For the second year running, Redoak impressed judges – at the Off Licence News-run challenge – with its Chateau Sour.

Entries to the competition increased 10% this year, but the judges – made up of brewers, retailers, publicans, flavour analysts and journalists from across the globe – awarded just 30 gold medals out of more than 500 beers.

These were divided into six categories – ales up to 5% abv, ales above 5% abv, stout or porter, lager, wheat beer and speciality beer.

Redoak Chateau Sour won Best Speciality Beer before going on to claim the top prize.

Chairman of the judges Jeff Evans, former editor of The Good Beer Guide, said: “The final judging round is always a great occasion because we have on the table in front of us the very best beers in the competition.

 “It means that choosing a winner can be tough but it’s tough for all the right reasons. It was also exciting to hold the final taste off on the day of the presentation itself. It definitely added a buzz to the event, knowing that just two hours before the winners were announced the awards had not been decided,” Evans says.

For the first time, trophies were awarded to the top retailer, the top importer and the leading brewers in each continent.

Evans said: “There are other beer competitions but unlike other competitions we don’t judge beers by how close they are to accepted style definitions, such as how technically correct a porter or a barley wine might be. We just focus on what consumers want to know: how good is the beer. We think our competition is more pertinent to the general public than others.”

Brasil Kirin won in South America, while Samuel Adams producer Boston Beer Company won the North America award after securing 14 bronzes, 15 silvers and seven gold medals. No trophies were awarded to Africa or Asia, as brewers in those continents failed to secure a gold medal, although Evans said that might change next year as the quality of their brews continues to improve.

Here are the results in full: