Backyard Brewhouse & Thornbridge named best brewers in Midlands at SIBA Independent Beer Awards
Backyard Brewhouse in Walsall and Thornbridge Brewery in Bakewell have taken home the two top spots at the SIBA Midlands Independent Beer Awards, taking home overall Gold in the cask and small pack competitions respectively.
The prestigious awards, run by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), held at Nottingham Rugby Club prior to their beer festival, are judged by brewers and beer experts and seen very much as the ‘brewers choice’ awards in the industry.
Backyard Brewhouse’s aptly named ‘Gold’ took home the overall Gold in the cask competition and Thornbridge brewery’s AM:PM was named overall small pack (bottle and can) winner.
Commenting on the competition was SIBA Competitions Committee Chair Guy Sheppard, who presented the awards,
“The quality of entries was once again fantastic in the Midlands beer competition, with breweries new and established fighting it out to be named the best beer overall. Backyard and Thornbridge should be hugely proud of nosing ahead of an incredibly accomplished field in these hotly contested awards.”
Former New Zealand All Black and Wasps player Craig Dowd was also on hand to present the awards, representing Nottingham Rugby Club where the competition took place. Collecting the award for Backyard Brewhouse was Ian Hughes, who had this to say on their win,
“Being a small brewery it is a massive accolade to win the SIBA Independent Beer Award, what a huge honour. This has come as a total surprise amongst what I know was fierce competition. It’s an intense beer with loads of American Citra hops – which right now we think is exactly what people are looking for.”
Collecting the award for Thornbridge brewery was Alex Buchanan who said,
“We’re hugely honoured to win, this means a massive amount to our whole team back at the brewery. We think it’s a great beer – bags of tropical flavours such as pineapple, tangerine and passion fruit – which is proving really popular with drinkers.”
The competition took place immediately before the opening of the SIBA Midlands Beer Festival 2017, taking place at Nottingham Rugby Club, which runs Thursday 2nd November from 6pm-11pm, then continues Friday 3rd November 12 noon until 11pm and Saturday 4th November 12 noon until 11pm. For more information visit www.nottinghamrugby.co.uk
Full results:
Overall Champion of the Cask Competition
|
Sponsored by SPAsoft Ltd |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | The Backyard Brewhouse | Gold | 4.5 | |
| Silver | The Backyard Brewhouse | 1898 | 4.9 | |
| Bronze | Purity Brewing Company | Bunny Hop | 3.5 |
Cask Standard Mild Ales & Brown Ales
|
Sponsored by Close Brothers Brewery Rentals |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | The Grainstore Brewery | Rutland Panther | 3.4 | |
| Silver | Great Oakley Brewery | Welland Valley Mild | 3.6 | |
| Bronze | vale brewery | black swan mild | 3.9 |
Cask Standard Bitters & Pale Ales
|
Sponsored by Rankin Brothers & Sons |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | Purity Brewing Company | Bunny Hop | 3.5 | |
| Silver | Springhead Brewery | Outlawed | 3.8 | |
| Bronze | The Chiltern Brewery | Chiltern Pale Ale | 3.7 |
Cask Best Bitters & Pale Ales
|
Sponsored by Charles Farams & Co. Ltd |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | Purity Brewing Company | Mad Goose | 4.2 | |
| Silver | Lincoln Green Brewing Company Limited | Archer | 4.0 | |
| Bronze | The Heritage Brewing Company | St.Modwen | 4.2 |
Cask Premium Bitters & Pale Ales
|
Sponsored by Crisp Malting Group |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | The Backyard Brewhouse | Gold | 4.5 | |
| Silver | Charnwood Brewery | American Pale Ale | 4.8 | |
| Bronze | Castle Rock | Elsie Mo | 4.7 |
Cask Strong Bitters & Pale Ales
|
Sponsored by Murphy & Son Ltd |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | Intrepid Brewing Company Ltd | Myrce IPA | 5.3 | |
| Silver | The Backyard Brewhouse | Antipodean | 5.6 | |
| Bronze | Slater’s Ales | Haka | 5.2 |
Cask Premium Strong Beers
|
Sponsored by Rastal GmbH & Co. Ltd |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | The Loose Cannon Brewing Co ltd | Double IPA | 7.5 | |
| Silver | Shiny Brewing Company | Rocket | 7.0 | |
| Bronze | Dancing Duck | Imperial Drake | 6.5 |
Cask Porters, Stouts, Old Ales, Strong Milds & Strong Brown Ales
|
Sponsored by Brewers Select |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | The Backyard Brewhouse | 1898 | 4.9 | |
| Silver | Brampton Brewery | Brampton Mild | 4.9 | |
| Bronze | Shiny Brewery Furnace Brewpub | My Milk Stout Brings All The Boys To The Bar | 4.9 |
Cask Speciality Light Beers
|
Sponsored by CFB Boilers Ltd |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | Dancing Duck | Wot the Duck? Duck a l’orange | 6.4 | |
| Silver | Grafton Brewery | Apricot Jungle | 4.8 | |
| Bronze | Shiny Brewing Company | Elevation | 4.7 |
Cask Speciality Mid to Dark Beers
|
|
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | Blue Monkey Brewery | Guerrilla Chocolate Amaretto | 4.9 | |
| Silver | Fownes Brewing Company | Visions of Heresy | 5.7 | |
| Bronze | The Chiltern Brewery | Chiltern Black | 3.9 |
Champion Small Pack Beers
|
Sponsored by NFU Mutual |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | Thornbridge Brewery | AM:PM | 4.5 | |
| Silver | Ashover Brewery | Littlemoor Citra | 4.1 | |
| Bronze | Brmapton Brewery | Impy Dark | 4.3 |
Small Pack Standard Mild Ales & Brown Ales
| Brewery | Product | ABV | ||
| Gold | Brampton Brewery | Impy Dark | 4.3 | |
| Silver | The Loose Cannon Brewing Co ltd | Abingdon Bridge | 4.1 | |
| Bronze | XT Brewing Co | FOUR | 4.2 |
Small Pack Standard Bitters & Pale Ales
| Brewery | Product | ABV | ||
| Gold | Ashover Brewery | Littlemoor Citra | 4.1 | |
| Silver | The Backyard Brewhouse | Americana | 4.3 | |
| Bronze | Lymestone Brewery | Stone Faced | 4.0 |
Small Pack Premium Bitters & Pale Ales
|
Sponsored by Saxon Packaging |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | Thornbridge Brewery | AM:PM | 4.5 | |
| Silver | Lincoln Green Brewing Company Limited | Archer | 4.5 | |
| Bronze | Weal Ales Brewery | Weller Weal | 4.6 |
Small Pack Strong Bitters & Pale Ales
|
|
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | The Chiltern Brewery | 300’s Old Ale | 5.0 | |
| Silver | Loddon Brewery | Forbury Lion IPA | 5.5 | |
| Bronze | Peak Ales Ltd. | IPA | 6.0 |
Small Pack Premium Strong Beers
|
|
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | Ashover Brewery | Victorian Ruby Mild | 7.0 | |
| Silver | Blue Monkey Brewery | Woolly Monkey | 6.8 | |
| Bronze | The Grainstore Brewery | Rutland Beast | 5.3 |
Small Pack Standard Lager & Pilsners
| Brewery | Product | ABV | ||
| Gold | Charnwood Brewery | Liska | 4.0 | |
| Silver | Derby Brewing Company | Python Pilsner | 4.2 | |
| Bronze | Thornbridge Brewery | Lukas | 4.2 |
Small Pack Premium Lager & Pilsners
| Brewery | Product | ABV | ||
| Gold | Purity Brewing Company | Lawless Lager | 4.5 | |
| Silver | Shiny Brewing Company | Shiny Lager | 4.5 | |
| Bronze | Nobby’s Brewing Company Ltd | Pilsner | 4.8 |
Small Pack Porters, Stouts, Old Ales, Strong Milds & Strong Brown Ales
| Brewery | Product | ABV | ||
| Gold | Ashover Brewery | Milk Stout | 6.0 | |
| Silver | Brampton Brewery | Brampton Mild | 4.9 | |
| Bronze | Blue Monkey Brewery | Guerrilla 500ml Bottle | 4.9 |
Small Pack Speciality Light Beers
|
Sponsored by Beatson Clark Ltd |
Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | Lymestone Brewery | Cherry Stone | 5.2 | |
| Silver | Dhillons Brewery | GPA | 3.8 | |
| Bronze | Peak Ales Ltd. | Chatsworth Gold | 4.6 |
Small Pack Speciality Mid to Dark Beers
| Brewery | Product | ABV | ||
| Gold | Thornbridge Brewery | Cocoa Wonderland | 6.8 | |
| Silver | Fownes Brewing Company | Visions of Heresy | 5.7 | |
| Bronze | The Backyard Brewhouse | Coaltown | 5.0 |
