Double Gold Medal Success for Hogs Back Brewery 0.5% Beer
Surrey-based Hogs Back Brewery is raising a celebratory glass after Gold Medal wins in two prestigious beer competitions for its Little Swine 0.5% ABV pale ale this month.
Golds for Little Swine 0.5% in both the European Beer Challenge and the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) National Independent Beer Awards are testament to the Hogs Back brewing team’s determination to brew a low alcohol beer without compromising on flavour or quality.
Little Swine 0.5% is a full-bodied, flavourful pale ale, brewed with four speciality malts and three hop varieties, including aromatic Cascade from Hogs Back’s own hop garden and dry hopped with Mosaic for a robust citrus finish. The result is a crisp, smooth, well-balanced beer.
Rupert Thompson, managing director of Hogs Back Brewery, said: “We’re delighted that Little Swine 0.5% has won these two important accolades. The European Beer Awards are judged by buyers, who know exactly what beers consumers are looking for, while the SIBA Awards are judged by experienced brewers and beer writers.
“When we set out to brew a low alcohol beer, we wanted it to deliver the same character and flavour as all our beers, without compromise. Some no and low alcohol beers from the big players use harsher methods such as dealcoholisation, reverse osmosis or vacuum distillation. In contrast, Little Swine 0.5% is naturally brewed, using a stopped fermentation method which gently limits the amount of alcohol in the beer.
“Our head brewer Miles Chesterman and his team took their time in getting both the process and the recipe right, and these awards are recognition of that commitment. Our approach leaves more of the hop character in the brew, as well as retaining a fuller, more complete mouth feel.
“In line with our overall approach to sustainability, it’s lower-tech and less interventionist than mass-produced low and no beers, and these Gold Medal wins demonstrate that drinkers appreciate this more natural approach.”
Little Swine 0.5% pale ale is available in 330ml bottles and cans from the Hogs Back Brewery shop, as well as on draught in the Hogs Back Brewery tap room.
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CAPTION TO ACCOMPANYING IMAGE: Hogs Back Brewery managing director Rupert Thompson (left) and head brewer Miles Chesterman toast the success of Little Swine 0.5% Pale Ale.
Issued on behalf of: Hogs Back Brewery
By: ShielPorter Communications
Further information:
ros@shielporter.com / 07841 694137
john@shielporter.com / 07734 054389
Notes to editors
Hogs Back Brewery
- Hogs Back Brewery was founded in 1992 in Tongham, in the heart of the traditional Surrey hop growing area.
- Its flagship brand Tongham TEA, or Traditional English Ale, is one of the leading regional ales in the South East. The first beer brewed by Hogs Back in 1992, Tongham TEA has won multiple awards including runner-up in CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain in 2000.
- Other awards include CAMRA’s Champion Bottled Beer of Britain 2020 for its A over T (Aromas over Tongham) 9% ABV bottle conditioned barley wine and a Bronze medal in the International Cider Challenge 2019 for its traditional cloudy cider, Hazy Hog.
- The Hogs Back Brewery range includes a number of award-winning draught, bottled and canned beers, demonstrating its ability to combine brewing expertise and tradition with product innovation to create distinctive, memorable beers. In recent years it has launched two low-alcohol beers: Little Swine 2.8% and Little Swine 0.5%.
- As part of its drive to become an ever more sustainable brewer, Hogs Back is aiming to eliminate single use plastic. They have introduced refillable glass Snorters (3.5 pints) and Snifters (1 ¾ pints), and to date have removed 12,000 PETs, earning them Plastic Free Champion status from Surfers Against Sewage.
- hogsback.co.uk.
Issued on behalf of: Hogs Back Brewery
By: ShielPorter Communications
Further information:
ros@shielporter.com / 07841 694137
john@shielporter.com / 07734 054389
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