Twisted Tree and Gloucester Brewery scoop top awards at Indie Beer Awards Midlands & West
The two top awards in cask and keg at the Indie Beer Awards Midlands & West have been scooped by Twisted Tree Brewery in Oxfordshire and Gloucester Brewery in Gloucestershire, in a record-sized competition judging beers from across the Midlands and West of England.
Twisted Tree Brewery’s ‘The Bark Side’ Black IPA wowed judges in the Cask beer competition, taking the Overall Champion Gold with a beer where “Rich roasted malts meet vibrant hops, delivering notes of coffee, dark chocolate, citrus, and a resinous finish.”
The Overall Champion Keg beer was awarded to Gloucester Brewery’s ‘NEIPA’, an a New England style hazy IPA which they say is their “most heavily hopped beer, bursting with an incredible tropical fruit aroma and a luxuriously soft, rounded mouthfeel.”
Andy Slee, Chief Executive of the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA), who organise the Indie Beer Awards, was on hand to dish out the medals and had this to say of this year’s winners; “In what was our biggest ever Midlands and West awards – with well over two hundred and fifty beers judged in cask and keg – the quality across the board was truly outstanding. Massive congratulations to all of today’s winners and of course Twisted Tree and Gloucester who were named the best of the best and take home the Overall Champion Golds. A huge well done!”
The Indie Beer Awards are run by and for independent brewers and are judged by fellow brewers from elsewhere in the UK, as well other representatives from the industry and expert beer judges – making these the much coveted ‘brewers’ choice’ awards in the Midlands and West.
The Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) represents independent brewers across the UK, and all the winners of the Midlands & West Indie Beer Awards will now go on to the National Finals at the BeerX UK event in Liverpool, March 2025.
The judging took place at the Nottingham Robin Hood Beer & Cider Festival 2025 at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, which continues today and over the weekend and where all of the award-winning beers will be on sale. For more information visit https://nottinghambf.camra.org.uk
Judging and awards presentation photos: click here
Indie Beer Awards Midlands & West – Full Winners List
Presented at Nottingham CAMRA Robin Hood Beer & Cider Festival
Trent Bridge, Nottingham, 8th October 2025
| Brewery | Product | ABV | Award | ||
| Overall Champion of the Cask Beer Competition | Twisted Tree Brewery | The Bark Side | 6.0 | GOLD | Overall Champion |
| Sponsored by Rudd Macnamara | Shipstone’s Beer Company TA Hollow Stone Brewing Co | The Devils Punch Bowl | 4.0 | SILVER | |
| Loose Cannon Brewery | Abingdon Bridge XB | 6.5 | BRONZE | ||
| Cask British Bitter (up to 4.4%) | |||||
| Sponsored by Rankin Brothers & Sons | Milestone Brewery | Cromwell Best | 4.4 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Buxton Brewery Ltd | Right To Roam | 4.2 | GOLD | ||
| Teme Valley Brewery | That | 4.1 | BRONZE | ||
| Bewdley Brewery | Red Hill | 4.4 | BRONZE | ||
| Charnwood Brewery | Vixen | 4.0 | BRONZE | ||
| Cask Session Pale Ale (up to 4.4%) | |||||
| Sponsored by Rankin Brothers & Sons | Hobsons Brewery | Hobsons Pale | 4.0 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Charnwood Brewery | Blue Fox | 4.2 | SILVER | ||
| Dancing Duck Brewery | DCUK | 4.3 | BRONZE | ||
| Stroud Brewery | O.P.A. | 4.0 | BRONZE | ||
| Cask Pale Ales (4.4 to 5.5%) | |||||
| Sponsored by GEA | Salopian Brewery | Paper Planes | 4.6 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Vale Brewery | Gravitas | 4.8 | SILVER | ||
| Alter Ego Brewing Co | Sidekick | 4.5 | BRONZE | ||
| Cask Session Dark Beers (up to 4.4%) | |||||
| Sponsored by Rudd Macnamara | Shipstone’s Beer Company TA Hollow Stone Brewing Co | The Devils Punch Bowl | 4.0 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Three Tuns Brewery | Stout | 4.4 | BRONZE | ||
| Titanic Brewery | Classic Mild | 3.5 | BRONZE | ||
| Cask British Dark Beers (4.5 to 6.4%) | |||||
| Sponsored by Rudd Macnamara | Loddon Brewery | Hocus Pocus | 4.6 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| North Cotswold Brewery | Hung, Drawn ‘n’ Portered | 5.0 | SILVER | ||
| Wye Valley Brewery | Wholesome Stout | 4.6 | SILVER | ||
| Bewdley Brewery | William Muklow’s Dark Mild | 6.0 | SILVER | ||
| Grainstore Brewery | Rutland Beast | 5.3 | BRONZE | ||
| Cask British Best Bitter (4.5 to 6.4%) | |||||
| Sponsored by Rankin Brothers & Sons | Shipstone’s Beer Company TA Hollow Stone Brewing Co | Red Star | 4.8 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Wye Valley Brewery | Butty Bach | 4.5 | SILVER | ||
| Towcester Mill Brewery Ltd | Steam Ale | 4.5 | BRONZE | ||
| The Chiltern Brewery | Three Hundred’s Old Ale | 4.9 | BRONZE | ||
| Goffs Brewery | White Knight | 4.7 | BRONZE | ||
| Purity Brewing Company | PURE UBU | 4.5 | BRONZE | ||
| Salopian Brewery | Golden Thread | 5.0 | BRONZE | ||
| Cask IPA (5.6 and over) | |||||
| Sponsored by Rankin Brothers & Sons | Twisted Tree Brewery | The Bark Side | 6.0 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Blue Monkey Brewery | Infinity plus 1 | 5.6 | SILVER | ||
| Alter Ego Brewing Co | Incognito | 5.8 | BRONZE | ||
| Cask Imperial and Strong (6.5% and over) | |||||
| Sponsored by Bulk Systems | Loose Cannon Brewery | Abingdon Bridge XB | 6.5 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Grainstore Brewery | Nip | 7.3 | SILVER | ||
| Little Brewing Company Ltd | Pudd | 8.5 | BRONZE | ||
| Cask Speciality Amber to Dark Beer | |||||
| Sponsored by UB Plastics | Blue Monkey Brewery | Cinder Toffee Stout | 5.0 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Buxton Brewery Ltd | Nuts and Crosses | 4.5 | GOLD | ||
| Shipstone’s Beer Company TA Hollow Stone Brewing Co | Krubera Stout | 5.2 | SILVER | ||
| Twisted Tree Brewery | Deep Root Dunkel | 5.0 | SILVER | ||
| Titanic Brewery | Plum Porter | 4.9 | BRONZE | ||
| Black Iris Brewery | Madagascan Porter | 4.8 | BRONZE | ||
| Lincoln Green | Buttermuch | 5.5 | BRONZE | ||
| Loose Cannon Brewery | Stout, Stout, Let it all Out | 7.5 | BRONZE | ||
| North Cotswold Brewery | Blitzen | 4.8 | BRONZE | ||
| Overall Champion of the Keg Beer Competition | Gloucester Brewery | NEIPA | 5.2 | GOLD | Overall Champion |
| Sposnored by Nationwide Energy | Charnwood Brewery | By George | 4.6 | SILVER | |
| Milestone Brewery | Pilsner | 4.0 | BRONZE | ||
| Keg Session Pale Ale (up to 4.4%) | |||||
| Sponsored by Nationwide Energy | Liquid Light Brew Co | Day Tripper | 4.3 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Hobsons Brewery | Citra Mosaic | 4.2 | SILVER | ||
| Salopian Brewery | Auric | 4.0 | BRONZE | ||
| Keg Non-Alcoholic & Low ABV | |||||
| Sponsored by Murphy & Son | Stroud Brewery | Easy Peasy | 2.6 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Gloucester Brewery | Zero Gravity | 0.5 | SILVER | ||
| Little Brewing Company Ltd | Krush | 2.8 | BRONZE | ||
| Keg Pale Ale (4.5% – 5.5%) | |||||
| Sponsored by Nationwide Energy | Gloucester Brewery | NEIPA | 5.2 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Wye Valley Brewery | Fandango! | 4.8 | BRONZE | ||
| Stonehouse Brewery Limited | Alpha Beta | 5.0 | BRONZE | ||
| Keg Session Lager (up to 4.4%) | |||||
| Sponsored by UB Plastics | Milestone Brewery | Pilsner | 4.0 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Loose Cannon Brewery | 676 Lager | 4.0 | SILVER | ||
| Keg IPA (5.6% to 7.4%) | |||||
| Sponsored by Charles Faram | Black Iris Brewery | Don’t Fear The NEIPA | 6.5 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Attic Brew Co. | Signals | 5.6 | SILVER | ||
| Liquid Light Brew Co | Loomer | 6.5 | SILVER | ||
| Keg Stout & Porter (6.4% and under) | |||||
| Titanic Brewery | True Stout | 4.5 | GOLD | Category Champion | |
| Stroud Brewery | Big Cat | 4.5 | SILVER | ||
| Shipstone’s Beer Company TA Hollow Stone Brewing Co | Krubera Mocha Stout | 5.2 | BRONZE | ||
| Stonehouse Brewery Limited | Saturnalia | 4.6 | BRONZE | ||
| Wye Valley Brewery | Nightjar | 4.2 | BRONZE | ||
| Keg Premium Lager (4.5% to 6.4%) | |||||
| Sponsored by UB Plastics | Clavell & Hind | Clavell Premium Lager | 4.8 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Freedom Brewery | Helles | 4.8 | SILVER | ||
| Wye Valley Brewery | 1985 | 4.5 | BRONZE | ||
| Milestone Brewery | Helles lager | 4.7 | BRONZE | ||
| Keg Imperial & Strong Ale (6.5% and over) | |||||
| Loose Cannon Brewery | Abingdon Bridge XB | 6.5 | GOLD | Category Champion | |
| Mount Saint Bernard Trappist Brewery | Tynt Meadow | 7.4 | SILVER | ||
| Keg Double & Triple IPA (7.5% and over) | |||||
| Buxton Brewery Ltd | King Slayer | 8.0 | GOLD | Category Champion | |
| Keg Sour & Wild Ale | |||||
| Liquid Light Brew Co | My Own Summer | 3.2 | GOLD | Category Champion | |
| Loose Cannon Brewery | Whamtastic | 4.5 | SILVER | ||
| Little Brewing Company Ltd | Red sky at night | 4.5 | BRONZE | ||
| Keg Speciality & Flavoured Beer | |||||
| Salopian Brewery | Lemon Dream Unfiltered | 4.5 | GOLD | Category Champion | |
| Little Brewing Company Ltd | The Italian Job | 7.5 | SILVER | ||
| Titanic Brewery | Plum Porter Nitro | 4.9 | SILVER | ||
| Keg Speciality IPA | |||||
| Little Brewing Company Ltd | Eton Mess | 6.0 | GOLD | Category Champion | |
| Blue Monkey Brewery | Californian West Coast IPA | 5.5 | SILVER | ||
| Salopian Brewery | White Whale | 5.1 | SILVER | ||
| Keg British Ales (up to 6.4%) | |||||
| Sponsored by Murphy & Son | Charnwood Brewery | By George | 4.6 | GOLD | Category Champion |
| Loddon Brewery | Ferrymans Gold | 4.4 | SILVER | ||
| Keg Continental Style Beer | |||||
| Little Brewing Company Ltd | Waffle | 7.5 | GOLD | Category Champion | |
