The Finest Beer Selection 2024 celebrated its climax and crowning finale with an atmospheric awards ceremony on the evening of 15 July 2024 in Neustadt an der Weinstraße. 825 beers from almost 200 breweries from 16 countries competed in the second edition of the transparent tasting format. Finally, 267 beers were awarded a Finest Beer Score of 90 or more points by the international jury of experts during the three-day expert tasting at Doemens in mid-June and thus made it into the Finest Beer Selection 2024, the selection of the best beers of the year.
"We were not only able to confirm the level we set in the first round in 2023, but topped it again,"
summarises Dr Werner Gloßner, Managing Director of Doemens.
And Christian Wolf, Member of the Management Board of Meininger Verlag, adds:
"This means we have once again come a long way towards our goal of creating a neutral
seal of quality for beers that everyone can understand."The fact that the expert jury awarded 20 beers a world-class rating of 95 or more points speaks for the outstanding quality of the beers. Two beers stand out:
The Nordik-Porter from Störtebeker Braumanufaktur in Stralsund achieved the highest Finest Beer score of 97 points, making it the "Beer of the Year National". The Vatgerijpt Mezcal from the Dutch brewery Hertog Jan also scored 97 points in the blind tasting and was thus honoured as "Beer of the Year International".
This was not the only award-winning beer from Hertog Jan - a further seven beers made it into the Finest Beer Selection 2024. With the best average score of 94 points, the Dutch brewers from Arcen near Venlo also secured the title of "International Brewery of the Year".
The outstanding quality of the beers from the Gebr. Maisel brewery in Bayreuth was once again confirmed this year with a sensational result. Twelve beers in the Finest Beer Selection - including three wheat beer classics and nine modern brewing creations of the "Maisel & Friends" brand - and a Finest Beer Score of 93 points on average also mean the award: "National Brewery of the Year" in 2024.
