Publican columnist is Beer Writer of the Year
Author and Publican columnist Pete Brown was last night crowned Beer Writer of the Year at the British Guild of Beer Writers Awards.
As well as picking up the overall title - which has this year been named after late beer writer Michael Jackson for the first time - Brown also won the Budweiser Budvar John White Travel Bursary for his book Hops and Glory.
Brown said: "The fact that, for the first year, the award was renamed in honour of Michael Jackson, makes winning it doubly special to me.
"I have been writing about beer for six years, but everything seemed to click into place in 2009 and I am over the moon to win this."
Other winners named at the event at the Tower Hilton hotel in London included former Publican journalist Ben McFarland for beer and food writing, Mark Dredge in the new media category for his blog pencilandpsoon and Jeff Evans, editor of www.insidebeer.com for trade writer of the year.
Tim Hampson, chairman of the British Guild of Beer Writers, said: "I think the standard of entries is rising and the exciting thing is the number of mediums writers are using. It is not just print media, but there was such a high standard with electronic entries too.
"There has never been a better time to be an observer or writer about the brewing industry - there is so much going on."
Read Pete Brown's blog at petebrown.blogspot.com/
