Coffee and Welsh Cake? Duo of stouts named the best independent craft beers in Wales & West

May 10, 2019| Neil Walker | wales and west

St Anne’s Brewery and Glamorgan Brewing Co have taken home the two top awards in SIBA’s Wales & West Independent Beer Awards, winning the “cask” and “bottle & can” competitions respectively – one with a coffee stout and one with a Welsh Cake Stout.

The awards are run by the Society of Independent Brewers prior to the opening of the popular SIBA Ludlow Beer Festival at Ludlow Castle and judge the best independent craft beers across a variety of style categories before overall ‘Gold Champions’ are selected in the seperate ‘Cask’ and ‘Bottle & Can’ competitions.

It was ‘Iron and Fire’ by St Anne’s Brewery which took home the Overall Gold in the cask beer competition. Featuring fresh ground coffee, it’s a collaboration brew with a local artisanal coffee roasters, giving extra zip to this traditional stout. Chris Yeomans, Head Brewer at St Anne’s Brewery was there to collect the award,

“I’m absolutely blown away, I genuinely wasn’t expecting to win anything and we’ll all be celebrating back at the brewery. This stout was a collaboration with a local coffee roasters and they’ll be over the moon as well – I can’t wait to tell them!”

‘Welsh Cake Stout’ by Glamorgan brewery is a take on the Welsh classic with all of the flavours of the tea-time cake, wrapped up in a smooth, rich stout. Gavin Parsons, Regional Sales Manager for Glamorgan Brewery accepted the award on behalf of the team

“Absolutely overwhelmed with this achievement – this goes down to all the hardwork of the brewery team. Just incredible, absolutely fantastic to win and the team will be so proud of this. What we tried to do with this beer is do something which represents Wales, which for us is Welsh Cake, it seems to have gone down really well with people – and beer judges!”

Guy Sheppard, SIBA’s competitions committee Chair presented the awards;

“It’s great to see two dark beers taking the overall Golds and just shows that craft beer is about more than just hoppy pale ales – there were a huge range of flavours on show at these awards and the quality across the board was fantastic. I’d like to thank all of the brewers who entered and congratulate those who were lucky enough to walk away with the silverware!”

The SIBA Wales & West Independent Beer Awards judge a huge range of beers across a number of styles before the winners from each category go forward to an ‘Overall Champions’ final. It was this ‘best-of-the-best’ final that finds the best winners in cask and small pack, which judges cans and bottles side by side.

Full Winners List:

Overall Champion of the Cask Competition

Cask British Dark Beers (up to 4.4%)

Cask British Dark Beers (4.5 to 6.4%)

Cask British Bitters (up to 4.4%)

Cask Premium Bitters (4.5 to 6.4%)

Cask Session IPA (up to 4.3%)

Cask Premium PAs (4.4 to 5.4%)

Cask IPA (5.5 to 6.4%)

Cask Speciality Light Beers

Cask Speciality Mid to Dark Beers

 Cask Strong Beers 6.5% and over

Champion Bottle/Can Beers

Bottle/Can British Dark Beers (up to 4.4%)

Bottle/Can British Dark Beers (4.5 to 6.4%)

Bottle/Can British Bitters (up to 4.4%)

Bottle/Can Premium Bitters (4.5 to 6.4%)

Bottle/Can Session IPA (up to 4.3%)

Bottle/Can Premium PAs (4.4 to 5.4%)

Bottle/Can Can IPA (5.5 to 6.4%)

Bottle/Can Can Imperial IPA (6.5% and over)

Bottle/Can Session Lager & Pilsners

Bottle/Can Premium Lager & Pilsners

Bottle/Can Speciality Light Beers

Bottle/Can Speciality Mid to Dark Beers

Bottle/Can Sours/Spontaneous

Bottle/Can Strong Beers 6.5% and over

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