The 2015 edition of the prestigious World Beer Awards, a global awards selecting the best of the international beer styles, took place in London this past summer. Winners were announced in late September with Czech breweries taking home gold medals in three categories.
Litovel Schwarzbier Premium Dark was named the World’s Best Dark Lager; World’s Best Belgian-Style Pale Ale went to Bernard Bohemian Ale; Gambrinus Birell Pomelo and Grep won for World’s Best Low-Alcohol Lager.
In an interesting twist, however, the award for World’s Best Czech-Style Pale Lager went to Wäls Bohemian Pílsen, a Brazilian brew.
To select the prize winners, anonymous tasters sampled 600+ beers which competed in local and regional heats before being judged on a world scale.
Categories range from the traditional (best pales, wheats, stouts & porters) to the unique (best label, best experimental flavor) to the singular – this year the World’s Best Beer went to U.S. micbrewery Fish Tale Ale’s Beyond the Pale.