Cairngorm’s Black
CAMRA has awarded Cairngorm’s Black Gold the title of Champion Winter Beer of Britain at the Great British Beer Festival Winter 2025.
Following over a year of local blind-tasting panels and regional heats, the final round of judging took place at the winter festival, with Black Gold (4.4% ABV), a session stout from Scottish brewers Cairngorm, named as overall Champion Winter Beer of Britain.
Champion Beer of Britain judging panel organiser Christine Cryne described the beer as having: “Roasted coffee nose with dark fruits and earthy hops. The flavour is of refreshing coffee with sweet malt, orange and dark fruits, leading to a satisfying dry, chocolatey finish. Very easy drinking.”
Reacting to the win, Cairngorm’s Sales Director Merlin Sandbach said: “After winning Champion Beer of Scotland two years consecutively, and four years in total, the team is ecstatic. Our head brewer Liam, Gemma from Productions and I are absolutely over the moon!”
The runners up in the competition were Sarah Hughes’s Snowflake (8% ABV), which took home Silver, and Grain’s Slate (6% ABV) which claimed Bronze.
CAMRA’s Awards Director Gary Timmins said: “Massive congratulations to Cairngorm for their fantastic win plus all the amazing category winners in this year’s competition. Black Gold is a cracking pint, and even in such an incredibly competitive shortlist, it is a worthy winner.
“Every year our judges find it harder and harder to pick a winner, which speaks volumes of the brewing talent in the UK. Despite their evident quality, our brewers struggle to find a place at the bar of our locals. Soulless global conglomerates have a greedy stranglehold on the industry, restricting true customer choice and our independent brewers’ access to market.
“Everyone should get out to their pub, social club or taproom and look out for one of your local brews – it might be one of our award-winning beers!”
The category winners from the Champion Winter Beer of Britain competition will be entered into the overall Champion Beer of Britain competition later this year.
All category winners
Overall Winners:
Gold: Cairngorm – Black Gold
Silver: Sarah Hughes – Snowflake
Bronze: Grain – Slate
Brown Ales, Red Ales, Old Ales and Strong Milds:
Gold: Tintagel – Caliburn
Silver: Orkney – Dark Island
Bronze: Merlin – Dark Magic
Session Stouts and Porters
Gold: Cairngorm – Black Gold
Silver: Blackjack – Manchester Stout
Bronze: Dancing Duck – Dark Drake
Strong Stouts and Porters:
Gold: Grain – Slate
Silver: Fixed Wheel Blackheath Stout
Bronze: Acorn – Gorlovka Imperial Stout
Barley Wines and Strong Ales:
Gold: Sarah Hughes – Snowflake
Silver: Abbeydale – Black Mass
Bronze: Exmoor – Beast
Speciality, Differently Produced:
Gold: Allendale – Adder Lager
Silver: Anspach & Hobday – Smoked Brown
Bronze: Cromarty – Red Rocker
Speciality, Differently Flavoured:
Gold: Siren – Broken Dream Breakfast Stout
Silver: Mr. Winter’s – Vanilla Latte
Bronze: Purple Moose – Cwrw Ysgawen/Elderflower Ale
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