Beer Tasting Competition 2021

The Brewers’ Company Annual Beer Tasting Competition made a triumphant return this year after a COVID-induced hiatus in 2020 and it was certainly worth the wait.

Quizmasters and reigning champions from 2019, Tring Brewery, put together a fiendishly challenging quiz that also provided plenty of good fun. Expertly led by Liveryman Richard Shardlow, the team chose some fascinating beers for the competitors to taste, which included a dark mild, an English IPA and a barley wine, and beers flavoured with smoke, whiskey barrels and heather.

The eleven competing teams of Liverymen and colleagues really got stuck in and brought all their reserves of knowledge to bear – with varying levels of success! In the end the team from Sambrook’s Brewery (pictured with the Master and Clerk), led by Liveryman Duncan Sambrook, emerged the victors, with Hook Norton Brewery, led by Liveryman James Clarke, coming a close second. An honourable mention also went to the team from Aldenham School who came in a respectable third place, beating several of the brewery teams, despite their knowledge of beer being purely recreational!