Broughton Brewery in the Scottish Borders and Swannay Brewery on Orkney were the two big winners at the recent SIBA Scotland Independent Beer Awards.
Broughton’s Old Jock Scotch Ale took the title of Overall Champion of the Cask Competition, while Swannay’s Orkney Porter was named Overall Champion of the Keg Competition.
Judges praised Old Jock for its ‘big roasted malt flavours’ and ‘balanced sweetness’, with Orkney Porter winning judges over with its ‘berry fruit and big smoky malt flavours’.
Both the Cask and Keg sections of the competition are decided by a panel of experts from across the UK after blind tasting sessions. The winners were announced as part of craft beer festival Indie Beer Scotland, with all the winning beers available for attendees to sample.
Other winners at the event, organised by the Society of Independent Brewers, included Windswept Brewing Co, which picked up Gold awards for its APA (Cask Best British Bitter), Coastal Haze (Cask IPA) and Indian Summer (Cask Speciality Light Beer) beers, and Loch Lomond Brewery, which was awarded Gold trophies for its Silkie Stout (Keg Stout & Porter), Lost Monster (Keg Speciality & Flavoured Beer) and Zoom Time (Cask Pale Ale) beers.
Bellfield Brewery in Edinburgh won three Gold awards – for its Lucky Spence IPA (Cask Session Pale Ale), Vienna Secession Lager (Keg Session Lager) and Lucky Spence IPA (Keg Session Pale Ale), respectively.
“It’s absolutely fantastic to be here and win the overall cask beer award for Scotland,” said Christie Slater of Broughton Brewery.
“Old Jock’s been around for a while, it’s a completely unpretentious beer, a true Scottish ale with not too many hops and a lot of big malt flavours – but at 6.7% ABV it does pack a real punch.”
SIBA chief executive Andy Slee added: “Massive congratulations to all of the winners from Indie Beer Scotland.
“The quality was superb across the board so to take away an award from such tough competition is something to be truly proud of.
“This is especially true of our Overall Champions, Broughton and Swannay Brewery, who not only won their categories but then went on to be named our Overall champions – the very best of the best in Scotland for 2023.”
