The greatest beer in the UK has just been crowned for 2026

Whether you’re a lager lover, a stout stan or a bitters buff, there’s no denying the satisfaction you get from that first sip of a crisp pint after a tough week at work. And now a competition has decided which brew can give you that ‘aaah’ moment better than the rest.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has crowned its ‘Champion Beer of Britain’ for 2026. To find the top tipple, each year the connoisseurs at CAMRA whittle hundreds of nominations down to just 12 finalists before employing expert tasters to seek out one national victor. The comp has been running since 1978.

For 2026, the top gong went to Independence, a pale ale brewed by Bristol Beer Factory. The beer has been a staple of southwest England’s cask pumps for 15 years. As for the all-important taste, it blends ‘fruity tropical and citrus hops with a malty backbone leaving a clean bittersweet aftertaste’, according to CAMRA.

‘The Champion Beer of Britain is the highest honour CAMRA can bestow upon a brewer,’ the organisation said. 

Independence now joins a long lineage of class brews which have been honoured with the accolade, including Welsh brewery Tiny Rebel’s classic brew Cwtch and last year’s winner Mild, a dark beer cooked up by Cornwall’s Penzance Brewing Company.

The silver medal at this year’s awards, which were announced at the Cambridge Beer Festival (May 18-23), went to Wildcat, a premium bitter by Cairngorm Brewery in Scotland. The third podium-topper was Alfie’s Revenge, a strong ale by Driftwood Spars in Cornwall.

Did you see that a 250-mile Wetherspoons pub crawl has launched in the UK?

Plus: the greatest coffee roaster in Britain has been crowned for 2026 – here’s where you can try his award-winning brews.