Stat Attack: The Return of the Stat

Regional Forums United Kingdom and Ireland
1

I thought we hadn’t had one of these in a while. So…

What are your Top Ten UK and Ireland Breweries?

I have gone with the format Brewery (Number of Rates) Ave Score

  1. Verdant (42) 4.0
  2. Alpha Delta (5) 3.98
  3. Neon Raptor (23) 3.92
  4. Wander Beyond (19) 3.91
  5. Polly’s (44) 3.90
  6. Northern Monk (94) 3.81
  7. Three Hills (56) 3.81
  8. Wylam (54) 3.80
  9. Buxton (82) 3.77
  10. Odyssey (12) 3.77

To get this detail I just looked at the top breweries list which shows my top rated breweries with 5 or more rates and picked out those in the UK and Ireland.

Not sure there are many surprises in there I guess except maybe:

  • Alpha Delta being so high (but only 5 rated so interesting to see how that goes with more beers.
  • Odyssey sneaking into 10th spot, maybe also a surprise, and
  • Buxton in 9th as haven’t had many of their beers recently.

I’d be interested to see other people UK and Ireland top 10’s.

2

I’m not really a stat man but I’ll play tonight:

  1. Verdant (38) 3.79
  2. North Brewing (13) 3.75
  3. Deya (5) 3.72
  4. Pilot (5) 3.7
  5. Kernel (141) 3.69
  6. Beavertown (35) 3.66
  7. Cloudwater (71) 3.64
  8. Tempest (22) 3.64
  9. Wylam (23) 3.63
  10. Polly’s (9) 3.61

Surprised to see Pilot & Tempest in there but only 5 rates for Pilot. Expected to see Buxton & Northern Monk but they failed to make my top 10 under this format. My current UK faves are probably Verdant, Wylam, Deya, Cloudwater and Polly’s just creeping in.

3
  1. Neon Raptor (6) 3.88
  2. Verdant (6) 3.83
  3. Brewdog Overworks (6) 3.8
  4. Northern Monk (18) 3.77
  5. Durham (9) 3.76
  6. Redchurch (7) 3.67
  7. Buxton (50) 3.67
  8. Wylam (14) 3.66
  9. Gloucester (5) 3.64
  10. Cloudwater (46) 3.63

Surprised to see Gloucester there, but checking the rates I had some cask beers that were in cracking condition.

4

Fun stat! I’ll play:

  1. Wylam (17) 3.7
  2. Verdant (11) 3.7
  3. Northern Monk (28) 3.69
  4. Magic Rock (25) 3.68
  5. Arbor (13) 3.67
  6. Fierce (9) 3.67
  7. Odyssey (8) 3.67
  8. North (5) 3.66
  9. Buxton (21) 3.66
  10. Kernel (36) 3.65

Surprises:
I had to go to number 12 before getting to a UK brewery.
It’s all predictably craft (or ex-craft)
Lots of these have surprisingly few rates
Only one brewery outside of England, although Boundary would have been 11th
Only one London brewery
These are all really, really close together. 3.65 to 3.7.

5

Here’s mine:

  1. Buxton (7) 3.86
  2. Polly’s (11) 3.8
  3. Siren (35) 3.77
  4. Burnt Mill (21) 3.75
  5. Verdant (12) 3.72
  6. Dog & Rabbit (5) 3.72
  7. Torrside (6) 3.72
  8. Old Chimneys (6) 3.72
  9. Time and Tide (10) 3.71
  10. Vibrant Forest (13) 3.71

Surprises? Well I wouldn’t hold Buxton out as my favourite UK brewer. I’ve never particularly sought them out (nor their county) hence the low number rated. It’s had to have looked special for me to have bought it, so no doubt their average is higher because of that. And as I only have a can of their Imperial Black in stock I don’t think their average will be going down any time soon. Maybe I need to add a few of their core beers to my rated column, see it that changes anything.

But good to see Dog & Rabbit and Old Chimneys mixing it up a bit, and that’s before I find a special occasion to open my GKH Special Reserve so there might even be 2 Suffolk brewers in my top 4 or 5 after that. Will have to check how far back Greene King are, maybe they can get up there too :slight_smile:

6

Here we go;

  1. Traquair House (5) 3.94
  2. Steel City (20) 3.91
  3. Millstone Brewery (11) 3.83
  4. Wizard Brewery (13) 3.74
  5. Tapstone Brewing Co. (9) 3.74
  6. Hammerton Brewery (7) 3.73
  7. Kernel Brewery (51) 3.72
  8. Crouch Vale Brewery (31) 3.72
  9. Oakham Ales (73) 3.72
  10. Stanway Brewery (5) 3.68

Well lots of surprises in with that lot, shows a bit of a commitment to Real Ale cask brewing rather than craft I suppose. Pleased with the spread of brewery types.

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7

I can’t play as I don’t have enough rates yet, going to be a while before I do too!

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8

Don’t worry, it will come. Good to see you are making a start.

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9

I was thinking of doing a ‘Stat Attack’, glad to see others were missing the posts (they were getting out of hand though, almost weekly at one point).

Anyway, my first top British/Irish Brewery sits down in 8th place overall, the others in the list are well down really:

Old Chimneys 9 @ 3.74
Weird Beard 11 @ 3.7
Durham 7 @ 3.63
Cader Ales (Wales) 5 @ 3.62
Lincolnshire Craft (Tom Wood’s really) 9 @ 3.61
Black Isle (Scotland) 8 @ 3.61
Orkney (Scotland) 14 @ 3.6
Hopcraft (Wales) 7 @ 3.56
Rat (Ossett) 10 @ 3.55
Fullers 51 @ 3.54

Confirms I don’t rate citrus flavoured modern beers or sours too highly. I am a malty old Sea Dog.

<*))))))><

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10

Siren Craft Brew 9@ 3.87
Marble Beers 7 @ 3.87
Gales 5 @ 3.86
BrewDog 52 @ 3.84
Harviestoun Brewery 16 @ 3.84
Thornbridge Brewery 12 @ 3.82
J.W. Lees 9 @ 3.82
Buxton Brewery 6 @ 3.82
Durham Brewery 6 @ 3.8
Hanlon’s Brewery 5 @ 3.76

2 Likes
11

I’ll chuck mine in for it’s worth:

  1. Swannay (6) 3.87
  2. North (6) 3.8
  3. J.W. Lees (5) 3.74
  4. Marble (6) 3.72
  5. Good Things Brewing (7) 3.69
  6. Kernel (30) 3.68
  7. Salopian (5) 3.66
  8. Arbor (8) 3.66
  9. Burnt Mill (6) 3.65
  10. Fuller’s (19) / Northern Monk (17) 3.64

Quite surprising, a good split of Traditional & Craft beers & widely spread around the country.

1 Like
12

Obviously when I’m finally able to next get back home, I need to order some Kernel and Marble beers, so I can get a more representative average… Biggest surprise is that Vocation sneaked in, I did not even know I’d had 5 of their beers, let alone that I enjoyed them. The next few down are Tempest, Siren & Wild Beer, all of whom I’ve had 20+ beers from, so have a more stabilised average.

The Kernel (7) 3.94
Marble (5) 3.92
Verdant (9) 3.92
Wylam (5) 3.86
Cloudwater (34) 3.86
Magic Rock (13) 3.82
Northern Monk (22) 3.78
BrewDog (34) 3.77
Buxton (10) 3.75
Vocation (5) 3.74

13

Let’s see:

  1. Little Earth Project (11) 3.82
  2. The Kernel (40) 3.69
  3. Black Iris (8) 3.68
  4. Torrside (6) 3.68
  5. Mills (5) 3.68
  6. Buxton (7) 3.64
  7. Siren (95) 3.6
  8. Fierce (6) 3.6
  9. Burning Sky (10) 3.6
  10. Cloudwater (54) 3.59
14

Bit impacted by the fact I try to just try new breweries as much as possible, so have relatively few over 5 ratings:
The Kernel Brewery Greater London 5
3.82
Siren Craft Brew Berkshire 17
3.72
Vibrant Forest Brewery Hampshire 6
3.65
Arbor Ales Gloucestershire 6
3.63
Oakham Ales Cambridgeshire 10
3.62
Harveys Brewery East Sussex 5
3.58
Beavertown Brewery (Heineken) Greater London 5
3.58
Vocation Brewery West Yorkshire 5
3.58
BrewDog Scotland 73
3.55
Innis & Gunn Brewing Co. Scotland 19
3.47

1 Like
15

Not in the least bit surprised that Deya are number Uno, they’ve been my favourite UK brewery for a few years and rarely put a foot wrong. Also not surprised that with Whiplash, Polly’s, Dark Revolution ä, Burnt Mill and Oddyssey (how the hell do I spell that) but utterly amazed by Chorlton I would go as far as saying I actively avoid them and don’t like their beers but the stats cannot be wrong, really shocked. Also Shotover has surprised me also.

  1. Deya (31) 3.96
  2. Whiplash (5) 3.92
  3. Chorlton (5) 3.92
  4. Burnt Mill (10) 3.87
  5. Shotover Brewing Co. (aka Oxford Craft) (6) 3.80
    6)Polly’s Brew Co. (prev Loka Polly Beer)(17) 3.80
  6. Magic Rock (69) 3.77
    8)Dark Revolution (14) 3.77
  7. Vocation (11) 3.77
  8. Oddyssy (42) 3 77
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16
  1. Wylam Brewery Tyne & Wear 5 3.96
  2. Cloudwater Brew Co Greater Manchester 15 3.92
  3. BrewDog OverWorks Scotland 11 3.85
  4. Northern Monk Brew Co. West Yorkshire 12 3.83
  5. Beavertown Brewery (Heineken) Greater London 19 3.81
  6. Magic Rock Brewing (Lion Co. - Kirin Holdings) West Yorkshire 11 3.8
  7. The Kernel Brewery Greater London 14 3.75
  8. Buxton Brewery Derbyshire 5 3.68

Well this clearly shows I didnt cover any ground in UK yet. Since rating I have been to UK only once, for BeaverEx in 2017. And then it´s beers imported beer only. Need to get ahold of more of the hyped new breweries and some traditional cask.

17

Bit surprised by my no 1.

Brakspear 5 3.6
Durham 5 3.56
Arbor 10 3.51
Arran 5 3.48
Condition 6 3.48
Crouch vale 8 3.46
Cloudwater 20 3.45
Kernel 24 3.43
St austell 16 3.43
Beavertown 5 3.42
C

1 Like
18

My top 10 had a lot of foreign beer but the UK was a surprise in terms of Scotland and Northern Ireland
and since lockdown I don’t think I have accessed any of these top breweries.
Top Breweries (5+ ratings) # Average Rating

Fierce Beer Co Scotland
12 3.78
Burnt Mill Brewery Suffolk
6 3.75
Left Handed Giant Brewing Co. Gloucestershire
5 3.74
North Brewing Co (England) West Yorkshire
10 3.7

Boundary Brewing (Northern Ireland) Northern Ireland
5 3.62

Neon Raptor Brewing Co. Nottinghamshire
46 3.6
Deya Brewing Company Gloucestershire
8 3.58
Cloudwater Brew Co Greater Manchester
31 3.57
Marble Beers Greater Manchester
16 3.57
The Kernel Brewery Greater London
15 3.57

19

Condition?

20

After the weekend I will combine everyone’s ten 10’s and try to come up with our definitive list.

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