CBA February Tasting: Porter&Stout / Ales

British beer styles in focus in February / Best Ales, Porters and Stouts awarded / Special awards go to Braufactum, Zombräu and Riedenburger Brauhaus

With the start of 2021, Meininger's International Craft Beer Award, one of the world's most renowned beer competitions, has changed to a new monthly and seasonally oriented format. The February tasting was all about top-fermented British beer styles. The expert jury of beer sommeliers, brewers and other experts from research and academia tasted the beer styles porter and stout, as well as a range of ales - from blonde ales to amber and brown ales to dark ales.*

Internationale Braumanufacturen GmbH from Frankfurt is delighted with the title "Ale of the Year" for its "BraufactuM - The Brale". The Brown Ale from the German craft beer pioneers convinced the jury with its particularly soft malt aroma, paired with spicy-fruity hop notes and hints of hazelnut.

The beer experts awarded the "Dolden Dark Porter" from Riedenburger Brauhaus as "Porter of the Year". According to the jury's vote, the successful organic brewery from Niederbayern succeeded in creating a particularly successful blend of malt and caramel notes, in which aromas of chocolate and coffee are perfectly embedded.

The special award for "Stout of the Year" went to the young craft beer brand Zombräu, also based in Niederbayern. The brothers Tobias and Bastian Merches succeeded in achieving the highest rating in this category with their Imperial Stout "Motor Oil". An intense beer experience with 7.5% alcohol by volume, an almost oily texture and malt-dominated, complex aromas full of coffee and chocolate.

"This was a tasting at a really high level," Benjamin Brouër, beer expert of Meininger Verlag and board member of the Craft Beer Award, is pleased to say. "The aromatic range of the beers tasted once again showed how colourful and diverse the international beer world is." And Christian Wolf, Director Degustation, draws a first conclusion after the change to monthly themed tastings: "The industry has responded positively to our innovative advance. Word of the new system is spreading quickly and is already showing its advantages."

The next themed tasting will take place in mid-March. Belgian beer styles as well as fruit and sour beers will then await the expert jury.

An overview of all the medal winners of the February tasting can be found here: www.meininger.de/en/verkostungen/ergebnisse/craft-beer-award-february-tasting-porter-stout-ales

*The beer styles Pale Ale and India Pale Ale were not tasted in February, they will be on the agenda in June 2021.

About Meininger's International Craft Beer Award:
Meininger's International Craft Beer Award was launched in 2014 by Meininger Verlag. Until 2020, the competition took place once a year, with up to 1,200 beer specialities from all over the world being tasted blind by almost 100 national and international beer experts.
With the reorientation to a monthly, theme-specific tasting format, the competition guarantees an even more detailed and now also seasonal beer specialities open tasting and assessment of the submitted beers by a proven expert jury.

Eight years after its premiere, Meininger's International Craft Beer Award is one of the most important beer competitions. With its tasting methodology, the competition sets new standards in the field of beer evaluation. Based on the international 100-point scheme, the beers are not evaluated comparatively, but individually according to appearance, smell and taste by a jury of experts without knowledge of the producer. In addition, the competition describes each beer tasted sensorially in terms of the aromas and attributes typical of the respective beer style. From this, an aroma diagram is created that is comprehensible and understandable for brewers and consumers and gives a first impression of the taste of the beer.

Meininger Verlag is the publisher of numerous beverage publications such as the magazine for beer culture "Meininger's Craft". The media company has demonstrated its tasting expertise for more than 20 years with numerous internationally recognised wine and spirits competitions.

Press contact:
Nicole Zeisset
Meininger Verlag GmbH
Maximilianstr. 7-17
67433 Neustadt/Germany
Phone: +49 6321 89 08 94
E-Mail: [email protected]
Internet:
www.craft-beer-award.com