For the fourth (and probably final) year, ICB is going to be giving out awards for Ireland's best beers at the Franciscan Well festival this Easter. Next year, the awards will pass to Beoir as ICB's new governing body.
Last year's format worked quite well, I thought, so I'm in favour of using it again. Though if anyone has any better ideas, let us know.
It goes like this:
Every member chooses a top ten of the Irish-brewed beers available over the previous year. From the compiled list we select, proportionally, an overall winner and two runners-up.
[b:bghu6i0a]Eligible beers[/b:bghu6i0a] are any which are both:
1. Brewed in Ireland (including Northern Ireland), [b:bghu6i0a]and are[/b:bghu6i0a]
2. Commercially available in Ireland (including NI) between 1st April 2009 and 31 March 2010.
This includes one-offs, seasonals, festival specials, limited editions and any other beer so long as the brewer is asking people for money for it. It does not include ciders, meads or other non-beer brews.
The competition is dispense-neutral: each candidate is only listed once, regardless of the number of different ways it is packaged and served.
To help with decision-making, this post has a list of every eligible beer at the bottom. I'm bound to have forgotten some, so please post any that are missing to this thread and I'll add them in. Similarly, there may be new beers coming to market during the remaining months of the competition. Let us know here when you see them -- names, please, not "That one I had in that place. It's brown". And of course if any of the ones listed here are phantoms, tell me and I'll remove them.
Voting is open to everyone who is a member of ICB on the closing date of 31 March. If you're a commercial brewer you're allowed vote freely, but if you vote for your own beer we will point at you and laugh.
[b:bghu6i0a]To vote[/b:bghu6i0a]: On or before 31 March 2010 (preferably a week or two before, but take your time if you're still making up your mind), send a list of your top ten Irish beers to <!-- e --><a href="
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you can't make it to ten, that's not a problem, just give us what you've got. The competition will work best, I think, if you limit your votes to beers you [i:bghu6i0a]actually drank during the period of the competition[/i:bghu6i0a], but we won't be holding anyone to that. Remember, it must have been available to [i:bghu6i0a]purchase[/i:bghu6i0a] during this period, however. And please include your ICB username in the e-mail.
The results will be decided by (something resembling) PR-STV: we will eliminate all the beers with no votes, then start picking out the ones with few votes and reassigning those votes to the second preference. This continues until only four beers are left, and the top three are the prize-winners.
Last year it was pretty easy to put together a shortlist of contenders and publish that in advance of the final results -- I'm aiming to do that again this year. For those who'd prefer the vote went by style categories, we don't publish this information, but if you PM me I can let you what the top beers were by style, location and various other criteria.
I'll sticky this thread. Please post any questions to it, and you needn't vote yet unless you really want to. Just get thinking about what your favourite Irish beers are.
[size=150:bghu6i0a]The Field[/size:bghu6i0a]
Acton's Lager (Messrs Maguire)
Acton's Stout (Messrs Maguire)
Acton's Wheat Beer (Messrs Maguire)
Aldi Traditional Irish Ale (Carlow)
Alt (Porterhouse)
Amber (White Gypsy)
Amstel (Heineken)
Barney's Brew (Hilden)
Bay Ale (Bay Brewery)
Bay Lager (Bay Brewery)
Beamish Stout (Heineken)
Belfast Ale (Whitewater)
Belfast Black (Whitewater)
Belfast Blonde (Hilden)
Belfast Lager (Whitewater)
Blarney Blonde (Franciscan Well)
Blonde (White Gypsy)
Bock (Messrs Maguire)
Boh Pils (Franciscan Well)
Brainblásta (Porterhouse)
Bruinette (White Gypsy)
Buckley's (Carlow)
Bud Light (Diageo)
Budweiser (Diageo)
Bull Island (Barrelhead)
Carlsberg (Diageo)
Carlsberg Mid-Strength (Diageo)
Cashel Lager (Barrelhead)
Cathedral Quarter (Hilden)
Chiller (Porterhouse)
Chocolate Truffle Stout (Porterhouse)
Clotworthy Dobbin (Whitewater)
Coors Light (Heineken)
Copperhead (Whitewater)
Crown Glory (Whitewater)
Cúl Dorcha (Beoir Chorca Duibhne)
Curim Gold (Carlow)
Dearg (Barrelhead)
Dunkel (White Gypsy)
Easter Stout (Carlow)
Emerald (White Gypsy)
Fosters (Heineken)
Friar Weisse (Franciscan Well)
Gael Rua (Hilden)
Galway Hooker (Hooker)
Galway Hooker Dark Wheat (Hooker)
Galway Hooker Pils (Hooker)
Golden Otter (Franciscan Well)
Goods Store IPA (Carlow)
Guinness (Diageo)
Guinness Foreign Extra (Diageo)
Guinness Mid-Strength (Diageo)
Guinness Special Export (Diageo)
Halt (Hilden)
Harp (Diageo)
Haus (Messrs Maguire)
Headless Dog (Hilden)
Heineken (Heineken)
Hersbrucker (Porterhouse)
Hilden (Hilden)
Hop Head (Porterhouse)
Imperial (Messrs Maguire)
Indian Pale Ale (White Gypsy)
Ireland's Call (Hilden)
Jul Ól (Messrs Maguire)
Kenmare Beer (Franciscan Well)
Killary Lager (Barrelhead)
Kilkenny (Diageo)
Kinsale Lager (Beamish & Crawford)
Knight Porter (Whitewater)
M&S Irish Stout (Carlow)
Macardle's (Diageo)
Malty Bitches (Carlow)
Mizen (Barrelhead)
Molly Malone Porter (Hilden)
Molly's Chocolate Stout (Hilden)
Murphy's Stout (Heineken)
O'Hara's Celebration (Carlow)
O'Hara's Irish Pale Ale (Carlow)
O'Hara's Leann Folláin (Carlow)
O'Hara's Red (Carlow)
O'Hara's Stout (Carlow)
Oyster Stout (Porterhouse)
Phúca (Franciscan Well)
Pifko Premium (Barrelhead)
Plain MM (Messrs Maguire)
Plain PH (Porterhouse)
Porterhouse Red (Porterhouse)
Purgatory (Franciscan Well)
Rebel Lager (Franciscan Well)
Rebel Red (Franciscan Well)
Rusty (Messrs Maguire)
Satzenbrau (Diageo)
Scullion's (Hilden)
Shandon Stout (Franciscan Well)
Silver (Hilden)
Smithwick's (Diageo)
Solas Light (Unknown)
Temple Brau (Porterhouse)
Three Kings (Franciscan Well)
Titanic Quarter (Hilden)
TSB (Porterhouse)
Weavers Gold (Clanconnel)
Weiss (Messrs Maguire)
Wrassler's XXXX (Porterhouse)
" title="Rolling Eyes" /><!-- s:roll: -->
