60° North shortlisted for the prestigious Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards
Alison Graham, On Trade Scottish Sales Manager, Lerwick Brewery
Lerwick Brewery’s flagship Pilsener lager 60° North has been confirmed as a front-runner for the Best Drink Award at the prestigious Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards. Supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), the Awards are the region’s longest-running food and drinks awards, celebrating excellence and achievement in the industry – and recognising industry players at the top of their game.
This latest awards nomination for 60° North demonstrates how the beer is not only proving a hit with beer drinkers, it continues to attract attention throughout Scotland and the UK from retailers, reviewers, and industry champions. In the Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards, the Brewery joins 40 other finalists in contention for 12 awards. The Awards, now in their tenth year, recognise and reward businesses in the region which are displaying best practice, achieving exceptional standards and pushing boundaries in a key growth industry sector.
Alison Graham, On Trade Scottish Sales Manager, Lerwick Brewery, says: “60° North is proving really popular with drinkers right across Scotland, and its reach is growing in the rest of the UK too. Drinkers love the depth of taste coupled with the lack of artificial fizz so redolent of many mass- market lagers. It’s a refreshing take on lager – as one reviewer said ‘how lagers should be’ – and we are delighted that 60° North has been recognized by the Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards. It’s a fantastic accolade to be a finalist.”
Over the past few months, the 14 judges have read their way through piles of written submissions and sampled a variety of the best of Scottish produce.
Stephen Rankin, chair of the judging panel and director of UK Sales at the Awards’ headline sponsor Gordon & MacPhail, says: “The diversity and extremely high quality of submissions was an on-going reminder of the imagination, passion and skill which is prevalent throughout the industry. It was fantastic to review such a diverse range of entries from a brilliant blend of well-established companies to youngsters and new businesses just starting out in the industry.”
Crystal Mackay, HIE’s Development Manager for Food & Drink says: “HIE is extremely pleased to see such a high level and quality of entries received from across the region for the Highlands and Islands Food and Drink Awards. Our fantastic natural larder is a key strength for the region and growing the food and drink sector is a priority for the agency. We welcome and thank all the dedicated companies across the Highlands and Islands and Cairngorms National Park area who entered and we wish all the shortlisted companies the best of luck in the forthcoming awards.”
The winners of all the awards will be announced at the Awards Dinner and Ceremony at the Kingsmills Hotel, Inverness on Friday, 24 October. The event attracts around 300 representatives from the region’s top food and drink businesses who gather annually to celebrate all that is best in the industry in the Highlands and Islands and Cairngorms National Park area. This year’s event will be hosted by popular presenter and comedian Fred MacAulay.
