SUFFOLK brewer Green Jack won Gold and Silver today as beer lovers flocked to London for their equivalent of the Olympic games.

Green Jack, based in Lowestoft, won the Gold medal in the Best Bitter category of the Champion Beer of Britain contest (CBOB), staged as part of the Campaign for Real Ale’s Great British Beer Festival at Olympia.

And its winning Trawlerboys Best Bitter then narrowly missed out on the top CBOB title, beating all but one of the other category winners to claim the Silver medal overall.

East Anglia completed a full set of medals, with Nethergate, based at Pentlow, near Sudbury, winning bronze in the Speciality category with its Umbel Magna dark coriander beer, and the Milton Brewery, from Milton, near Cambridge, sharing a joint bronze in the Best Bitter category with Pegasus.

Gold in the overall championship went to the Coniston Brewing Company, from Cumbria, for its No 9 Barley Wine, which qualified by winning Camra’s Champion Winter Beer of Britain contest earlier this year.

Other winners at the festival, which runs until Saturday, included Horsham-based Dark Star which won Gold with both American Pale Ale (in the Golden Ale category) and Festival (Strong Bitter), Purple Moose from Porthmadog with Snowdonia Ale (Bitter), Rudgate from York with Ruby Mild (Mild), and Dunham Massey, Manchester, with Chocolate Cherry Mild (Speciality.

Green Jack’s previous best result in CBOB was in 2007 when it won Bronze overall with its Ripper barley wine.

Despite narrowly missing out on the overall title, Green Jack’s owner Tim Dunford said he was delighted that Trawlerboys – described as a full-bodied, copper coloured premium bitter with an ABV of 4.6%– had won such high acclaim.

And he paid tribute to the work of head brewer Daron Fowle and his team in making such a great-tasting ale.

“It is always great to get this kind of recognition for our beers,” said Mr Dunford. “Our barley wine Ripper took the overall bronze medal five years ago, so we’re getting closer to the gold. Perhaps next time...”

Mr Dunford said Trawlerboys, which is available on cask and in bottles, was one of Green Jack’s most popular beers. It was one of the first new ales made after it moved to its new base in Love Road three years ago, next to Crown Meadow, the home of Lowestoft Town FC, whose nickname is the Trawlerboys.

The beer’s pump-clip features Lowestoft-built stern trawler the Boston Sea Stallion.