops - many brewers entered seasonal beers alongside their regular fayre. And if you exclude a beer only brewed for a month, what about those only brewed for 4-6 weeks? Or for the summer? Or those only brewed with fresh seasonal ingredients?

Perhaps it's a case of Castle Rock playing a canny game - again. I recall a certain one-off beer of theirs called 'Trammy Dodger' that won the same award back in 2004 - with its success leading to it becoming a regular brew, Harvest Pale. What better way to test the market that entering a new beer into competition and gauging the reaction, both critical and commercial?

Fair play to Castle Rock and Screech Owl. Not my favourite in the Strong Bitter section (Potbelly's Crazy Daze would have taken my vote) but I see nothing wrong with a monthly special winning in a blind tasting. At least the eight categories had some clarity. Most dark beers seemed to be lumped together and bitters were split into four groups according to strength. CAMRA add a few more categories in to split up the black stuff and give golden ales a home of their own. But some competitions seem to keen on awarding medals to almost every man with a mash tub and a half-arsed style.

The recent Great American Beer Festival had a competition split into 75 beer categories. I'll have to type that again, as I still don't believe what I've just written. Seventy-five. Six categories of stout, not including those judged in the coffee, strong or barrel-aged sections. CAMRA manage with, er, one category. And that's shared with porter. Which is practically the same style anyway...

And it gets worse. It's pay to play at GABF. Some smaller brewers don't stump up the green for the 'privilege' of taking part, as the expense of 'competing' wouldn't make business sense, even if they won a medal. They probably don't have the dollars to enter the World Beer Cup either. Billed as a competition to "celebrate the art and science of brewing by recognizing outstanding achievement", they certainly recognise the $160 entry fee per beer that they charge, plus the cost of air freighting up to twelve bottles. But with an eye-watering 91 categories awarding gold, silver and bronze, there's plenty of medals available.

At least it's only the beer that's being judged. The International Beer Challenge, for 'packaged' beers, awards 40% of its marks on the packaging. The Best of British Beer award honours only those beers sold in Cask Marque pubs. And don't get me started on the Beautiful Beer awards which seem more concerned with flogging a plaque to licencees than awarding the beers.

Too many awards, driven by commercial concerns rather than beer quality, devalue the hard work of the best brewers. If price is a barrier to entry, competitions lay themselves open to criticism that fatter bankrolls could lead to more gongs. All this makes the huffing about 'allowing' beers in the UK to be judged seem rather quaint.

I've never paid a jot towards the likes of the World Beer Cup. In truth, I'm not even bothered by who wins what at CAMRA level. It certainly doesn't sway my opinion at the bar when I see 'Champion Beer' tags wrapped around a pump clip (too many of those fluff on about gongs long since won). Awards? I'd scrap the lot of them and let the drinking public make up their own minds.

Yes, I am a beer judge. At every festival and every bar I visit - every consumer is. I'm paying to play and that's fine by me. It could be a special mix, an established brew or a rocking-horse-shit-rare bottle. I drink my beer and make my choice. And the winners are shoved only down my throat and no-one elses.