Quantock, Wye Valley, and Eight Arch Brewing earn ‘Best beer in the UK’ awards

March 13, 2020| Neil Walker | SIBA National

SIBA Independent Beer Awards 2020

Quantock Brewery and Wye Valley Brewery have taken home Overall Champion Gold in the Cask and Keg Awards at the SIBA Independent Beer Awards 2020, with Eight Arch Brewing Co being named the best bottled or canned beer – making their three beers the official best in the UK.

Judged by brewers and industry experts and organised by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) at their flagship BeerX UK event in Liverpool, the awards run across a huge range of beer style categories in cask, craft keg, bottle and can.

The Overall Champion Cask beer is Quantock Brewery’s 5.1% ABV ‘Titanium’ – an aromatic ‘West Coast’ style American IPA with citrus, pine and tropical fruit notes.

James Higgins accepted the cask award alongside the rest of the Quantock team at BeerX UK and gave us his reaction, “It’s a phenomenal achievement, we’ve picked up a few awards with this beer but this is the big one and it means so much. Titanium uses Ekuanot and Citra hops and we think it’s tasting better than ever, but we’re absolutely speechless to win aganst the calibre of beers in the competition.”

In the craft keg competition it was Wye Valley brewery who took home the Overall Gold with their 4.5% ‘1985’ lager, which combines British and European hops in a German Kolsch-style beer. Jack Morris was collecting the award for Wye Valley, “To win the overall keg with a clean, crisp lager against such in your face and super hoppy beers is massive for us. It’s a great beer that manages to do everything you want a lager to do but have a little extra hop bite, with some nice orange and clementine aromas and flavour. We are really proud of it.”

In the can and bottle competition it was Eigth Arch Brewing Co’s 4.2% ‘Square Logic’ pale ale which combines ‘fruit-filled’ hops and huge drinkability, the award was accepted by Steve Farrell, Founder of Eight Arch Brewing Co, “We never expected to win and it’s great to see a lower abv beer winning against such huge rival beers of an amazing calibre. We’ve only been going for 4 years and canning our beers for 2, so to take the top award with a canned beer is massive. The beer has got loads of citra hops which give it a tropical flavour, but it’s still dry and has a crispness too.”

The SIBA Independent Beer Awards at BeerX UK are the trade association’s National finals and in order to earn a place at the competition brewers must first win at their regional competition – making these overall Champions very much the ‘best of the best’ when it comes to British independent craft beer.

SIBA Competitions Chair Guy Sheppard, a brewer himself at Exe Valley in the South West, congratulated the winners on their huge achievement:

“The SIBA Independent Beer Awards 2020 were our biggest ever, and with an incredibly high standard of beer across the board. These three beers are the very best of the best in the UK and the brewers should be hugely proud of their achievement. Huge congratulations to them and the rest of the winners across the competition!”

Sponsored by Close Brothers Brewery Rentals		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Quantock Brewery	Titanium	5.1
	Silver	Windswept Brewing Co Ltd	Wolf	6
	Bronze	Swannay Brewery	Orkney Blast	6

Sponsored by NFU Mutual Insurance		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Padstow Brewing Co	Padstow Pilot	4
	Silver	SULWATH BREWERS LTD	Black Galloway	4.4
	Bronze	Long Man Brewery	Old Man	4.3

Sponsored by Crisp Malting Group Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Windswept Brewing Co Ltd	Wolf	6
	Silver	Lincoln Green Brewery	tuck	4.7
	Bronze	The Five Points Brewing Company	Railway Porter	4.8

Sponsored by Thomas Fawcett & Sons Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Purity Brewing Company	Pure Gold	3.8
	Silver	Glamorgan Brewing Co	CWRW GORSLAS	4
	Bronze	Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd	West Coast	4.1

Sponsored by Rankin Brothers & Sons		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	The Backyard Brewhouse	Gold	4.5
	Silver	Strathaven Ales	Claverhouse	4.5
	Bronze	Mantle Brewery	Hoodwinked	5

Sponsored by Rastal GmbH & Co KG		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Swannay Brewery	Banyan	3.9
	Silver	Eight Arch Brewing Co.	Square Logic	4.2
	Bronze	Big Bog Brewing Co	Hinkypunk	4.1

Sponsored by Charles Faram & Co Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Quantock Brewery	Titanium	5.1
	Silver	Hophurst Brewery Ltd	APA	5.2
	Bronze	Windswept Brewing Co Ltd	Hurricane	4.5

Sponsored by Murphy & Son Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Swannay Brewery	Orkney Blast	6
	Silver	Ilkley Brewery	Lotus	5.9
	Bronze	Blue Monkey Brewery	Infinity Plus 1	5.6

Sponsored by Napthens		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Milestone Brewery	Raspberry Wheat Beer	5.6
	Silver	Windswept Brewing Co Ltd	Weizen	5.2
	Bronze	Hophurst Brewery Ltd	Milkshake IPA	4.5

Sponsored by Anton Paar Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Blackedge Brewing Company Ltd	Black Port	4.6
	Silver	Plain Ales Brewery Ltd	Inncognito	4.8
	Bronze	Grafton Brewery	CARAMEL STOUT	4.8

Sponsored by Pentair Food & Beverage Solutions		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	The Grainstore Brewery Limited	Nip	7.3
	Silver	Brass Castle Brewery	Annexation	8.3
	Bronze	Gun Brewery	Zamzama	6.5

Sponsored by Willis European		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Weal Ales Brewery	Centwealial Milk Stout	4.9
	Silver	The Cronx Brewery	Entire	5.2
	Bronze	George’s Brewery	Hopmonster Mad Dog Mild	4.9

Sponsored by Brook House Hops		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Westerham	Wally Winkers Death By Chocolate	4.5
	Silver	Stewart Brewing Ltd	Not Your Buddy, Guy!	6.8
	Bronze	Titanic Brewery	Plum porter	4.9

Sponsored by Brook House Hops		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Elgood & Sons Ltd	Coolship Fruit	5
	Silver	Fyne Ales	Origins Brewing – Acres	7
	Bronze	Hawkshead Brewery	Key Lime Tau	6.28

Sponsored by Cottage Delight		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Eight Arch Brewing Co.	Square Logic	4.2
	Silver	Hawkshead Brewery	Unfashionably Late	7.4
	Bronze	Signature Brew Ltd	Anthology	10

Sponsored by IC Filling Systems Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Cairngorm Brewery	Black Gold	4.4
	Silver	Gun Brewery	Parabellum	4.1
	Bronze	White Horse Brewery	Oxford Dark Blue	4.3

Sponsored by Saxon Packaging		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Stonehenge Ales Ltd	Heel Stone	4.3
	Silver	Dancing Duck Brewery	22	4.3
	Bronze	Acorn Brewery	Yorkshire Pride	3.7

Sponsored by Core Equipment Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Hadrian Border Brewery	Grainger Ale	4.6
	Silver	Redemption Brewing Company	Hopspur	4.5
	Bronze	Fyne Ales	Avalanche	4.5

Sponsored by Beer Box Shop		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Eight Arch Brewing Co.	Square Logic	4.2
	Silver	Salopian Brewery	Oracle	4
	Bronze	Calverley’s Brewery	Pale Ale – Citra – Simcoe – Mosaic	4.2

Sponsored by Vigo Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Wood Brewery Ltd	Coracle	5.2
	Silver	Firebrand Brewing	West Coast Session IPA	4.5
	Bronze	Bank Top Brewery	Palomino Rising	5

Sponsored by Premier Systems Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	The Wimbledon Brewery Company LTD	Wimbledon IPA	6.2
	Silver	Eight Arch Brewing Co.	Corbel	5.5
	Bronze	Rooster’s Brewing Co.	Baby-Faced Assassin	6.1

Sponsored by Framax UK Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Hawkshead Brewery	Unfashionably Late	7.4
	Silver	Wild Card Brewery	DDH IPA	7.5
	Bronze	Ossett Brewing Company Ltd	Alpaca	6.6

Sponsored by Makro Labelling UK Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Powderkeg Brewery	Cut Loose	4.7
	Silver	Ferry Ales Brewery	Lincoln Lager	4.5
	Bronze	Joseph Holt Ltd	Diamond	5

Sponsored by Beatson Clark		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Loch Lomond Brewery	Come on Pilgrim	5
	Silver	Windsor and Eton Brewery	Uprising’s Caught By The Fuzz	5
	Bronze	The Norfolk Brewhouse	Jackalope	4.2

Quantock, Wye Valley, and Eight Arch Brewing earn ‘Best beer in the UK’ awards

Author: Neil Walker

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	Gold	Signature Brew Ltd	Anthology	10
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Sponsored by Muntons Plc		Brewery	Product	ABV
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Sponsored by Flextech Hose Solutions Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
	Gold	Wye Valley Brewery	1985	4.5
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Sponsored by Vale Labels Ltd		Brewery	Product	ABV
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