Sneak peek! Three of the world’s greatest beers, according to Claire Bullen

Good Beer Hunting’s Claire Bullen is one of eight award-winning authors, influencers and experts who has used her expertise to compile World’s Greatest Beers, featuring 250 of the best beers from around the world.

World’s Greatest Beers, which was launched at the Great British Beer Festival last week, is a collection of personally selected beers from across the globe that will excite, interest, and intrigue you – all of which are available here in the UK.

Claire Bullen is the editor-in-chief of Good Beer Hunting, a James Beard Award-winning international beer publication. She is also a beer judge and a freelance drinks writer whose work has appeared in publications like Imbibe, Pellicle, Glug, and SIBA’s Independent Brewer Magazine; and the author of The Beer Lover’s Table: Seasonal Recipes and Modern Beer Pairings, an award-winning cookbook devoted to beer and food pairings.

Here are three of Claire’s recommendations straight from the book:

1. Augustiner’s Lagerbier Hell (5.2% ABV) – “How do you make one of the world’s best lagers? In the case of Augustiner, the combination of centuries of tradition, access to prime Bavarian ingredients, a long secondary fermentation, and the refusal to mess with a good thing (or the strictures of the Reinheitsgebot) have all played their part in making its Lagerbier Hell an icon of German brewing.”
2. Kernel Bière de Saison (4.4-5.4% ABV) – “What unites (most of) The Kernel’s Bière de Saison is the brewery’s house mixed culture. Otherwise, past editions have featured differing single hop varieties, and many have also included fruits sourced from various local farms, from quinces to Bergeron apricots, damsons to crab apples.”
3. St. Bernardus’ Abt 12 (10.5% ABV) – “In truth, it’s a masterpiece, an emblematic example of the Quadrupel style, and an ideal winter warmer. There’s the Belgian yeast, its character like soft banana bread spiced with clove; there are the notes of raisin and date, cinnamon and brown sugar, and liquorice warmth; there is its tongue-coating mouthfeel.”

These are just three of 31 beers Claire has selected in World Greatest Beers.

Claire says: “These choices reflect a wide breadth of styles (with, perhaps, a noticeable emphasis on lager). They are also deeply personal and speak to cherished memories: visits to subterranean lager cellars in the Czech Republic, or halcyon days spent in pubs in Lewes, Manchester, and London. This is by no means a conclusive or objective list of the best beers out there, but it is mine, and I hope it speaks to you, too.”

To find out more, make sure to order the title from the CAMRA shop for just £15.99 – visit: https://shop1.camra.org.uk/product/worlds-greatest-beers/