Brews from Almasty Brewery, Lakes Brew Co, and Baker’s Dozen have taken top honours at the National Indie Beer Awards, staged at BeerX, in Liverpool.
Almasty, from Newcastle upon Tyne, won the overall cask beer competition with their 6% ABV New England-style IPA, Believe. Lakes Brew Co, in Kendall, won overall champion in keg with their decadent 8.4% ABV imperial stout, Don’t Make Me Run. And Baker’s Dozen, in Stamford, took the bottle/can title with their 3.2% ABV Agua Fresca Sour.
“We brew pale ales and bitters as our bread and butter as a brewery, so to win with a session-strength sour beer is just incredible,” said Dean Baker, of Baker’s Dozen Brewery, who was at the awards ceremony with his wife, Jill. “I guess we’ll have to make it again now!”
Jill added: “I’m absolutely blown away. It was our ten-year anniversary last year, so we entered all of these beers that mean a lot to us and we’re really proud of.
“This beer came about because of a regular customer of ours who runs a Mexican food truck and loves the combination of watermelon and hibiscus, and we thought that combo would just make a great sour beer. But we know it’s a bit mad and not what we normally do, so to have judges recognise it at the UK’s biggest beer awards is just huge for us.”
Judged by brewers and industry experts and organised by the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) at their flagship BeerX UK event in Liverpool, the Indie Beer Awards run across a huge range of beer style categories. As the UK’s best beer in a bottle or can Baker’s Dozen will now get automatic entry into the World Beer Cup in America, judged against the best beers from around the globe.
The Indie Beer Awards are the UK national finals of a number of regional competitions. Finalists from Scotland, the North East, North West, Midlands and West, East of England, Wales, South East, and South West all fought it out to take home the top awards. They awards were presented by beer writer Pete Brown.
“The demand for independent beer has never been higher, and it’s easy to see why when trying some of these award-winners,” said Andy Slee, chief executive of SIBA. “Varied, exciting, and all absolutely delicious I want to congratulate all of the winners, but in particular our overall champions, who are truly the very best of the best in the UK right now. A huge well done!”
