Winners from across the world have received trophies earned at the International Brewing and Cider Awards.
Trophy winners outside the Guildhall
A ceremony held at the Guildhall, London, crowned 12 trophy winners — nine brewers and three cider makers.
They included Yorkshire’s Elvington Brewery, only launched in 2020, which scooped the international keg lager trophy for its Mittel Pils. Tokyo-based Spring Valley Brewery’s Juicy Hop won the speciality beer trophy, while Ise Kadoya Beer, also from Japan, won the strong beer award for its Nou ga Trokeru Ultra Heaven 3 x IPA.
Malta-based Simonds Farsons Cisk won the no- and low-alcohol category for its Cisk 0.0, and Jersey’s Liberation Brewing Company received the cask conditioned ale trophy.
In the cider awards, Sheppy’s Vintage Cloudy Cider, from Taunton, won the international classic cider trophy, while overseas entries triumphed in the other two categories. Sidewood Estate, from South Australia, picked up the international flavoured cider trophy for its Strawberry Apple Cider, while Ramborn Cider, from Luxembourg, won the international innovative cider award for its Ramborn Ice Perry.
A three-day judging process to decide the winners took place in November at the National Brewery Centre, in Burton-upon-Trent, and comprised working professionals in the brewing and cider making industries from across the globe. They were led by chair of beer judging, Rob McCaig, and chair of cider judging, Gabe Cook. The judges were chosen to reflect the current expertise in the tasting and commercial evaluation of beers and ciders going into the market.
A total of 126 gold, silver, and bronze medal winners were also in attendance to collect their awards.
International Beer and Cider Awards medal winners
Ruth Evans MBE, director of the awards, said: “Despite being forced to postpone the awards due to the pandemic, we felt it vital to hold the ceremony to publicly recognise and reward the extraordinary products that have emerged over the past couple of years. Awards like these are so important in raising a company’s profile and help their beers and ciders stand out from the crowd.
“We’ve crowned winners from all over the world, including Australia, China, Japan, Luxembourg, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, USA, and the UK, and it’s wonderful to see so many breweries and cider makers collecting their awards.
“The International Brewing and Cider Awards are unique as we don’t just award a bronze, silver, and gold, we provide every product entered the opportunity to be assessed to a medal standard, and award only the exceptional products. The medals are not simply handed out, they are earned.
“It’s been such an honour to host the International Brewing and Cider Awards and we hope all the winners gain the recognition they deserve.”
The competition, which dates back to 1886, has a long history of championing the world’s best brewers and cider makers.
This time, new categories were announced to reflect key trends that have emerged in the beer and cider markets since the last event in 2019. In the beer competition, a zero alcohol category was added to reflect the growth and interest in this market segment, and in the cider competition a rosé category was added.
