Breweries in this region claimed a series of prizes at the recent SIBA North East Independent Beer Awards.
The event covers beer makers in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Durham, North Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire as well as South and West Yorkshire.
Nanobrewery ‘Metalhead' in North Shields, founded just a year and a half ago, was claimed the Overall Champion Cask Beer Award.
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The company, which only joined the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) in May 2021, won with their beer ‘Pretty Vacant’ - a double dry hopped blonde ale.
The other top award for Overall Gold in the Bottle & Can competition went to Swaddle Micro Brewery, who trade as Black Storm Brewery & Taproom in North Shields, who won with their Czech-style Pilsner lager.
The awards took place ahead of the Gateshead Beer & Music Festival over the weekend and are judged by fellow brewers and other representatives from the industry, making these the much coveted ‘brewers’ choice’ awards in the North East - including beers from breweries spanning Berwick-upon-Tweed to Sheffield.
Accepting the top cask beer award, Lydia Soucy, co-owner of Metalhead Brewery, said: “We’re absolutely ecstatic to win.
"We’ve only been going for a year and a half so to take away the Gold in our first ever awards is absolutely amazing, we’re over the moon. The brewery is just me and my husband and this means so much to both of us.
“With this beer we wanted to make something which had all the aromatics of a big American IPA but at a more sessionable, drinkable strength," said Lydia, referring to the relatively modest 3.8% abv which makes the blonde ale a ‘session IPA’.
Other category awards were claimed by breweries in Cullercoats, Gateshead and Northumberland.
SIBA represents independent craft brewers across the UK, and the winners of the North East Independent Beer Awards will now go on to the National Finals at the BeerX UK event in Liverpool, March 2022.
Hosting the awards on behalf of SIBA was Neil Walker, Chair of SIBA’s Competitions Committee. He said: “This competition was our first in over a year and on behalf of all of the brewers involved I’m very happy to say we’re back.
"Huge congratulations to all of the breweries who took away awards, the competition was incredibly tight and you should all be very proud of the impressive quality of beers in the judging - and of course particular congratulations go to our overall Gold Champions Metalhead Brewery and Black Storm.”
The Gateshead Beer & Music Festival where the judging took place is run in Association with SIBA and is located in Low Fell between Durham Road and Old Durham Road. The hugely popular festival ran over the bank holiday weekend.
The winners from our region were as follows
Overall Champion of the Cask Competition
Gold - Metalhead Brewery - Pretty Vacant
Cask British Dark Beers (up to 4.4%)
Gold - Metalhead Brewery - Best Mate
Cask Session IPA (up to 4.3%)
Gold - Metalhead Brewery - Pretty Vacant
Overall Champion of the Bottle/Can Competition
Gold - Swaddle Micro Brewery Ltd - Pilsner
Bottle/Can British Bitters (up to 4.4%)
Gold - Cullercoats Brewery Limited - Lovely Nelly
Bottle/Can Premium PAs (4.4 to 5.4%)
Gold - Swaddle Micro Brewery Ltd - Session Storm
Bottle/Can IPA (5.5 to 6.4%)
Gold - GNEB - Dunston Rocket
Bottle/Can Session Lager & Pilsners
Gold - Swaddle Micro Brewery Ltd - Pilsner
Bottle/Can Amber to Dark (up to 6.4%)
Gold - Twice Brewed Brew House (Northumberland) - Coria
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