Meantime Brewing

Awards We Have Won and Awards We Haven't Won

Beers of the World August 2008 New Releases Meantime London Pale Ale
Beers of the World August 2008 New Releases Meantime London Pale Stout
Beers of the World August 2008 New Releases Meantime Pilsner
World Beer Awards June 2008 Coffee Beer Class Meantime Coffee Porter - World's Best Coffee Beer
World Beer Cup April 2008 Coffee Beer Class Meantime Coffee Porter - Silver
Australian International Beer Awards March 2008 German Style Hefeweizen Meantime Wheat Grand Cru - Silver Packaged Porter Meantime London Porter - Bronze Meantime Coffee Porter - Bronze Packaging Meantime India Pale Ale - Bronze
International Beer Challenge October 2007 World's Best Stout & Porter up to 6.9% Meantime Coffee Porter World's Best fruit Beer Meantime Raspberry Grand Cru
International Beer Challenge October 2007 World's 50 Best Beers Meantime Coffee Porter Meantime Raspberry Grand Cru Meantime Pale Ale Meantime London Porter
World Beer Awards September 2007 World's Best Wheat Beer (Flavoured) Meantime Raspberry Grand Cru
World Beer Awards September 2007 World's Best Wheat Beer (Grain Only) Meantime Wheat Grand Cru
World Beer Awards September 2007 World's Best Premium Lager(Vienna) Meantime Union
World Beer Awards September 2007 World's Best Premium Coffee Beer Meantime Coffee Porter
World Beer Awards September 2007 World's Best Chocolate Beer Meantime Chocolate
SIBA SE RegionBeer Competition September 2007 Gold - Strong Milds, Porters, Stouts & Old Ales Meantime Single London Stout
SIBA SE RegionBeer Competition September 2007 Silver - Speciality Beer Meantime Wheat
SIBA Local Business Brewing Awards October 2006 Winner - Best Use of Electronic Media Highly Commended - Best Product Launch
Beers of the World Magazine - Editor's Choice October 2006 - Fruit Beers - Raspberry Grand Cru August 2006 - New Releases - IPA August 2006 - New Releases - London Porter
Q Awards 2006 Lager Class Gold Medal Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Cologne Style Lager Speciality Beer Class Gold Medal Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Bavarian Style Wheat Beer
World Beer Cup 2006 Coffee Beer Class Gold Medal World Beer Cup 2004 Vienna Lager Class Bronze Medal - TTD Vienna Style Dark Lager World Beer Cup 2004 *Festbier Class* Bronze Medal - TTD Oktobfest Style Lager
Wine and Spirit International Beer Challenge 2005 Lager Class Gold Medal
International Brewing Competition 2005 Bronze Medal - Chocolate Beer
Tesco Drinks Awards 2005 Best Innovation Finalist Meantime Chocolate
Off Licence News - Award for Excellence 2004 Fancy a Pint - Pub of the Year 2004 - Joint Winner Evening Standard Pub of the Year 2003 - Shortlisted Time Out Pub of the Year 2003 - Shortlisted Class Magazine Pub of the Year 2003 - Shortlisted Shine Awards 2002 - Silver Medal

Awards We Haven't Won

Whilst we are naturally proud of the number of awards we have won, we could well have won more had we entered more competitions.

The fact of the matter is that there are a host of brewing competitions we are not interested in entering. Why not?

In short, because we believe that they are flawed. The World Beer Cup, for example, has some 87 classes into which beers can be entered. The style definitions are very clear, enabling the judging criteria to be very rigorous. The emphasis is therefore on quality and flavour. We think this is the world's leading competition and accordingly were very proud, in 2004, to be the only British brewery to win a medal at this event.

In the UK, on the other hand, competitions tend to have classes like 'draught lager up to 4.5%abv, or 'bottled ales over 6.0% abv'.

These are not meaningful categories. Lager, for example, is only a stlye description for the lazy. It is more properly a production method. 'Ale, in this context,' is not a style of beer but a word used to mean 'not lager' . Alcohol bands don't define a style or a set of flavours, they are purely arbitrary means of dividing beers into lumps for convenience. As such they are meaningless as judging guides.

This means that a Helles, a Pilsener, a Dunkles, a Kolsch, or an Alt would all be classed together. The only way then to judge them is by analysis of faults rather than on analysis of merit. This is precisely what happens.

In essence, therefore, what is being judged is a series of production and packaging criteria. How on earth is that going to raise public understanding, or appreciation of beer? The answer is that it isn't and it doesn't.

Accordingly we don't - as a rule - enter these competitions.