Mordue Workie Ticket named best ‘best bitter’ at Camra Great British Beer Festival

BREWERY owning brothers are celebrating after their most popular pint was crowned Camra’s best “best bitter” at the Great British Beer Festival.

And Mordue managing director Garry Fawson says he is proud to fly the flag for the region – as he believes the North East produces some of the best beer in the world.

“I’m very pleased,” said Garry, who runs the brewery on the Tyne Tunnel Industrial Estate with brother Matt, “and very pleased for the North East.

“It’s nice to be able to put the region in the spotlight.”

To mark their place in the final, the brewery was closed for the day, with all its staff in London for the festival’s trade session on Tuesday afternoon.

“We were over the moon just to get there, and especially with Workie Ticket, because right now it’s a very unfashionable sort of beer,” he told The Journal. “Everyone seems to want to brew beers that are like a hammer to your mouth – so we were very surprised that something that is 4.5% ABV and mass market do so well.”

Yet among more than 800 cask and bottled beers, ciders and perries at this year’s event, at London’s Olympia, just five – Paw’s Gold (Black Paw), Citra Nova (The Durham Brewery), Darkest Moment (Just a Minute) and Copy Lane (The Stables Brewery) – came from County Durham, four – Tyneside Blonde (Hadrian Border Brewery), Isis (Jarrow Brewery), Workie Ticket (Mordue) and Southern Star (Tyne Bank) – came from Tyne and Wear with one – Matfen Magic (High House Farm) – from Northumberland and one – Erimus Pale (Truefitt) – representing Teesside.