I wrote about 1872 Porter when it won the Winter Beer of Britain award at the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester in January so I won't reiterate what I said then except to say that it's a worthy winner of the top prize.
One of the things you notice if you look at the Champion Beers of Britain over the last twenty years is how regional breweries, let alone national or global brewers, have been edged out by microbreweries. 1872 is the only beer on the list that I've drunk, apart from White Shield in the Bottled Beer category. Many people will say that it's because microbreweries are now producing better beers than Fuller's, Robinson's or Timothy Taylor – I wouldn't – but there's also been a shift in CAMRA towards supporting locally-brewed beers, for example through the LocAle scheme, rather than nationally-distributed ones.
I also note that, apart from Marble, the North West is unrepresented on the list. At least Holt's are still brewing the world's best lagers in Manchester.
It's a really good beer and a local brewery for me as well, so a good result. I agree that micros aren't necessarily any better than the bigger breweries, but I guess there are more to choose from now.
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