Pete Brown scores Guild of Beer Writers’ top award for fourth time
The Beer Writer of the Year is the top accolade in the Guild’s annual competition for writing about beer and pubs, and this year received more than 150 entries across 13 categories.
Brown scored the esteemed title in 2016, 2012 and 2009, and this year also won the Gold award in the categories Best Writing about Pubs, Best Online Communicator and Best Book about Beer or Pubs, for Beer By Design.
Chair of the Guild and of this year's awards judging Emma Inch said: "Pete is a worthy Beer Writer of the Year. He has a talent for finding interesting nuggets in whatever he's writing about, and turning them into stories that don't just appeal to beer geeks, but pull in a wider audience. His work is always meticulously researched, but also accessible and great fun to read.”
Brown is a London-based author, journalist and broadcaster specialising in food and drink, and has written 12 books and writes for worldwide newspapers and magazines.
Previous wins
He has also won three Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards and has contributed to BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme.
Inch said the standard of entries across categories was extremely high and judges had a tough task of choosing the runners up.
She said: “We were impressed by the levels of knowledge, energy and passion that shone through the works submitted by our finalists, whether they had written a column, published a book or produced a film.”
This year’s highest ever prize fund of £17,000 was shared between 16 Gold and Silver award winners.
Sponsored by the Society of Independent Brewers, the Brewer of the Year title was presented to John Hatch of Ram Brewery.
Fellow winners
Presenting the award, Inch said: "John has deservedly won enormous respect across the brewing sector and this was reflected in our poll.
“According to one of the Guild members who nominated John, he "single handedly managed to keep the continuation of brewing on Wandsworth's Young's Brewery site."
Inch was joined by eight others on the judging panel, including the managing director of Titanic Brewery Keith Bott, publisher at Kyle Books Joanna Copestick and chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association Emma McClarkin.
Other winners included Gabriele Bertucci, whose Turning the Tide podcasts won Harvey’s Tom Paine Award for Best Citizen Beer Communicator, and Will Hawkes, who won Visitflanders Award for Best Beer and Travel Writer.
The awards dinner was held at One Great George Street in Westminster, and each dish was served with a specially selected beer.
Inch said: "Everyone who received an award or a commendation should be extremely proud; they really are the cream of British beer writing in 2021 and we wish them all success in their future career communicating about beer and pubs."
