Hobgoblin celebrates top beer titles!

• Hobgoblin IPA – Country Winner for taste
• Hobgoblin King Goblin – Country Winner for taste
• Hobgoblin Ruby – Silver award for taste
• The Hobgoblin Range – Silver award for design

With more than 2,200 beers from more than 50 countries entered into this year’s awards, this is an amazing achievement. The award’s international and highly respected judging panel blind tasted and scored the entries across three rounds of judging.

Traditionally, all tastings have been held in person, with judges coming together from across the globe. However, this year the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a challenge so instead of bringing the judges to the beers, the beers were brought to the judges. Black-wrapped and sent across the Europe, Asia, Canada and Brazil, judges tasted the beers at home and connected for each session over Zoom.

Adrian Tierney-Jones, Chair of the World Beer Awards, said: “This year’s winners in the World Beer Awards demonstrate the verve and vitality of brewers and their wonderful beers around the globe. The category winners are to be congratulated on their successes, but I would also like to thank the judges in the UK, Germany, North America, Japan and Brazil for the dedication and professionalism they have shown especially during these challenging times.”

As well as taste quality, design excellence was also judged, and was chaired by Felicity Murray, founder of TheDrinksReport.com. Samples were judged in seven categories. Felicity said: “It’s always refreshing to see so many imaginative label designs and this year was no exception. The judges were particularly impressed by the growing number of beer brands breaking away from the category norm with creative new ideas that stand out from the crowd.”