The Golden Pints – My awards go to..

Last week together with Mark’s Dredge (from pencil and spoon) and Fletcher (from real ale reviews) we launched the Golden Pint Awards (not the new jazzy logo thanks to robsterowski) so I thought it was about time I filled in the categories my self, It’s taken me ages to decide on some of the categories and I still can’t decide if I have made the right choice, 2009 has been a great year for new beers and breweries, I’ve discovered lots of new ones, re-visited some of the breweries and beers that I have loved and loathed, oh and made a bunch of great friends along the way.

You will notice there a lot of runners up, they are the ones that were there or there abouts for an award, There are also lots of beers that are missing but I just couldn’t squeeze them in.So without further ado I give you my Golden Pint 2009 Award Winners:

Best UK Draught Beer:  Dark Horse Hetton Pale Ale (Runners up: Timothy Taylors landlord, Thornbridge Jaipur and Hambleton Nightmare)

Best UK Bottled Beer: Thornbridge Bracia Stout (Runners up: Adnams Innovation, Thornbridge Halcyon, Crown Ring of Fire and Gadds No 3)

Best Overseas Draught Beer:  Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale (Runner up: Grumpy’s Ale)

Best Overseas Bottled Beer: Mikkeller Stateside IPA (Runners up: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale 2008 and Flying Dog Doggie Style)

Best Overall Beer: Thornbridge Bracia Stout

Best Pumpclip or label: Moor Beer for their bottle lables look and feel great

Best UK Brewery: Thornbridge (Runners up: Moor, and Crown Brewery)

Best Overseas Brewery: Sierra Nevada (Runner up: Mikkeller)

Pub/Bar of the Year: The New Inn Cropton – Great beer, lovely food and some great walks nearby (Runners up: The Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge, Dog and Gun, Keswick and The George Inn, Keswick)

Beer Festival of the Year:  Even though I didn’t go it has to be the GBBF (Runner up: Captain Cook Inn, Staithes for there various beer fests during the year)

Supermarket of the Year:  Booths, Keswick (Runner up: Tesco Newton Aycliffe)

Independent Retailer of the Year: Beer Ritz, Leeds (Runners up: The bottle, York and Open All Hours, Keswick)

Online Retailer of the Year: Beer Merchants (Runner up: My brewery tap for their 52 week beer club)

Best Beer Book: Hops and Glory by Pete Brown (Runner up: An Appetite for Ale)

Best Beer Blog: Pencil and Spoon (Runners up: Bitten Bullet, Woolpack Dave, Real Ale Reviews)

Best Beer Twitterer: reluctantscoop (Runners up: The Brew Co [and ginsoak], crownbrewerstu)

Best Online Interactive Brewery Presence: Adnams (Runner up:  Brewdog for their videos)

Food and Beer Pairing of the Year: @Ginsoak ‘s Pic-Ale-Chilli with cheese and crackers and Thornbridge Halcyon. (Runner up: Wasabi peas)

Bargain of the year:  Sierra Nevada Celebration 2008 ale for 69p a bottle (Runners up: Okells IPA 70p abottle, Thornbridge Halcyon £1.50p a bottle)

Next Year I’d Most Like To… Complete the Coast 2 Coast, having drank lots of great beer along the way. I would also like to try a new beer from each continent or maybe even country.

Special Note: I would also like to say a big thanks to @crownbrewerstu for putting up with me for the day and letting me help him brew Ring of Fire 2009 as it was a great day, Thanks to Saints and Sinners for making the awesome Insomniac which would have won an award had it been available to buy and finally a big thanks to all the great people who have commented on here, chatted on twitter or sent me beer, you’ve all (well mostly all) been great!

Here’s to an even better 2010!

PS if you wan’t to nominate your golden pints then feel free to do so below!