Blackedge Brewing Company, based in Horwich, has been named overall cask beer champion at SIBA’s North West regional independent beer competition for its speciality beer Ginger. It also won the overall bronze award for Dark Mild.
Two-hundred and sixty beers, from 50 breweries, were judged by approximately 100 independent craft brewers, beer industry representatives and experienced beer drinkers at the Macron Stadium, Bolton.
Wayne Roper, director and owner of Blackedge Brewing Company, said: “It is fantastic to be recognised in this way for our beers. Winning the overall awards and the three gold category awards means we will now have three entries in the SIBA national finals next March at BeerX. I hope we can go one step further and pick up the national award in 2017.”
The overall silver award went to Brewsmith Beer (Bury) for its Oatmeal Stout.
There was great news for Cumbria in the small pack (bottle and can) competition. Hawkshead Brewery (Kendal) won the overall gold and silver for its Tonka and Windermere Pale respectively, and Hesket Newmarket Brewery won the overall bronze for Old Carrock.
Alex Brodie, owner of Hawkshead Brewery, said: “Tonka is our head brewer’s baby! It is great to see such an innovative beer do so well and it must be the first beer using tonka beans — a fruit of the South American Cumaru tree — to win such a prestigious award. We are also delighted to see Windermere Pale pick up the small pack silver. It goes to show there is still life in low-gravity session beers.”
SIBA chairman and beer judge, Guy Sheppard, said: “I would like to congratulate Blackedge Brewing Company and Hawkshead Brewery on their success in the SIBA’s North West regional independent beer competition. To win two overall awards is an amazing achievement when you consider the amount of fantastic brewers there are in the North West.
“I would also like to thank all of the judges for attending and the members for entering the competition, and who worked tirelessly serving the beers. All of these wonderful beers can be enjoyed at Bolton Beer Festival at the Macron Stadium over the weekend (October 13-15).”
