Black Sheep Brewery is celebrating after receiving a raft of prizes at the prestigious World Beer Awards for brewing excellence.
The North Yorkshire-based brewery’s Choc & Orange Stout, which was only launched in May, was the UK winner in the Sweet/Milk/Oatmeal Stout category, and advanced to the global stage of the awards.
Riggwelter, Black Sheep’s strong, ruby ale, was presented with a Gold medal in the Strong Dark Beer category, building on its Silver Medal success at last year’s World Beer Awards.
Meanwhile, Black Sheep Ale claimed a Silver Medal in the Amber Pale Ale category and My Generation took home a Bronze Medal in the Pale Ale category to round of a successful event for Black Sheep Brewery.
The World Beer Awards form part of the World Drinks Awards, which recognise the best in all internationally recognised styles of drinks.
Jo Theakston, Sales and Marketing Director at Black Sheep Brewery, said: “These latest honours are another big endorsement of our quality brewing credentials and all credit goes to our creative brewing team, who continually produce award-winning beers. We have built on last year’s successful outing at the World Beer Awards with more medals and it was pleasing to be involved in the global stage of the competition with our Choc & Orange Stout, which is relatively new, so it was a great result.
“Riggwelter and Black Sheep Ale have grown to become two of our flagship beers and are consistently strong performers at the World Beer Awards, while My Generation has continued to develop since we brought it to the market in 2015.”
The accolades coincide with Black Sheep Brewery’s 25th anniversary year, with the brewery developing a number of seasonal and permanent beers to its range over the course of 2017, including its first-ever lager, 54 Degrees North, to mark the occasion.
Jo added: “Our World Beer Awards achievements are very timely in what is a special year for Black Sheep, and hopefully we will be celebrating further success in the future with the new additions to our flock!”
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Editor’s Notes:
The Black Sheep Brewery in Masham made its first beer in 1992 after being built up by Paul Theakston, whose family had brewed in the area for six generations.
In a world of ever increasing bland, mass-produced beer Paul saw an opportunity to return to what his family had done best since 1827, making real beer in the time-honoured fashion.
An old maltings building, once part of Lightfoot’s Brewery became the Brewery’s home. This landmark building, which stands high over the banks of the Ure, had fallen in to disrepair as years of neglect as a semi-redundant grainstore had taken its toll. Paul assembled a small team around him to fight the rats and build a traditional country brewery.
The Black Sheep Brewery name derived from Masham’s association with sheep, but ‘Sheep Brewery’ didn’t quite sound right, so with a little creativity from Paul’s wife the Black Sheep Brewery was born, a name that sat well with the area, spoke volumes about the maverick attitude to the multi-nationals seeking to dominate the brewing industry and captured the essence of the family struggle that led to our birth.
Black Sheep Ale at 4.4% ABV, now in an eco-friendly lightweight bottle, continues to maintain its presence among the top ten premium bottled ale brands, and is available nationwide from virtually all the major supermarket retailers. It is a classic premium bitter and as with all Black Sheep beers, full of character derived from the best possible brewing materials, plenty of time and patience in the brewing and our very special Yorkshire Square fermenters.
In 2014, Black Sheep Best Bitter, – Yorkshire’s best-selling cask ale – underwent a facelift to broaden its appeal among drinkers, evolving the look, while retaining all of the great taste that has made it an iconic brand.