Golden Pints: BV's best beers of 2024

It's that time again, when I cast an over-shouldered glance at all the new beer I got to drink over the past year and tell you which ones were best.

My drinking year was ultimately cut short by a few days due to the worst 'flu' I've ever suffered. Because I don't do hangovers, I'm not really used to having headaches. And it seemed to make the neuropathic pain in my toes many, many times more agonising, like being set on fire and hit repeatedly with sledgehammers and anvils. Then there was the concurrent shivering and fever sweats. Horrible.

But possibly the worst feature was what I call 'Hypnogogic Purgatory' - highly tedious and frustrating half-dreams that seem to go on forever in a state where I'm not fully asleep or awake; a sense of endlessly trying to shuffle arbitrary objects into an order and constantly failing to do so. (Maybe Hypnogogic Purgatory should be an Imperial Stout?!?)

Scores on the Doors

Anyway, this wretched malady fair knocked me out of my Christmas drinking stride and meant that 2024 ended with me stuck on 698 new cask beers - a bit short of where I had planned to be, though still my highest tally in five years - and it brings the total since records began to 12,295!

However, an impressive 14 of these beers achieved scores of 8/9, which is a whole lot better than the mere four from 2023! (I'm not generous with my marking. Never have been!)

And so, I have duly picked from these five to be my Golden Pints of 2024, but just before I get to that, a few other awards...

My favourite keg beer of the year was the outrageously (but accurately) named Blueberry Muffin Waffle Cone Crunch Triple Scoop sour from Edinburgh's Vault City brewery. This 8.3% concocotion of confectionary was as drinkably insane as it sounds. Highly creative and delicious. Purists be damned; I love stuff like this!

Somewhat more conventional is my favourite canned beer in 2024 - Vocation Sweet Temptation - a 6.5% chocolate stout in collaboration with Brew York. This beer has been around for a while, but it's a really top example of the genre and it has to be said that I really, really would like to get my palate around a cask version at some point!

I don't typically do a keg lager category, but it's worth mentioning Lambrate Montestella which has to be one of the best Pilsners I've ever had and was an unexpected highlight of a recent visit to Milan. Why does the British market get ersatz crap like 'Madri' when they could import this?!?

Being a fairly serious ticker, I don't revisit that many beers ever - it's just not what I do when there's new stuff to try - but for what it's worth my favourite beer last year that wasn't new was Church End Goats Milk - it just always strikes me as an incredible well-made session beer, but with a unique flavour that nobody can ever quite place.

 

Five of the Best

But let's crack on with the really important stuff - my favourite new cask beers of 2024, and in no particular order these are...

One of the best...

Brewsmith Olicana IPA - back in the early Summer I was finally able to visit the Petersgate Tap in Stockport for the first time where I enjoyed a decent session, which concluded with this beauty. 'A stunning hopbomb and not even that strong' was my best description at the time, given that it was about my 11th pint of the day. But it is only 5.5% and yet delivered a very satisfying payload of fruity hops. A beer that you want to drink even after you've drunk a lot of beer - that's always a good sign!

Drop Project Bizkit - I got to try this at the Hope (Carshalton) Winter Beer festival at the end of November where it sold out in a matter of hours, despite being 10.5%. It's an Impy stout with Coffee and Biscoff, with a demi-sweet spiciness and rich, lingering hug of warming coffee-caramel flavours. Unbelievably well-balanced, and even by Drop Project's high standards, an incredibly impressive beer.

Lambrate Tiramisu Imperial Stout - sticking with the Desserty goodness, this is an award-winning beer that I'd sampled before, but never previously on cask. I had to go to Milan to do so, mind! Look, it's 11.5% but it slips down effortlessly like a lubricated chocolate condom. But without the mankiness, obviously. There's deep flavours of coffee and vanilla and cream and general lushness. I just can't imagine anyone not liking this beer. Strong stouts on cask have become a major thing in Italy in recent years, and I can see why!

Tiny Rebel Beach Off - my biggest issue with Tiny Rebel nowadays is that they keep putting out beers that sound absolutely amazing, but I never actually get to try them! Happily this one did find its way into my eager mouth at the Caterham Beer Festival. Apricot and Vanilla Milkshake IPA, and just 4.3%. Gorgeous.

And finally, a beer that may have helped the Star and Garter in Bromley become my Pub of the Year.  Ilkley Dad Jokes - 5.2% New England Pale, with so much juicy fruit going on, it defies logic. This was actually a multi-brewery collab involving Brew York, Roosters and Vocation to mark the 15th anniversary of brewing at Ilkley, but I gather it's likely to be a permanent fixture because it proved so popular. More of a 'beer that tastes like beer' than some of the others, of course, but absolutely fucking brilliant in the way it does it.

I'm still not feeling 100% and haven't begun by 2025 programme of ale consumption yet, but I'm hopeful that this year will deliver further delights and surprises in pint form.

Happy New Beer, everyone!