August 7, 1999 -- Tasting at the GBBF and the Unveiling of the Champion Beer of Britain

(Technical difficulties in London prevented the posting of this story on the scheduled day. We apologize to those who logged on to view these notes on August 4 and were disappointed.)

I left London's Olympia hall on judging day prior to the announcement of the Champion Beer of Britain (CBoB), so the first thing I did upon arrival the following day of the Great British Beer Festival was find out the identity of the recipient of this year's most coveted British beer title. And the winner was...Timothy Taylor Landlord Bitter.

The Taylor was thus one of the first ales I sampled, but not the first.That honour went to Batemans XXXB, a bitter I have long admired and the one by which I tend to judge all others. It was in fine form, as tasty as ever, with just enough complexity and plenty of drinkability, and with that sample I was ready to begin a full session of sampling.

For those who have not been to the GBBF, it is best described as cask ale heaven. Literally hundreds of ales in perfect form are available for the tasting, along with a bottle-conditioned British beer bar, the Bieres sans Frontiers bar of fine brews from around the world, a host of cask ciders and perries (pear-based ciders) and, new this year, the White Beer Bar of wheat beers from Belgium, Germany and elsewhere. For all of this, I had 3 1/2 hours!

Alongside the Batemans bitter, I also sampled that same brewery's Dark Mild, a delightfully chocolaty beer with a full malty-roasty flavour that certainly belies its 3% alcohol by volume; no wonder it was the Gold Medal Mild for 1999. Soon after that, it was on to the CBoB, the Timothy Taylor Landlord, with its wonderful fruity-nutty nose, fresh front and light nutshell and pear notes in the body. A worthy Champion, indeed.

I also had a chance to try the silver and bronze medalists in the CBoB competition, the Oakham Jeffrey Hudson Bitter and the Caledonian Deuchars IPA. Much to my surprise, I found the former to be somewhat unexciting, with a hoppy, straw-ish nose and a somewhat flat, though nutty and slightly citrusy body. With respect to the latter brew, the surprise was not in the flavour, which was crisp, appley and singularly refreshing, but in the alcohol content -- a mere 3.8% by volume. A far cry from the 8% IPA I so enjoyed from the recently-departed Tall Ship Ale Company of British Columbia, Canada, perhaps, but then again, the Scottish IPA is from a country where a beer of 4% is considered a strong ale.

Speaking of strong ale, I also seized upon the opportunity to retaste the 5% Summer Lightning from Hop Back Brewery, this year's bronze medalist in the Strong Bitters category. With a complex, lightly citrusy nose, soft herbals and splendid malt and alcohol backbone, this has been and will remain a British favourite of mine.

The final punctuation on the afternoon---after several other beers, of course---was provided by Harvey's Armada, the Silver Medalist Best Bitter and a wonderfully characterful ale with a full, leafy-hoppy body marked by a bit of poire william and light tannins.Unfortunately, that was last orders and no more beer was to be had. So we packed up our bottles of take-away Cantillon St. Lamvinus, a remarkable lambic refermented with grapes from the St. Emillion wine region of France, and headed back to the hotel for a more informal, one beer tasting.

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