CAMRA East Anglia announces the top beers in the east.

A draught porter beer named Slate, brewed by the Grain brewery at Alburgh in south Norfolk, has been named the overall gold Champion Beer of East Anglia 2018 by CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale.

The silver award goes to Colchester Brewery for its speciality Brazilian Coffee & Vanilla Porter. Green Jack of Lowestoft scooped bronze for its Ripper Tripel draught barley wine. The recent winners of CAMRA’s national overall Champion Winter Beer of Britain which was judged at the CAMRA Great British Beer Festival Winter in Norwich last week. These winners will now go forward for consideration in the next national round of CAMRA competition.

The awards come following a year of blind judging at CAMRA beer festivals around East Anglia. They include 10 categories covering different styles of real ale, including milds, bitters, golden ales, speciality beers, old ales, stouts, porters and barley wines. Beers are nominated for the competitions by CAMRA’s East Anglia branches and tasting panels.

The East Anglia awards were organised by CAMRA volunteers Paul Moorhouse and Kathy Hadfield-Moorhouse. Paul Moorhouse said: “I am delighted that Grain brewery has won the overall gold medal with its Slate porter. Porters and other dark beers are increasingly popular these days and this beer is a delight.”

CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide describes Grain Slate as: ‘Coffee, caramel and plum on the nose. Dried fruit and sweet maltiness dominate a creamy roast background. Long, strong finish.’

Other gold awards in the East Anglia competition were scooped by Greene King of Bury St Edmunds for its XX Mild, Essex brewers Mighty Oak, Colchester and Bishop Nick and Cambridgeshire brewers Papworth and Milton.