Champion Beer of Britain

Pumpclip for the CBOB winner in 2004

The Champion Beer of Britain (also known as CBOB) is an award presented by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), at their annual Great British Beer Festival in early August. Beers can qualify in three ways:

CAMRA tasting panels judge the beers in their geographic area of the UK. The recommendations of these panels are put forward to 6 regional panels, with the winners of these qualifying for the finals in August.
Votes from CAMRA members via a form in What's Brewing, the CAMRA newsletter.
Winning one of the 150 Beer Of The Festival awards from CAMRA beer festivals held throughout the year

Nominated beers are then grouped into categories and go through several rounds of blind tasting at the Great British Beer Festival. Category winners are then re-judged to determine the supreme champion - the Champion Beer Of Britain.

Name changes

The Old Ales & Barley Wines category has been renamed over the years. The award was first presented in 1991. In 1992 the category was split into two - Old Ales and Barley Wines. The new Old Ales category was renamed in 1993 to Old Ales & Strong Milds, changed again to Old Ales & Strong Ales in 1994, finally reverting to Old Ales & Strong Milds in 1996.

The Strong Ale category was changed in 1991 to Strong Bitter, with the Strong Milds joining the Old Ales category.

Winter ales

Since 1996 the Old Ales & Strong Milds, Barley Wines and Porters & Stouts have been judged as part of the Champion Winter Beer Of Britain awards at the National Winter Ales Festival.

Current holders

The 2012 overall winners were^[1]

Champion Beer of Britain - Coniston Brewery, No.9 Barley Wine
Second - Green Jack Brewery, Trawlerboys Best Bitter
Third - Dark Star Brewery, American Pale Ale

The 2011 overall winners were^[2]

Champion Beer of Britain - Mighty Oak Brewery, Oscar Wilde
Second - Marble, Chocolate
Third - Salopian, Shropshire Gold

The 2010 overall winners were^[3]

Champion Beer of Britain - Castle Rock, Harvest Pale
Second - Timothy Taylor, Landlord
Third - Surrey Hills, Hammer Mild

Previous holders

1978 - Thwaites Best Mild and Fuller's ESB (joint winners)
1979 - Fuller's London Pride
1980 - Thwaites Best Mild
1981 - Fuller's ESB
1982 - Timothy Taylor Landlord
1983 - Timothy Taylor Landlord
1984 - No event was held this year
1985 - Fuller's ESB
1986 - Bateman XXXB
1987 - Pitfield Dark Star
1988 - Ringwood Old Thumper
1989 - Fuller's Chiswick Bitter

From 1990 onwards Gold, Silver and Bronze awards were made instead of just having an overall winner.

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1990	Ind Coope Burton Ale	Timothy Taylor Landlord	Robinson's Old Tom
1991	Mauldon Black Adder	Fuller's ESB	Brains Dark
1992	Woodforde's Norfolk Nog	Timothy Taylor Landlord	Bateman Salem Porter
1993	Adnams Extra	Timothy Taylor Best Bitter	Woodforde's Headcracker
1994	Timothy Taylor Landlord	Coachhouse Blunderbuss	Woodforde's Headcracker
1995	Cottage Norman's Conquest	Harveys Porter	Hadrian Centurion
1996	Woodforde's Wherry Best Bitter	Cheriton Digger's Gold	Butterknowle Banner Bitter
1997	Mordue Workie Ticket	Bateman Dark Mild	Hobson's Best Bitter
1998	Coniston Bluebird Bitter	Mordue Radgie Gadgie	Moorhouse's Black Cat
1999	Timothy Taylor Landlord	Oakham JHB (Jeffrey Hudson Bitter)	Caledonian Deuchars IPA
2000	Moorhouse's Black Cat	Hogsback TEA	York Brewery Yorkshire Terrier
2001	Oakham Jeffrey Hudson Bitter	Hop Back Summer Lightning	Brains Dark
2002	Caledonian Deuchars IPA	RCH East Street Cream	Triple fff Moondance
2003	Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted	Brains Dark	Bazens' Black Pig
2004	Kelham Island Pale Rider	Greene King IPA	Hampshire Ironside
2005	Crouch Vale Brewers Gold	Grainstore Rutland Panther	Woodforde's Wherry
2006	Crouch Vale Brewers Gold	Harveys Sussex Best Bitter	Triple fff Moondance
2007	Hobsons Mild	Mighty Oak Maldon Gold	Green Jack Ripper
2008	Triple fff Alton's Pride	Beckstones Black Dog Freddy	Wickwar Station Porter
2009	Rudgate Ruby Mild	Oakham Attila	West Berkshire Dr Hexter's
2010	Castle Rock Harvest Pale	Timothy Taylor Landlord	Surrey Hills Hammer Mild
2011	Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde	Marble Chocolate	Salopian Shropshire Gold
2012	Coniston No.9 Barley Wine	Green Jack Trawlerboys Best Bitter	Dark Star American Pale Ale
2013	Elland 1872 Porter	Buntingford Twitchell	Fyne Ales Jarl
2014	Timothy Taylor Boltmaker	Oakham Citra	Salopian Darwin's Origin

2009 Awards

Overall winners

Champion Beer of Britain - Rudgate, Ruby Mild (York, North Yorkshire)
Second - Oakham, Attila (Peterborough, Cambridgeshire)
Third - West Berkshire, Dr Hexter's Healer (Thatcham, Berkshire)

Mild category

Gold - Rudgate, Ruby Mild (York, North Yorkshire)
Silver - Bank Top, Dark Mild (Bolton, Lancashire)
Bronze - Highland, Dark Munro (Birsay, Orkney)

Bitter category

Gold - Surrey Hills, Ranmore Ale (Guildford, Surrey)
Silver - Butcombe, Bitter (Bristol, Avon)
Joint Bronze - Humpty Dumpty, Little Sharpie (Reedham, Norfolk)
Joint Bronze - Triple fff, Alton's Pride (Alton, Hampshire)

Best Bitter category

Gold - Southport, Golden Sands (Southport, Merseyside)
Silver - Buntingford, Britannia (Royston, Hertfordshire)
Joint Bronze - Evan Evans, Cwrw (Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire)
Joint Bronze - Thornbridge, Lord Marples (Bakewell, Derbyshire)
Joint Bronze - Vale, VPA (Brill, Buckinghamshire)

Golden Ale category

Gold - Dark Star, American Pale Ale (Ansty, West Sussex)
Joint Silver - Adnams, Explorer (Southwold, Suffolk)
Joint Silver - St Austell, Proper Job (St Austell, Cornwall)

Strong Bitter category

Gold - West Berkshire, Dr Hexter's Healer (Thatcham, Berkshire)
Silver - Thornbridge, Kipling (Bakewell, Derbyshire)
Bronze - Grain, Tamarind IPA (Harleston, Norfolk)

Speciality Beer category

Gold - Nethergate, Umbel Magna (Pentlow, Essex)
Silver - Wentworth, Bumble Beer (Wentworth, South Yorkshire)
Bronze - Amber, Chocolate Orange Stout (Ripley, Derbyshire)

Winter Beer of Britain

winner (announced in January 2009)

Oakham, Attila (Cambridgeshire)

Bottled Beer of Britain

Gold - Titanic, Stout (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire)
Silver - Great Gable, Yewbarrow (Gosforth, Cumbria)
Bronze - White Shield Brewery, White Shield (Coors, Burton-on-Trent)

2008 awards