The Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) unveiled three Supreme Champions and 60 medal winners in its National Beer Competition 2015, announced at its BeerX celebration of British beer in Sheffield.
Top honours and the Supreme Champion titles went to: Brass Castle Brewery of Malton, Yorkshire for Burnout in the National Cask Beer Competition; St Austell Brewery for Big Job in the National Bottled Beer Competition; and Wild Beer Company of Evercreech in Somerset for Madness IPA in the National Keg Beer Competition. The Supreme Champions were selected from the Gold medal winners in their competition.
The Supreme Champions, Gold, Silver and Bronze medal-winning beers were chosen at a judging session at BeerX. A panel of industry experts, local licensees, beer writers and drinkers assessed around 150 finalist beers, which had all earned their place in the finals by winning a medal at one of SIBA’s 10 regional beer competitions.
Fierce competition between 800 members
SIBA chairman Guy Sheppard said, “With close to 800 brewers now members of SIBA, competition for our awards is fierce and all our winners can be very proud of their achievement. We congratulate them on brewing beers that have been judged as the best in the country and wish them every success within the vibrant, innovative British brewing industry.”
“For many of our winners and finalists, the BeerX Festival of Beer is a unique opportunity to put their beers in front of new drinkers outside their heartland. Helping our members to expand distribution of their beers has always been one of SIBA’s key goals and we hope that BeerX results in additional sales for many of them.”
Ian Goodall, business director of Brass Castle Brewery, said, “Brass Castle started just four years ago as a one barrel brewery, and so we’ve come a long way. Winning awards is always wonderful, but it’s particularly gratifying to win a SIBA Award because it is voted for by fellow brewers and industry peers. We do a lot of beer swaps with brewers in other areas, distributing their beers in return for them taking some of ours, and I’m now expecting my phone to be ringing off the hook.”
All Bronze, Silver and Gold award winners received their certificates and trophies at BeerX from Sheppard and BBC Radio food and drink broadcaster Nigel Barden.
Brief tasting notes on all the winning beers in the SIBA National Beer Competition are available on the BeerX website here
SIBA NATIONAL CASK, BOTTLE, KEG BEER COMPETITION 2015 WINNERS
National Cask Beer Competition 2015 – Supreme Champion
Sponsored by Close Brewery Rentals
| Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | Brass Castle Brewery | Burnout | 5.8 |
| Silver | Shiny Brewing Company Ltd | Affinity | 4.6 |
| Bronze | Salopian Brewery | Darwin’s Origin | 4.3 |
National Bottled Beer Competition 2015 – Supreme Champion
Sponsored by Croxsons
| Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | St Austell Brewery | Big Job | 7.2 |
| Silver | By The Horns Brewing Co. | Lambeth Walk | 5.1 |
| Bronze | Mordue Brewery | Killswitch 51 | 5.0 |
National Keg Beer Competition 2015 – Supreme Champion
Sponsored by Close Brewery Rentals
| Brewery | Product | ABV | |
| Gold | Wild Beer Co | Madness IPA | 6.8 |
| Silver | Wylam Brewery Ltd | Haxan | 6.2 |
| Bronze | Mordue Brewery | Oatmeal Stout | 4.5 |
Pictured left to right at top: Nigel Barden, BBC Radio food and drink broadcaster; Ian Goodall, director, Brass Castle Brewery; Rob Orton, brewing team leader, St Austell Brewery; David Barr, technical brewer, St Austell Brewery; Guy Sheppard, SIBA chairman
For the full list of winners click here