An acclaimed Wirral brewery has scooped a sparkling array of accolades at the North’s leading beer contest.
And the fast growing three-year-old Peerless Brewing Company has hailed the haul of four prestigious awards from the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) North Region Competition as a major boost to future expansion plans.
The Peel Street brewer’s latest roll out, All American IPA (5.2%abv) – a modern India Pale Ale with US hops – claimed silver in the annual contest’s Strong Bitters section, while Storr (4.8%abv) continental style lager also collected silver in the Bottled Bitters category. Jinja Ninja took silver for Bottled Speciality Beers and bronze in the Speciality Beers cask class. It is brewed with root ginger, chillies and lemons.
The competition – held at the SIBA Great Northern Beer Festival in Manchester – judged a total of 265 cask and 122 bottled beers across 13 categories. SIBA North represents more than 170 brewers and is the national organisation’s largest region
Celebrating the win – just in time for the the brewery’s third birthday – head brewer and managing director Steve Briscoe said: “This is more terrific recognition from the industry that we are brewing some of the very best ales in Northern England.
“The competition was tough. So we are especially delighted to win with our new IPA, launched only last summer. It is also a great result for cask lager Storr, which took silver in the bottled bitters sector. There is no category solely for this type of quality pilsner style ale and it took on a strong field of bottled bitters.”
“Jinja Ninja already has a great track record of awards and it is wonderful to add more to the trophy wall. These awards will give a big boost to our plans for growth with the launch of new marketing initiatives early next year. We have just had an excellent third year of trading and we will build on that.”
August saw a sales spike of some 50 per cent on the previous year- as Peerless bucks the economic climate to win new business. Peerless ales are supplied to pubs across the North West and nationally via wholesalers.
Ends/ ref: Peerless PR 27b
Notes to editors:
All American IPA (5.2%) is a modern twist on the India Pale Ale style of beer exported to the Indian subcontinent in the 19th century and heavily hopped to withstand the long sea journey. It is brewed with a selection of American hops for prominent citrus flavours and good bitterness level.
Storr (4.8%) is a pale and hoppy cask lager brewed with UK malted barley and hops and cold conditioned – or ’lagered’ for four weeks. The name is derived from the old Norse word for strong in tribute to Wirral’s Viking heritage. It was voted ‘top local beer’ at this year’s Liverpool Beer festival.
Jinja Ninja (4%abv) was first brewed in 2011 as speciality ale with root ginger and chillies for ‘delicious golden beer with fruity and spicy notes’ and has proved a great success. At the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) National Brewing Awards 2012 it was voted Champion Bottled Speciality Beer and claimed a bronze award for all bottled beers in the contest.
Peerless beer brands also include Red Rocks (5%abv), Triple Blond (4.1%abv), Viking Gold (4.6%abv), Dark Arts (4.1%abv) and strong ruby ale Full Whack (6%abv) in the core ale portfolio.
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