Harrogate brewery scoops six awards

Harrogate-based Rooster’s Brewing Co was one of the big winners at the highly prestigious SIBA Independent Beer Awards, scooping six gongs for its critically acclaimed beers.

The independent, family-owned brewer received a Bronze award at the National Independent Beer Awards for its Baby-Faced Assassin IPA in can – the latest in a long line of national and international accolades the much-heralded IPA has received.

Rooster’s dominated the Regional Independent Beer Awards too, winning a further five gongs for its range of vegan-friendly beers, brewed at the company’s new state-of-the art brewery at Hornbeam Park.

The craft beer pioneer saw its original pale ale and flagship beer, Yankee, pick up a Silver award in the British Keg Bitter category, while One Trick Pony, a sour beer brewed in collaboration with Taylors of Harrogate using its Rose Lemonade herbal tea, won a Silver award for Best Keg Sour Beer.

Other wins for the 27-year-old brewer included Bronze awards for its dark porter London Thunder (Best British Keg Dark Beer), its renowned IPA Baby-Faced Assassin (Best Keg IPA) and its hybrid pale ale/pilsner, Pilsnear (Best Keg Premium Lager and Pilsner).

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. They represent the very best beer from the UK’s independent brewers and are judged by fellow brewers and industry experts making these awards the ‘Brewers Choice’ awards in the UK.

Tom Fozard, commercial director at Rooster’s said: “To have so many of our beers judged by fellow brewers and industry experts to be some of the best in the UK is a fantastic achievement and incredibly rewarding.

“These latest wins are testament to the brilliant team we have here and the uncompromising approach we take to brewing a wide range of consistent, easy-drinking, well-balanced beers that always deliver on quality and flavour.”

It’s been a busy start to the year for Rooster’s, with the acclaimed brewer launching a new edition to its beer line-up this week following a collaboration with fellow Yorkshire brewing heavyweight, North Brewing Co. Ripple Effect, a 7.4% ABV IPA, which will be available in 440ml can through Rooster's online shop from this weekend, has been created by the two breweries as part of a global brewing initiative aimed at raising money to provide clean water for 100,000 people in developing countries. The initiative will see hundreds of new beers created and launched all over the globe on the weekend of World Water Day (20-22 March), with each brewery donating £500 in support of the initiative.

Commenting on the collaboration and the name of the beer, Rooster’s head brewer Ol Fozard said: “It’s always fun to team up with the crew at North Brewing Co and it was made all the more special given the purpose we had in mind.

“The name Ripple Effect seemed fitting as we hope that through this beer we can help raise awareness of the lack of clean drinking water in some parts of the world and drive donations in support of the Brewgooder Global Campaign, which is playing a key role in helping to address this important issue.”

Rooster’s completed a £850,000 investment into a new state-of-the-art brewery at Hornbeam Park in February. The new brewery is three times the size of the company’s previous premises and has enabled Rooster’s to almost double its production capacity.