The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) has launched an online competition, the SIBA Digital Beer Awards. Its normal beer competitions have been postponed for this year.
Beer experts will judge brews in live video sessions, rating a wide range of beers against rivals from across the UK. The judging ‘tables’ will be led by trained beer sommeliers and follow internationally recognised guidelines around beer style, colour, aroma, and flavour.
SIBA chief executive, James Calder, said: “The Digital Beer Awards are a landmark competition in the UK and open to all independent breweries, many of whom have massively increased the amount of beer they put into bottle and can as a result of pubs being closed during Coronavirus lockdown.
“Even as pubs are set to reopen on July 4th, it is unclear when beer competitions and judging sessions will be able to take place, so we have worked tirelessly to deliver a modern and safe way to find the very best craft beers in the UK.”
He added: “Our regional beer competitions have been entirely postponed for 2020, as it has been impossible to predict when and how social distancing rules will be lifted, but this competition gives an alternative to brewers looking to promote their bottled and canned beers as the best in the UK.
“We have also taken the decision to open up our competition beyond members to all independent breweries in the UK — as I’ve said from the beginning of the pandemic, we are all in this together, so we want all breweries to benefit from the opportunity to enter.”
• For more info on the SIBA Digital Beer Awards 2020, visit siba.co.uk/
