The Spyke Golding Challenge Winner Announced at Hucknall Beer Festival 2024

The Spyke Golding Challenge Winner Announced at Hucknall Beer Festival 2024

The list of the brewers for the entries to the competition were confirmed as –

Beer A – Blue Monkey, RaspBEERy Wheat Beer

Beer B – Milestone Brewery, Doilem

Beer C – Magpie Brewery, Cavern Dweller

Beer D – Black Iris, High Seas

Beer E – Nottingham Brewery, Citra Pale

Beer F – Beermats Brewery, The Beer with No Name

Beer G – Shipstones Brewery, Frassai

Beer H– Lincoln Green Brewing Company, Morphia

Beer I – Lenton Lane Brewing Company, Escape

Beer J – Welbeck Abbey Brewing Company, Madagascar

Beer K – Liquid Light, Ticket to Ride

Voting closed on Saturday 10th during the lunchtime session and the following was announced by Nottingham CAMRA –

“We can now announce the results of the 2024 “Spyke Golding Challenge Shield”

The winner was Lenton Lane Brewing Company with “Escape”. [Beer I]
Huge congratulations to the Lenton Lane Team.

The three breweries that are to be Highly Commended are:(in alphabetical order)

– Black Iris with “”High Seas” [Beer D]
– Blue Monkey Co with “RaspbEEry Wheat Beer” [Beer A]
– Magpie Brewery with “Cavern Dweller” [Beer C]

A huge thank you to all those who judged and voted, and we really hoped you enjoyed taking part and to all of the brewery teams involved this year.
We look forward to seeing you all again in 2025

The annual Hucknall Beer & Cider Festival took place between Thursday 8th and Sunday 11th February. The Festival is held at the John Godber Centre, a community venue at the heart of Hucknall, owned by The St Mary Magdalene Church and governed by the Church Council. The Hucknall Beer Festival is a charity fundraiser for the John Godber Centre which is a registered charity.

The 2024 festival hosted the Spyke Golding Challenge which involved eleven Nottinghamshire breweries submitting new and original beers which would be judged by the paying public. To make it a fair and open competition, only the tasting notes for the beers were provided with the brewery names being revealed on Saturday – after the judging had been completed.

Judges were asked to score out of 10 how close the beer matched the tasting notes and also a score based on: ‘Would they buy the beer in a pub?’. After extensive judging over two days the winner of the competition was:

Lenton Lane Brewery with their entry – ‘Escape’

A smooth 5.0% ABV pale ale packed with fruity undertones and tropical flavours

Jack Winter, Head Brewer said:

“ I have to start by mentioning Ant from Adventure Beer Company who collaborated with us on Escape and came up with the initial idea of this award winning beer – it certainly wouldn’t have happened without him. We’d also like to thank everyone involved with Hucknall Beer Festival, Nottingham CAMRA and all of our customers for their continued support. It means a lot to our small team and it’s always a bonus when we have been voted for by the drinkers of the festival and our fellow brewers. The standard of competition was extremely high this year and that is a credit to the Nottingham beer scene, a scene we are incredibly proud to be part of!”

The organisers wish to thank Beer Mats; Lincoln Green; Liquid Light; Milestone; Nottingham; Shipstone/Hollowstone; and Welbeck Abbey breweries for also submitting beers for the competition. All of the beers were well received and all sold out.

Keep up to date with Hucknall Beer and Cider Festival news on these official links to the website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.