A new name joins the list of sponsors for this year’s Guild of Beer Writers Awards as Asahi Europe Ltd becomes the category sponsor for the Best Beer & Travel Writer 2019.
The Beer & Travel category has been part of the Guild’s competition for many years, attracting a wide range of entries from writers, book publishers, podcasters and others relating their beer-related travels both in the UK and abroad. Last year’s Best Beer & Travel Writer was Jonny Garrett, creator of the Craft Beer Channel and the Silver award went to author Mark Dredge for his book, The Beer Bucket List.
Asahi’s sponsorship enables the Guild to raise the prize money for the Beer & Travel category to offer £1,000 for the winner and £500 for the runner up. The Best Beer & Travel Writer, along with other category winners, will be considered for the overall Beer Writer of the Year Award.
Guild Chair Pete Brown said: “We’re delighted to welcome Asahi on board as a sponsor of our annual awards. Entries to this category are always a joy to judge, as vibrant, entertaining and informative stories of beers enjoyed, and pubs and bars visited, while travelling.
“We now have eight award sponsors and are immensely grateful for their support, which allows us to run a competition that is robustly judged, with a generous prize fund and a presentation dinner in December that is one of the ‘must attend’ events for the drinks industry.”
Ben Jenkins, Head of Corporate Communications at Asahi Europe, said: “We are extremely pleased to be joining up with the Guild for this year’s event, and we look forward to celebrating the great work of its members. With brands in our portfolio coming from many different corners of the globe, and our focus on provenance and the spirit of discovery, we were particularly keen to sponsor the Beer & Travel category.”
The Awards opened earlier this month and close on 6 September, with the winners announced at the Guild’s annual dinner in December. Full details of how to enter the Awards, including a list of the categories, criteria and downloadable entry and nomination forms, can be found on the British Guild of Beer Writers Awards page. Entries must have been published between 1 September 2018 and 31 August 2019 to be eligible.
Judging this year’s award entries are: Laurence Creamer, Social & Digital Lead on industry campaign Long Live The Local; Tim Hayward, food & drink author, restaurant reviewer and regular on Radio 4’s Kitchen Cabinet;: Charlie McVeigh, founder of Draft House; Tony Naylor, food & drink writer contributing to The Guardian and BBC Good Food; Ross O’Hara, head brewer at Greene King; Kate Oppenheim, hospitality sector journalist and communications expert, currently publisher and editor of BII News; Tony Sophoclides, Strategic Affairs Director at UKHospitality. The current Beer Writer of the Year, writer and broadcaster Emma Inch, chairs the panel.
The winner and runner up in each category and the overall Beer Writer of the Year 2019 will be announced at the Guild’s annual Awards dinner, which is being held on Tuesday 3 December at One Great George Street, Westminster.
The categories:
- Greene King Award for Best Beer Writer – National Media
- Adnams Award for Best Beer Writer – Regional Media
- Fuller Smith & Turner Award for Best Beer Writer – Trade Media
- Heineken Award for Best Beer Communicator – Online
- St Austell Family Group Award for Best Young Beer Writer
- Asahi Award for Best Beer & Travel Writer
- Long Live The Local Award for Best Writer about Pubs
- Guild Award for Best Beer Broadcaster
- Guild Award for Best Beer Writer – Corporate Communications
- Guild Award for Best Beer Citizen Communicator
- SIBA Brewer of the Year Award (by member vote)
The Guild is grateful to the following sponsors, whose support makes possible our annual awards and dinner:
Adnams
Established in 1872, Adnams combines innovation with tradition. Behind the walls of its Victorian-looking building, it has some of the most advanced and energy-efficient brewing equipment in Europe and constantly experiments with new, innovative techniques. Adnams brews a range of quality beers which reflect its heritage but also challenge conventions. The brewer uses locally-grown East Anglian grains of malted barley, rye, wheat and oats wherever possible and deploy a number of different hop varieties from Britain as well as across the world – all of which contribute to their beers’ individual characters. Adnams retains the values of an independent, family run business with a strong commitment to and leadership in sustainable business practice.
Asahi Europe Ltd
Asahi Europe’s beer portfolio includes beers brewed in unique ways and with unique histories, from medieval Belgium and Netherlands to modernday Japan, Italy and Great Britain. Crafted from a long tradition and rich heritage, our world-class brands continuously reinvent themselves as contemporary premium beers that travel the world and please discerning consumers in nearly 80 countries. Supported by state-of-the-art breweries, quality ingredients and a culture that fosters innovation, encourages collaboration and rewards high performance, we aim to bring the best quality of beer to life. Our variety of beers delight millions of people around the world with their top quality and uncompromising integrity.
Fuller, Smith and Turner
Fuller, Smith and Turner P.L.C. is a premium pub and hotel business with just under 200 Tenanted and just over 200 Managed Pubs and Hotels. Fuller’s focuses on providing delicious fresh, home-cooked food, outstanding cask and craft ale, great wine and exceptional service and there are 817 boutique bedrooms across the Managed estate. The Fuller’s pub estate stretches from Brighton to Birmingham and from Bristol to the Greenwich Peninsula, including 173 locations within the M25. Fuller’s also owns Bel & The Dragon, six stunning country inns across the Home Counties, and The Stable, a craft cider and gourmet pizza restaurant business, with 17 restaurants in England and Wales. In April 2019, Fuller’s sold its beer business to Asahi Europe Ltd.
Greene King
Brewing in Bury St Edmunds, the home of Greene King, dates back 1000 years to day of the Doomsday book and in 2019 our two historic breweries, Westgate in Bury St Edmunds and Belhaven in Dunbar will be celebrating a combined brewing heritage of 520 years. With a diverse range in our beer portfolio, from pale ales to craft beers and from bitters to stout one thing is for sure, our passion for brewing top quality, delicious beer is as strong today as all those years ago.
We are proud to sponsor the Guild of Beer Writers Awards, a wonderful celebration of our national passion for great quality British beer, the writers who challenge the brewers and the brewing industry who continue to drive innovation in beer.
Heineken
With over 2,000 passionate people, some of the nation’s most loved beers and ciders, 2,700 pubs, thousands of acres of orchards and three UK breweries, there’s more to HEINEKEN than the name above the door. Our portfolio of brands includes Heineken®, Lagunitas, Birra Moretti, Maltsmiths, Kronenbourg1664, John Smith’s, Amstel and Red Stripe, backed by a full range of niche and speciality brands. We are also proud to work in partnership with Beavertown Brewery and Brixton Brewery.
As long term supporters of the British Guild of Beer Writers, we truly believe in the power of storytelling – whether that be through the written word, a podcast, or a photograph. And we are proud to be sponsoring once again.
Long Live The Local
This campaign, backed by Britain’s Beer Alliance, celebrates the vital role local pubs play in our community, culture and economy whilst highlighting the jeopardy they face from a range of taxes including beer duty, business rates and VAT. Last year more than 116,000 people signed the petition and almost 50,000 people wrote to their MP asking for a cut in beer duty. In addition, more than 19,000 pubs supported the campaign. The Chancellor heard the voices of pub goers, publicans and politicians and froze beer duty protecting jobs and future investment – but there is more to do
This year there is a further beer duty rise planned in the Autumn Budget, so we are encouraging everyone to sign a petition and email their MP to ask for a cut in beer duty at www.longlivethelocal.pub.
SIBA
SIBA represent around 750 independent craft brewers across the UK and are the voice of British independent brewing. With their ‘Assured Independent British Craft Brewer’ seal, SIBA champion quality, flavoursome beers from independent craft brewers, as well as protect the businesses of thousands of breweries across the UK through Government lobbying and campaigning in Parliament.
St Austell Family Group
In 2016, St Austell Brewery joined forces with fellow West Country brewer, Bath Ales, forming the St Austell Family Group.
Independent, family-owned brewer, St Austell Brewery has been brewing beer in Cornwall since 1851. Most famous for its flagship beer, Tribute Cornish Pale Ale, St Austell Brewery’s range of award-winning beers – also including Proper Job IPA and Korev Lager – are available in pubs and supermarkets nationwide.
Bath Ales opened the doors to its new four-vessel brew house, Hare Brewery, in 2018. Fronted by flagship beer, Gem, Hare Brewery has the capacity to produce over 50,000 brewers’ barrels of beer – doubling Bath Ales’ previous brewing capacity. An exciting schedule of new beers launched alongside the brewery opening, including a West Coast IPA – Lansdown – and premium English lager, Sulis.
The St Austell Family Group employs more than 1,500 people and runs over 175 pubs, inns and hotels across the South West.