Monty’s Brewery, in Powys, won silver in CAMRA’s Champion Bottled Beer of Britain competition in 2025. Now, another Welsh brewer has gone one better this year.
North Wales’ Geipel Brewing struck gold at this year’s judging at Norwich Beer Festival, with their golden wheat beer Hefeweizen. They are the first Welsh brewery to take the title.
Geipel, which primarily focuses on brewing lagers, is run by American Eric Geipel, who developed a passion for brewing after a work trip to Burton-on-Trent. In the midst of losing his job after the 2008 financial crash, he began to brew beers at home.
Firmly bitten by the bug, he set up his microbrewery on the border of Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park. The brewery is going from strength to strength, and follows the 500-year-old German purity law, whereby beer is made from just four ingredients: barley, hops, water, and yeast.
“This year, the competition was particularly stiff, with the feedback from the judges on the final panel saying that every single beer assessed was worthy of their place,” said Christine Cryne, CAMRA’s judging co-ordinator. “The quality was thought to be excellent.
“Hefeweizen was described by the judges as “everything you would expect of a wheat beer”. It pipped two past winners to gain the top spot: Fuller’s Vintage Ale , a full-flavoured strong amber ale, and Durham’s Temptation, a robust, complex imperial Russian stout.”
Eric Geipel said: “We’re very honoured and amazed to win such a prestigious award. I never imagined that a non-native style would be a contender. Many thanks to the judges and ‘prosit’!”
Shelly Bentley, CAMRA’s awards director, added: “Bottle- and can-conditioned beers are often overlooked, but when done well, they really are the crème de la crème.
“What is nice to see this year is the mix of brewers in the medals. Fuller’s, of course, is a large established London brewer, who have a small range of bottle conditioned beers; Durham is a family brewery, dating from 1994, where all of their bottled beers are bottle conditioned; and Geipel, who set up in 2013, concentrate on bottom fermented beers.
“So, when it comes to producing great bottle-conditioned beer, it just goes to show there is no set template!”
