From receipt of your application form and fee cheque, it usually takes around two weeks to arrange an assessment, which will be carried out on a date convenient for you and the assessor. You are told straight after the assessment whether or not you have passed it, and if you’ve been successful, you’ll receive your plaque in about a week.

You will be told straight after your assessment if you have failed and the assessor will run through the assessment form with you, highlighting areas where you lost marks and how to remedy them. You will be given a copy of your report to keep. If you decide to retake the assessment, a small fee (£40 for Gold, £65 for Platinum) may be payable, and you should contact us on 01206 7552212 to arrange a retest when you are ready.

Around 80% of pubs pass the Gold Award assessment first time, for Platinum the figure is 100% though only a few pubs have tried for this higher level. Usually, a preliminary conversation with Platinum applicants will highlight areas that they need to work on before the assessment takes place.

It is advisable to take the Gold Award and then take the Platinum Award, however some pubs have been successful in the Platinum Award without taking Gold first.

Around 170 pubs nationally now have an Award, the vast majority of them at the Gold level. These include managed and tenanted pubs and freehouses.

For the Gold Award, the assessment takes between 1.5 and 2 hours, for the Platinum Award it takes around three hours as the assessor needs to judge other aspects of your beer offer, including the beer knowledge of your staff, for example.

None are required to apply for a Gold or Platinum Award, however we suggest you consider the following training courses and qualifications:

• Award in Beer & Cellar Quality (ABCQ): British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) runs this training course, leading to its Award in Beer & Cellar Quality. For more information, visit www.bii.org
• Beer Academy: the Beer Academy is a not-for-profit educational organisation offering a variety of courses designed to enthuse and inspire people about beer. Their one day Foundation Course, was developed for those who work in pubs, or for breweries or beer retailers and pubs. For more information, visit www.beeracademy.org

The Awards were launched in March 2006.

The Awards were created by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), on behalf of its members: brewers and pub retailers. The detailed specification for the Award standards was drawn up over a period of time, by a number of experienced people from brewers, pub companies and other industry bodies including Cask Marque, Beer Academy and BII.
Since July 2007, the Beautiful Beer Award scheme has been operated by Cask Marque, who are now able to offer licensees and others the Beautiful Beer Awards as well as the Cask Marque Award.

Yes, if you have several pubs you can apply for a Beautiful Beer Award for as many as you want. The application form has to be signed by the licensee of each pub. There is no discount for nominating more than one pub.

All pubs which have gained an Award are listed, by region, on our website.

The Award is given to the licensee in his/her current pub. If you move, you will need to be reassessed in your new pub and pay a reduced Award fee (£40 + VAT for Gold, £65 + VAT for Platinum).

We welcome genuine appeals from licensees who believe they should have passed their Award. Please note however that the assessor is following the scoring criteria that were produced over a period of time, by an expert panel. All assessors work with the same scoring sheet and guidance notes, which means that all pubs are marked equally, regardless of their location or who assesses them. It is a national standard.
If you wish to appeal against the assessor’s decision in your pubs, please contact ali@beautifulbeer.com with your appeal or phone 01206 752212.

Both Awards seek to reward licensees deliver consistently quality beer to their customer. The main difference is that, while Cask Marque covers cask beers only, Beautiful Beer also covers keg and bottled beers. In addition, the Beautiful Beer Platinum Award covers the presentation of beer in the pub, as well as beer quality.

The fees for the Awards are: £150 + VAT for Gold and £175 + VAT for Platinum. You may also want to budget for some additional staff training before the assessment, particularly for Platinum level, as staff’s beer knowledge and enthusiasm is tested as part of the visit.

The fees for the Awards are: £150 + VAT for Gold and £175 + VAT for Platinum. You may also want to budget for some additional staff training before the assessment, particularly for Platinum level, as staff’s beer knowledge and enthusiasm is tested as part of the visit.

The Award fee, which must be included with your application form, covers the cost of your pub assessment, a distinctive Beautiful Beer plaque to display outside your pub and a free local marketing pack to help you raise the profile of your pub locally.

Gold: 85% for the Beer Cellar & Bar Inspection, and all beers must score 16 out of 20 on the sample test.
Platinum: pass mark as for Gold plus 75% for the Beer Experience section.

These must be provided free of charge to the assessor.

The sample size should always be pints.

A variety of cask, keg and bottled beers.

Awards are valid for 12 months, after which a further assessment is required for reaccreditation. The fee for these assessments is currently £110 + VAT for Gold or £135 for Platinum.