Ben McFarland was crowned Beer Writer of the Year at the British Guild of Beer Writers Annual Awards Dinner on 1st December.
The Beer Writer of the Year is chosen from one of seven category winners which seek to find the very best of beer writing and journalism in the UK.
As well as picking up the overall title, McFarland also won the Fuller’s ESB Award for Best Writing for the Beer & Pub Trade.
Last year’s winner and chairman of the judges Simon Jenkins said: “Ben is really setting the standard for writing about beer. His work is always interesting and informative – and his passion for the subject really shines through everything he writes.”
Other winners named at the event at the London Riverside Park Plaza included Mark Dredge for beer and food writing, Martyn Cornell in the online category for his blog ‘Zythophile’ and Marverine Cole, for her regional television work.
Pete Brown scooped the new award for corporate communications, Des de Moor picked up the beer and travel writing prize, and Adrian Tierney-Jones was named national journalist of the year. The Guild’s Brewer of the Year was named as Kernel Brewery’s Evin O’Riordain
Results in full:
Brewer of the Year 2011 - Evin O’Riordain, Kernel Brewery
Budweiser Budvar John White Travel Bursary - prize £1,000 plus trip to Czech Republic . Winner: Des de Moor
Shepherd Neame 1698 Award for Beer and Food Writing - prize £1,000. Winner: Mark Dredge
Thwaites Award for Best Corporate Communications - prize £1,000. Winner: Pete Brown
Brains SA Gold Award for Best Use of Online Media - £1,000 & £500. Winner: Martyn Cornell; Silver Award: Mark Charlwood
Adnams Award for Best Writing in Regional Media - prize £1,000 & £500. Winner: Marverine Cole; Silver Award: Gavin Aitchison
Fuller’s ESB Award for Best Writing for the Beer and Pub Trade - prize £1,000 & £500 . Winner: Ben McFarland: Silver Award: Glynn Davis
Molson Coors Award for Best Writing in National Media - prize £1,000 & £500 Winner: Adrian Tierney-Jones; Silver Award: Will Hawkes
The Michael Jackson Gold Award – Beer Writer of the Year 2011: Ben McFarland
Judges this year were: Simon Jenkins, winner of the 2010 Beer Writer of the Year title; Fiona Matthias, executive editor of The Sunday Telegraph; Martin Ross, journalist, writer and home brewer; Martin Kellaway, founder of Wharfebank Brewery in Leeds and Joanna Copestick, who has commissioned and published a number of books about beer.
Simon Jenkins added: "The exciting thing for myself and my fellow judges was seeing the sheer range of material which is being published about beer – whether in books, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and online."
"This reflects a fundamental change in Britain’s brewing industry, which has seen huge numbers of micro-brewers and craft brewers posing an increasing challenge to the dominance of the industry’s big boys. These brewers have brought hundreds of new beers to the market, and opened up to customers a vast new array of tastes, styles and experiences."
"These awards celebrate the very best in British beer writing. The scope, scale and variety of the work created by the winners is astonishing, and show that writing about our national drink is now being treated very seriously indeed."
On the Brewer of the Year Award given to Evin O’Riordain, British Guild of Beer Writers chairman Tim Hampson said: “Even though the Kernel brewery is not yet two years old, Evin O'Riordan and his team have created some of the most stunning beers in the country. If you're thinking about the London craft beer scene, just saying the phrase 'Craft Brewer' evokes images of this microbrewer working in his train arch brewery.
“The creative flair of O'Riordan with his passion for collaboration and generosity of spirit which has produced beers such as IPA Black, London Brick, Big Brick to name just three, speaks volumes about what is going on in the London craft beer scene and it's down to people like Evin.”
More than 230 journalists, brewers and pub operators attended the dinner at the London Riverside Park Plaza. The British Guild of Beer Writers was established in 1988 to help spread the word about beer and brewing and improve standards of beer writing in general. Today the Guild has more than 150 members – to find out more go to www.beerwriters.co.uk.
PICTURED: (l-r) Ben McFarland, Beer Writer of the Year 2011 and Simon Jenkins, chair of judges, British Guild of Beer Writers Annual Awards 2011
British Guild of Beer Writers www.beerwriters.co.uk
(EDITOR: The hearty congratulations of That's Food and Drink go to all concerned. Well done for helping to promote good, healthy British real ales!)
Sunday, 4 December 2011
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Friday, 2 December 2011
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Thursday, 1 December 2011
This month, as we head toward Christmas, head toward Tossed, too!
Another week closer to Christmas, and as the weather is getting colder, things are heating up at Tossed, the high street healthier eating place.
If you are not over-sweating from over-shopping, you might want another way to warm yourself up over-lunch. Try a hot and warming soup, stew or curry, from the new Hot and Healthier range at Tossed. Soup is great for getting your veggies as well as being warm and comforting.
Starting at just 68 calories for a Skinny Minestrone, the Tossed soups are made from 100 percent natural ingredients. There is also Leek and Potato at 154 calories, a classic Tomato and Basil and the new Sweet Potato, Coconut & Coriander. They are around £3.00 for a full size, but they also come as ‘mini’, a great addition to the equally tasty and warming stews.
With a low GI carb base of Mixed Wild Rice, Wholewheat Noodles or Cous-cous, the Tossed version of Chicken Tikka Masala is hot stuff, as is the Chilli con Carne and the Sweet & Sour Chicken, with free-range meat from Gatacombe Farm in Devon.
The low GI carbs will make sure you have enough fuel to make it through the day, and at under 500 calories for any of the hot dishes, you will not compromise your diet, even at Christmas. All at under £5.00, they will not empty your purse either. ‘Grab and go’ has never been so good.
Grab a soup or a stew from Tossed in the West End and the City, at Westfield London and at Westfield Stratford City. www.tosseduk.com Twitter @tosseduk.com or www.Facebook.com/tosseduk
If you are not over-sweating from over-shopping, you might want another way to warm yourself up over-lunch. Try a hot and warming soup, stew or curry, from the new Hot and Healthier range at Tossed. Soup is great for getting your veggies as well as being warm and comforting.
Starting at just 68 calories for a Skinny Minestrone, the Tossed soups are made from 100 percent natural ingredients. There is also Leek and Potato at 154 calories, a classic Tomato and Basil and the new Sweet Potato, Coconut & Coriander. They are around £3.00 for a full size, but they also come as ‘mini’, a great addition to the equally tasty and warming stews.
With a low GI carb base of Mixed Wild Rice, Wholewheat Noodles or Cous-cous, the Tossed version of Chicken Tikka Masala is hot stuff, as is the Chilli con Carne and the Sweet & Sour Chicken, with free-range meat from Gatacombe Farm in Devon.
The low GI carbs will make sure you have enough fuel to make it through the day, and at under 500 calories for any of the hot dishes, you will not compromise your diet, even at Christmas. All at under £5.00, they will not empty your purse either. ‘Grab and go’ has never been so good.
Grab a soup or a stew from Tossed in the West End and the City, at Westfield London and at Westfield Stratford City. www.tosseduk.com Twitter @tosseduk.com or www.Facebook.com/tosseduk
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Get creative with carrots this Christmas and win a £200 meal
The independent guest judge, Niamh Shields from Eat Like a Girl, will be looking for culinary creativity with carrots. The author of the best recipe will receive a £200 restaurant voucher to a UK restaurant of their choice. Three runners up will receive a copy of Niamh Shields’ cookbook Comfort & Spice.
Entering the competition is easy. All bloggers need to do is:
• Share a carrot recipe on their own blog;
• Mention the competition in the post;
• Tell LovetheGarden by emailing the URL of their entry to entries@lovethegarden.com before 21st December 2011.
The orange root vegetable is a prominent part of traditional Christmas meals, but recipes don’t have to be Christmas themed. Recipes for soups, salads, stir-fries and even cakes with this versatile vegetable are welcomed too.
Lovethegarden launched their first competition to find the best recipes for garden vegetables in February 2011, which encouraged bloggers to be creative with cabbage. The winner was Karolina with her Cabbage & Mushroom Pasties. In August, David Hall won the Potty for Potatoes competition with his Hot potato, bacon and nasturtium salad and the winner of the Taste for Tomatoes competition was Nic from Cherrapeno with her Summer Tomato Tart with Chilli Cheese Pastry. The carrot competition will be the last one for 2011, but in 2012, Lovethegarden will continue to encourage everyone in the UK to eat their five-a-day.
The deadline is 11.59pm (UK time) on 21th December 2011. For more information, please visit the vegetable garden competition page.
FACTFILE:
LovetheGarden ®, ™ and Miracle-Gro, Plus, Scotts and Pour & Feed are trade marks of The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company LLC or its affiliates.
Sunday, 27 November 2011
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