The two top awards in cask and keg at the Indie Beer Awards North West have gone to Bank Top Brewery, of Bolton, and Manchester’s Big Trip Brewery.
Bank Top and Big Trip breweries celebrate their Indie Beer Awards wins
Bank Top took gold in cask for the second year running, this time with their strong brown ale, Hercules. It impressed judges with nutty caramel notes and an aromatic, spicy hop aroma.
“It’s been a phenomnenal year for us,” said the brewery’s Ben Sweeney. “We picked up national gold from SIBA earlier this year, so to have an even better performance at the North West awards than last year honestly means the world to me and the team.
“We were in this same room last week picking up the Bolton business award for hopsitaltiy, so to perform like this in the Indie Beer Awards today is absolutely unbelievable.”
Big Trip took keg gold for WTAF, a New England-style IPA, big and hazy, with flavours of pineapple, mango, and peach from modern American hops.
Head brewer Simon Chantler said his team were “very, very, very pleased to win”. He added: “Just great to be recognised amongst all of these great brewers in the room today, and thank you to SIBA for organising and all the hard work you guys have put in with these awards — absolutely fantastic.”
The awards competition was staged prior to Bolton Beer Festival, which continues today and over the weekend.
SIBA chief executive, Andy Slee, said: “Massive congratulations to all of this year’s winners, and in particular Big Trip, who beat the best of the best in the hard-fought keg competition, and Bank Top, who managed to take home the overall cask gold for the second consecutive year.”
For the full list of winners, click here.
