A Suffolk brewery has been pipped to the post for a major beer accolade.

Lowestoft-based Green Jack brewery narrowly missed out on the top spot at the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) prestigious Champion Beer of Britain award, taking second place.

Its strong barley wine Ripper won through from regional heats to the Great British Beer Festival at Olympia London, which opened to the public on Tuesday, August 7.

Overall winner was Berkshire-based Siren Brewery for its Broken Dream Breakfast Stout.

CAMRA national director Nick Boley said: “Congratulations to Green Jack for coming second place in the Champion Beer of Britain award, which is the highest beer accolade in the country. Ripper is a beautifully balanced and drinkable barley wine that has taken home more than 100 awards at CAMRA and SIBA beer festivals since it was founded in 2003.”

Tim Dunford from Green Jack Brewery said: “It’s absolutely brilliant that we have taken home silver - one day we will take home gold. We really love our strong beers and used to travel to Belgium all the time when we first got into the industry - I fell in love with the style and we have gone on from there.”