Loch Lomond Brewery was the big winner at the recent SIBA Scotland Indie Beer Awards in Edinburgh.
The brewer took home a massive haul of trophies from the event which included no fewer than 12 Gold medals as well as the title of Overall Champion of the Cask Beer Competition for its Bravehop beer.
In addition to that Overall title, the brewery’s mantlepiece was filled with trophies including Gold awards for its Southern Summit in the Cask Session Pale Ale category; Ellenderoch in the Cask Imperial and Strong category; Helles Glen in the Keg Premium Lager (4.5% to 6.4%) category; and Oompah Lupulin in the Bottle & Can Double or Triple IPA (7.5% & Over) category.
“We have literally doubled our haul from last year and so we are very proud of everyone on the team at Loch Lomond Brewery for always striving so hard to produce the best quality beers we possibly can,” said Loch Lomond’s head of sales and development, George Wotherspoon.
“From stouts and premium lagers to pale ales, British bitters and speciality flavoured beers and of course our new alcohol-free beers, we cover a lot of ground, so maintaining the highest of standards across all formats emphasises just how good our beer making is.”
Of the Overall Champion award managing director Fiona MacEachern added: “The guys at the brewery work really, really hard and they really deserve it, they work so hard every day and so to take this award home and be able to say that they’ve achieved everything we could ever ask of them and more is just brilliant.”
Other big winners included Bellfield Brewery in Edinburgh, which picked up the Overall Champion of the Keg Beer Competition title for its Lager Libre beer, as well as Golds for its Fire Island IPA in the Keg Alcohol Free Beer and for Lager Libre in the Key Speciality & Flavoured Beer category.
“Delighted to win the Overall Scottish Champion Award for 2026 for our Lager Libre, which is a 4.5% Mexican-style lager, filled with lime, agave and maize, brewed gluten- free and Vegan-friendly – so great to win with such a fun beer style, up against unbelievable beers.
“Just great to win it and looking forward to pouring the beer at the UK finals at BeerX next year.”
The Overall Champion of the Bottle & Can Competition title was taken by Cairngorm Brewery for its Bothy beer, with the brewery also taking Golds in the Cask British Bitter category (for Stag); Keg Stout & Porter category (for Black Gold); and the Bottle & Can Amber, Brown & Red Ale category (for Bothy).
The Indie Beer Scotland Awards are judged by a panel of expert judges that includes beer sommeliers and master brewers from elsewhere in the UK.
Beers are blind-tasted, with winners of each beer style category going through to the final judging table, where the Champion Gold, Silver and Bronze are selected.
The awards are presented ahead of the Indie Beer Scotland beer festival.
All category winners will now go forward to compete in the UK finals of the Indie Beer Awards, which are organised by the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates and will take place in Liverpool next March.
Other than Loch Lomond, Bellfield, and Cairngorm, big winners at the Scottish competition included Edinburgh’s Stewart Brewing, Orkney Brewery and Dunfermline’s SaltRock Brewing, which took home four Golds apiece.
Stewart collected a Gold in the Keg Session Lager category for Stewart’s Lager; a Gold in the Keg British Ales category for its Edinburgh Gold; and Golds in the Keg Pale Ale and Bottle & Can Pale Ale categories for its Hazy IPA.
Orkney scooped Golds in the Cask Speciality Amber to Dark Beer category for Dark Island Reserve; Keg Imperial & Strong Ale for Skull Splitter; Bottle & Can British Best Bitters (4.5% to 6.4%) for Puffin; and Bottle & Can British Bitters (up to 4.4%) for Red MacGregor.
SaltRock’s Shout! took Gold in the Cask British Dark Beers category, with its Roger… Roger taking Golds in the Keg Belgian & Continental Style Beer and Bottle & Can Belgian & Continental Style Beers categories.
The brewery’s Louis Louis beer took Gold in the Bottle & Can British Dark Beers category.
