Great British Beer Festival: Coniston Brewery not expecting huge rise in demand after winning Champion Beer of Britain

07-Aug-2012 - Last updated on 12-Mar-2017 at 00:48 GMT

The brewer behind the Champion Beer of Britain, Coniston No 9 Barley Wine, is not expecting a huge rise in demand for the beer because "it isn't a style of beer that you can drink gallons of".

Speaking immediately after being crowned with the title, David Smith of Coniston Brewing Company explained that the 8.5% ABV beer is a drink to be savoured at the end of a meal, so it is unlikely that sales will increase dramatically.

He said: "I am shell-shocked. We weren't expecting it. With it being the winner of the winter beer festival, I wouldn't have expected to come to the summer festival and see that style of beer win. But I'm pleased that we have won. It's a classic British beer, so why shouldn't it win?

"I wouldn't have thought demand would go mad. It isn't a style of beer that you can drink gallons of. Our last champion beer of Britiain was 3.6% (Bluebird Bitter in 1998) so on the total opposite end of the drinking spectrum.

"This (No 9 Barley Wine) is something to be savoured. Possibly chosen at the end of a meal. It's not a session beer, something that you have four pints of and not fall off your stool, so really it's not going to sell loads."

Smith, who is a former brewer at Sam Smiths, said the beer took a long time to brew. "The fermentation can take up to nine days, so it does hold up production which is why we can only do it at times of the year when we are not busy," he added.

"So I'll have to see how we can fit this one in. We would normally do one in autumn and we had been debating whether or not to do one in the spring, ready for this competition. The reason being is that it is not a popular style of beer generally. I think we might have to brew some more now."

It is the second time a barley wine has ever been named Champion Beer of Britain. The first time was Norman's Conquest in 1995.

Beer guru Roger Protz, who was part of the final judging panel, said that this shows that there is a "growing interest in Britain's traditional beer styles".

He said: "Barley wine was conceived when England was at war with France. So with the revival of IPAs, porters and stouts, and now barley wine, I can see a great flowering of British beer styles.

"I also think that Coniston winning this year, fits in very well. We had the Jubilee and now we have the Olympics, it's something quintessentially British."