Ruby mild – I fancy that.

The quest to find the champion Beer of Britain, at the Great British Beer Festival in Earls Court, West London has come to a conclusion.

and the winners are:-

Champion beer of Britain - Rudgate Ruby

Mild bitter - Surrey Hills Ranmore Ale

Best bitter - Southport Golden Sands

Golden ale - Dark Star American Pale Ale

Strong bitter - West Berkshire Dr Hexter’s Healer

Speciality - Nethergate Umbel Magna

Winter beer - Oakham Attila

Craig Lee and Jamie Allen, in charge of the seven-man brewing operation in Tockwith, North Yorkshire, where Ruby Mild is made say they have been brewing the beer to the same recipe for 14 years — to little interest, with the exception of a silver medal in the mild category last year. Suddenly they will face a surge in demand that will stretch their capacity to the limit.

At present they produce 40 barrels a week — the equivalent of 11,520 pints — and have the capacity to produce 20 more. Previous winners such as the Coniston Brewing Company in Cumbria had to get a larger brewery to help to make their Bluebird Bitter, because demand outstripped supply.

I reckon getting the name right and a fancy label is as much a part of the success of these speciality beers as the flavour. I can remember being intrigued by  bottles of “Spitfire Bitter”, “Hobgoblin”, “Old Peculiar”, “Speckled Hen”, “Bishop’s Finger” and the like in supermarkets in the UK.

Unfashionable as it became, I had a liking for mild which was originally brewed to slake the thirst of miners without knocking them out. Sadly a lot of pubs stopped selling it. Perhaps it is set to make a return and will rival that awful glut of lagers that took over from it – Heineken, Skol etc. 

PS I was brought up on Barnsley Bitter – now that was a man’s beer!