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15th May 2017

Grey Trees Brewery & Purple Moose come out on top at SIBA Wales & West Independent Beer Awards

Grey Trees Brewery and Purple Moose Brewery took the top awards in SIBA’s Wales & West Independent Beer Awards, which took place at Ludlow Festival yesterday.

The American hopped ‘Afghan Pale Ale’ by Grey Trees Brewery took home the overall Gold in the cask beer competition, whereas the rich and chocolatey ‘Chocolate Moose’ by Purple Moose took home the overall Gold in the small pack (bottle and can competition).

“Two very different but equally excellent beers won the overall Champion Golds in the SIBA Wales & West Independent Beer Awards. Judges had a tough job separating the pack as the standard was extremely high once again and lucky beer festival attendees will be scrambling to try these beers – now officially the best independent craft beers in the Wales & West region. Massive congratulations to Grey Trees & Purple Moose!” Buster Grant, SIBA Chairman.

The SIBA Wales & West Independent Beer Awards judge a huge range of beers across a number of styles before the winners from each category go forward to an ‘Overall Champions’ final. It was this ‘best-of-the-best’ final that finds the best winners in cask and small pack, which judges cans and bottles side by side. The beer festival continues at Ludlow castle today, where the public can taste the full range of award winning independent craft beers.

Grey Trees Brewery, which started with a mission to get local people excited and enthusiastic about drinking ‘proper beer’ again as apposed to global lager, is run by Ray Davies, who had this to say on their win, “Fantastic! This has been a great year for the brewery and it is brilliant to see an IPA win the overall regional cask award. I would like to thank all of my family and everyone at the brewery for their support and hard work.”

The Purple Moose Brewery is a ’40-Barrel’ micro-brewery based in the historic harbour town of Porthmadog, North Wales, close to the mountains of Snowdonia. Brewer Lawrence Washington from Purple Moose commented “This is amazing news for the brewery with so many great breweries in the Wales & West SIBA region. To win the overall small pack award is testament to how far we have come as a brewing business.”

Full Winners List

Overall Champion of the Cask Beer Competition  

Sponsored by  SPAsoft Ltd

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Grey Trees Independent Craft Brewers Afghan Pale Ale 5.4
 SILVER  Mumbles Brewery Mumbles Weiss 5.8
 BRONZE  Corvedale Brewery Katie’s Pride 4.3

Cask Standard Mild & Brown Ales   

Sponsored by  Muntons PLC

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Corvedale Brewery Katie’s Pride 4.3
 SILVER  Hillside Brewery Over The Hill 3.5
 BRONZE  Hobsons Brewery Champion Mild 3.2

Cask Standard Bitters & Pale Ales  

Sponsored by  Murphy & Son Ltd 

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Wye Valley Brewery The Hopfather 3.9
 SILVER  Heavy Industry Brewing Ltd Electric Mountain 3.8
 BRONZE  Stroud Brewery Tom Long 3.8

Cask Best Bitters & Pale Ales   

Sponsored by  Charles Faram & Co. Ltd 

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Ludlow Brewing Company Blonde 4.0
 SILVER  Castles Brewery Limited White Knight 4.1
 BRONZE  Glamorgan Brewing Jemimas Pitchfork 4.4

Cask Premium Bitters & Pale Ales   

Sponsored by  Rankin Brothers & Sons  

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Big Hand Brewing Co Ltd Appaloosa 4.5
 SILVER  Heavy Industry Brewing Ltd 77 4.9
 BRONZE  Prescott Ales Super 6 No 2 Session IPA 4.5

Cask Strong Bitters & Pale Ales  

Sponsored by  Brewers Select 

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Grey Trees Independent Craft Brewers Afghan Pale Ale 5.4
 SILVER  Ludlow Brewing Company Stairway 5.0
 BRONZE  Cerddin Brewery Red Devilish 6.0

Cask Premium Strong Beers  

Sponsored by  Rastal GmbH & Co KG 

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Brecon Brewing Mind Bleach 10.0
 SILVER  The Untapped Brewing Co. Coldharbour 6.5
 BRONZE  Salopian Brewery Nephilim 7.4

Cask Porters, Stouts, Old Ales, Strong Milds & Strong Brown Ales   

Sponsored by  Bulk Storage & Process Systems Ltd 

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Cwrw Ial Community Brew Co Imperial Tan Halen 7.0
 SILVER  Heavy Industry Brewing Ltd Nos Smoked Porter 5.5
 BRONZE  Bespoke Brewing Co Ltd Money for Old Rope 4.8

Cask Speciality Light Beers  

Sponsored by  Crisp Malting Group 

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Mumbles Brewery Mumbles Weiss 5.8
 SILVER  Clun Brewery Ltd Solar 4.3
 BRONZE  Purple Moose Brewery Ltd Ysgawen 4.0

Cask Speciality Mid to Dark Beers  

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Mantle Brewery Dark Heart 5.2
 SILVER  Stroud Brewery Redcoat Red Rye IPA 5.3
 BRONZE  Mumbles Brewery Oystermouth Stout 4.4

Overall Champion of the Small Pack Competition  

Sponsored by  Brewers Select 

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Purple Moose Brewery Ltd Chocolate Moose 4.5
 SILVER  Bewdley Brewery Sir Keith Park 4.5
 BRONZE  Stonehouse Brewery Off The Rails 4.8

Small Pack Standard Mild & Brown Ales   

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Hillside Brewery Over The Hill 3.5
 SILVER  Mumbles Brewery Malt Bitter 4.1
 BRONZE  Bespoke Brewing Co Ltd The Kings Shilling 4.2

Small Pack Standard Bitters & Pale Ales   

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Hobsons Brewery Old Prickly 4.2
 SILVER  Gloucester Brewery Gloucester Gold 3.9
 BRONZE  Stonehouse Brewery Sunlander 3.7

Small Pack Premium Bitters & Pale Ales   

Sponsored by  Beatson Clark Ltd 

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Bewdley Brewery Sir Keith Park 4.5
 SILVER  Bluestone Brewing Company Hammerstone 4.5
 BRONZE  Gloucester Brewery Session IPA 4.5

Small Pack Strong Bitters & Pale Ales   

Brewery Product ABV
 GOLD  Bewdley Brewery Worcestershire Sway 5.0
 SILVER  Salopian Brewery Kashmir 5.5
 BRONZE  Wye Valley Brewery Glorious IPA 6.0

Small Pack Premium Strong Beers