Pubs of the Year and breweries celebrate at annual event
The best pubs and breweries in and around Oxford came together in February at the recently re-opened Oranges & Lemons in St Clement’s, to celebrate their success in ballots by local CAMRA members and a panel of beer tasters from this area and throughout the Midlands.
It was appropriate to hold the event in the Oranges & Lemons, formerly the Angel & Greyhound, as this pub is now run by Morgan Pub Collective. Morgan’s first pub in Oxford was the Grapes, re-opened in August 2023, which carried off the City Pub of the Year title at the first attempt. Long-standing favourite the Royal Blenheim came second, with another previous winner, the Masons Arms, coming third.
The Crafty Pint in Witney was chosen as Town & Village Pub of the Year, the first time a micro-pub has won the title. Previous winner the Brewery Tap in Abingdon came second, while third was the much improved King’s Arms in Kidlington. The Oxford CAMRA committee has chosen the Grapes to go forward as our contender for Oxfordshire Pub of the Year.
Brewery awards were different this year as Oxford CAMRA did not stage its own competition at last year’s beer festival, because the festival was venue for independent breweries association SIBA to stage its Midlands regional competition.
But two breweries who did well in the SIBA competition were honoured as Local Champions, starting with Oxford Brewery which won the Gold Award for Trinity in the Cask Session Pale Ale category. It also won a bronze award for keg stout and porter.
Loose Cannon won no fewer than nine awards in the SIBA competition, including Overall Gold in the Cask British Best Bitter category, for Something Wonderful. The keg version of this beer also won gold, as did St Amand and Dubbel Bubbel in keg categories. Loose Cannon general manager Anneli Baxter was also presented with an Appreciation Award.
Finally the People’s Choice award went to the first beer to sell out at last year’s beer festival – by 100-litre micro-brewery Craftsman in Abingdon, for Scooby Dooby Doo IPA. Well done Justin and Sam Evans!
Oxford CAMRA chair John Winney said that membership of this branch was growing for the first time since the pandemic, and that in 2024 our members had completed beer scores for 600 different beers from 240 breweries, at 142 pubs. He paid tribute to top beer scorers Gareth Green, Pete Flynn and Chris Spry, whose efforts help choose candidates for the Good Beer Guide.