The Champion Beer of Wales is a beer

Beer

Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...

 award presented annually by the Campaign for Real Ale

Campaign for Real Ale

The Campaign for Real Ale is an independent voluntary consumer organisation based in St Albans, England, whose main aims are promoting real ale, real cider and the traditional British pub...

 at the Great Welsh Beer & Cider Festival in Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

.

The award is selected by a multi-tier system. First, individual branches of CAMRA nominate beers

Welsh beer

Welsh beer describes beer brewed in Wales.-History:At least as early at the 6th century, the Druidic legendary person Ceridwen is associated with cauldrons and intoxicating preparations of grain in herbs in many poems of Taliesin, particularly the Hanes Taliesin...

 that have been in regular, non-seasonal production for at least one year from Welsh breweries in a series of CAMRA-defined categories

Beer style

Beer style is a term used to differentiate and categorize beers by various factors such as colour, flavour, strength, ingredients, production method, recipe, history, or origin....

. The most commonly nominated beers in each category are then presented to tasting panels, with one panel consisting of four to six people tasting each beer in a particular style in a blind tasting. These tasting panels are selected from CAMRA members and other individuals, including members of the brewing

Brewing

Brewing is the production of beer through steeping a starch source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BCE, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt...

 industry (although representatives of nominated beers' breweries are excluded). The winners in each of these categories are then presented to a new panel consisting of local celebrities, politicians, and brewers, who, again blind tasting, selects an overall champion

Gold medal

A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...

, silver medal

Silver medal

A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....

ist, and bronze medal

Bronze medal

A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...

ist. Awards are given for the top beer in each category and the three overall top places.

Current & Previous winners are summarized:

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1996	Plassey Brewery Dragon’s Breath
1997	Plassey Brewery Dragon’s Breath	Bullmastiff	Tomos Watkin OSB
1998	Flannery’s Oatmeal Stout
1999	Bullmastiff Gold	Tomos Watkin Old Style Bitter	Pembroke Brewery Old Nobbie Stout
2000	Bullmastiff Gold	Warcop Warcop Warcop is a village and civil parish in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. It is near the A66 road and is north of Kirkby Stephen.It had its own railway station, Warcop railway station from 1862 to 1962...  Pit Prop	Plassey Brewery Dragon’s Breath
2001	Tomos Watkin Merlin's Stout	Brains Dark	Swansea Brewery Original Wood
2002	Bryncelyn Brewery Bryncelyn Brewery Bryncelyn Brewery is a brew pub in 'Wern Fawr Inn', a pub located near Ystalyfera, Neath Port Talbot in Wales. Brewing was begun in July 1999, and the brewers are Will Hopton and Robert Scott....  Buddy Marvelous	Bullmastiff Gold	Brains Dark
2003	Bryncelyn Brewery Oh Boy	Tomos Watkin Merlin Stout	Bryncelyn Brewery Buddy Marvelous
2004	Breconshire Brewery Breconshire Brewery Breconshire Brewery is a brewery in Brecon in Powys, Wales. The head brewer was Justin "Buster" Grant, formerly of Brakspear Brewery.Named after the original 1841 Breconshire Brewery established by Mordecai Jones, the new brewery since its establishment in 2002, has received numerous awards at...  Golden Valley	Bullmastiff	Bryncelyn Brewery Buddy Marvelous
2005	Bullmastiff	Tomos Watkin Merlin Stout	Bryncelyn Brewery Oh Boy
2006	Otley Otley Brewing Company Limited The Otley Brewing Company Limited, colloquially Otley Brewery, is a brewery located in Pontypridd, Wales. Established in 2005, it has won several awards, including the Champion Beer of Wales in 2006. The head brewer is Charlie Otley.-Background:...  O8	Brains Dark	Otley OG
2007	Rhymney Dark	Bryncelyn Brewery Holly Hop	Bryncelyn Brewery Buddy Marvelous
2008	Otley O8	Brains Gold	Brains Dark

External links

• Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival