The winners of the 2016 World Beer Awards for each country have been revealed, with Cork's Eight Degrees Brewing being crowned the champion for Ireland in the hotly contested IPA and Stout categories.
The annual awards has 1500 beers from more than 30 countries compete over 67 styles of beer and judged by a panel of 50 international industry experts to win the title of their 'Country's Best'.
Eight Degrees Brewing, which have a reputation for brewing a wide variety of hoppy IPA's, won with its six per cent 'Full Irish Single Malt IPA', which is described as being "a luscious hop bomb of a single malt IPA, first brewed in 2014 as a limited release to showcase local Irish pale ale malt [and] was so successful that it is now part of the brewery’s core beer range."
The Cork brewery also won the Stout category for Ireland with its Knockmealdown Irish Stout, which is described as having "a rich chocolatey aroma with distinctive espresso flavours."
Discussing the win, Eight Degrees Brewing's Cam Wallace said: "We are over the moon to be judged as having the best IPA and stout from Ireland. Our fingers are crossed as we go through to the best in the world World Beer Awards short list."
Other winners included Franciscan Well Brewery for its Jameson barrel-aged pale ale, Meath's Brú Brewery with its gluten free lager, Rascals Brewing Company's ginger porter, McGargles winning the Amber category, and Waterford's Dungarvan Brewing Company winning with its limited seaweed saison.
The winners will compete for The World Style and World Category titles, which will be announced on 23 September.
