Hofmeister, the lager that became a byword for bad beer in the 1980s, has won a global drinks competition after it was relaunched with a new recipe.

The beer, a Bavarian “Helles”, won best lager of 2017 at the International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC), cementing its return after a 13-year absence from the market.

Hofmeister won notoriety in the 1980s and 90s thanks to its “Follow the bear” TV advertising campaign, fronted by George, a laddish fur ball who claimed Bavarian heritage despite having no links to the southern German region.

The brand was eventually retired in 2003 as its reputation and popularity plummeted and it struggled to compete with imported European lagers.

Hofmeister was revived last year by two entrepreneurs hoping to capitalise on British drinkers’ familiarity with the name, while abandoning its “Eurofizz” reputation and recipe.

Drinks industry veterans Richard Longhurst and Spencer Chambers sourced the new brew from the award-winning fourth-generation Bavarian brewery Schweiger, on the edge of the Ebersberger forest, which uses local Hallertau hops, natural spring water and barley from nearby farms.



The new incarnation of Hofmeister is brewed according to the the Reinheitsgebot, a 1516 purity law that restricts permitted ingredients of beer to water, hops and barley.



Tim Hampson, an IWSC judge and chairman of the Beer Writers Guild said Hofmeister, the first lager to be given five stars at the awards was “a gentle, highly complex beer”.