The beer-drinker's World Cup

As 40 nations battle it out, a small British squad takes on the might of the Germans, not to mention the Swedes and the Mexicans. Sounds familiar? The difference is that these Brits came away victorious

Never mind the football – how competitive is the beer? The World Beer Cup has just taken place in the US, and I was one of four British judges (three of us Yorkshiremen), among a total of 70-odd, from nine countries. Over two eight-hour days we tasted 1,173 beers from 379 breweries in about 40 nations.

There were lagers with the hoppy perfume of Pilsen, in the malty mode of Munich, or with the more minerally dryness of Dortmund; wheat beers with Bavaria's banana-ish yeast character, Berlin's biting tartness, Belgium's coriander and Curaçao; and about 20 styles born in the British Isles.

British beers are increasingly emulated elsewhere. I was pleased to see an English-style pale ale from Japan, a Scottish ale from Mexico, and an imperial stout from Sweden. But where were the British breweries? I was ashamed that only five British brewers entered, with 10 beers. With such a small squad, we did well to pick up two medals.

The two British winners are both small, rural, breweries making styles of beer from elsewhere in Europe. One, Melbourn Brothers, of Stamford, Lincolnshire is a steam-powered brewery producing winey-tasting fruit beers in the style of Belgian lambic. As far as I know I'm the only journalist to have written about it (in The Independent) since the brewery was revived three years ago. The company is extremely shy of publicity.

John O'Hanlon, on the other hand, is from the south-west of Ireland and undoubtedly kissed the Blarney Stone. He was born into a family of publicans, worked in his aunt Mary's pub in Ballybunion, County Kerry, then came to seek his fortune in London. He found himself running brewpubs for the Firkin Group. When he was "steady enough", he started his own pub, O'Hanlon's, on Rosebery Avenue in Islington, before the north London enclave really hit its stride. "I felt the area was going to do something," he recalls. He wanted to add a brewery, but there was no space. "Someone told me you could rent space cheaply under railway arches – that's how I finished up brewing in Vauxhall."

His beers proved popular and, once again, he needed more space. He decided to sell the pub (which still serves his beer), and concentrate on brewing. His brewhouse is now in a Forties hay barn on a 350-year-old farm in Whimple, Devon. "It's green; it rains a lot; it's in the south-west. It reminds us of Kerry."

The grass may well be greener. In a local West Country competition, he recently won awards for several beers, including a Rye Beer. The use of rye, in addition to the usual barley-malt, imparts a bittersweet, minty, spiciness. Then there was a national award for his Wheat Beer, which is refreshing and citric, but light and restrained, in the Anglo-American style. Now comes an international award.

His childhood in Ireland inspired his winning formula. Cattle-dealers who had drunk too much on market day laced their stout with port next morning as a "corpse reviver". Thus emerged O'Hanlon's Original Port Stout. How much wine does he add? "A softening measure," he reveals. The beer starts very roasty and dry, becoming silky smooth, then revealing a sweetish, fruity hint of port.

O'Hanlon's and Melbourn Brothers will receive their medals on 12 June, at a banquet in Aspen, Colorado. We shall know then whether they won the bronze, silver or gold. E

Where to buy cup-winning British beers

Melbourn Bros beers 355ml £1.90 (rrp), from Chatsworth Farm Shop, Derbyshire (01246 583392); Larners of Holt, Norfolk (01263 712323); Secretts Farm Shop, Godalming, Surrey (01483 520500); Priory Farm Shop, Redhill, Surrey (01737 822603) and other specialist off licences and wine merchants.

O'Hanlon's Beers O'Hanlon's Original Port Stout 500ml, £1.79; O'Hanlon's Wheat Beer 500ml, £1.69 from Safeway. These beers and O'Hanlon's Rye Beer are also available at specialist off licences and wine merchants nationwide and, as well as three draught beers, in O'Hanlon's bar, 8 Tysoe Street, London EC1 (020-7278 7630).