Purity’s director of brewing, Flo Vialan (centre), picks up the gold award for Longhorn IPA from SIBA chairman, Buster Grant, watched by Charlotte Taylor, of category sponsor Beatson Clark
Purity Brewing Company has picked up its first honours of 2017 at the SIBA National Independent Beer Awards and SIBA Business and Industry Awards.
At the beer awards, Longhorn IPA won gold in the smallpack strong bitters and pale ales category. The 5% ABV ale is named after the herd of cattle that graze on Purity’s spent grain in fields surrounding the Warwickshire-based brewery.
With hundreds of cask, keg, bottled and canned beers judged at SIBA’s BeerX event in Sheffield, the awards were the biggest of their kind ever seen in the UK, with Longhorn IPA being the only canned beer to be crowned a champion.
SIBA’s BeerX event also saw the brewers’ association hold its growing Business and Industry Awards, naming Purity the winner in the marketing implementation category for its work with Wasps Rugby and Ricoh Arena.
Purity’s social media engagement and the popular Twitter hashtags #PureGold and #TweetYourSeat were highlighted by judges, with fan participation more than doubling since last season.
Purity managing director, Paul Halsey, said: “We absolutely love our partnership with Wasps Rugby and Ricoh Arena, and engaging with fans via our social media has been a great way to share in the good times; a great game of rugby with your friends and a lovely beer or two.
“The award means a lot to the team, as does the latest honour for Longhorn IPA — a beer we are extremely proud of.”
