Double Delight as Wold Top Brewery wins two top industry awards

Glasses are being raised today at Wold Top Brewery in East Yorkshire following the brewery's recent triumph in the annual Business Awards held by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA).

Following its success in the SIBA Great Northern Beer Festival, two of Wold Top Brewery's beers Wold Gold and Shepherd's Watch were entered in the national final of the prestigious competition that was held at SIBA's BeerX conference and beer festival from 13^th - 15^th March. The Wold Top Brewery team was delighted to win bronze medals for Shepherd's Watch in the bottled bitter (over 5%) category and Wold Gold in the bottled gold beers category.

Brewery owner Tom Mellor said: "This is a great result for us. Over the last ten years we have worked hard to brew beers that people like and it's fantastic to win public recognition from our peers and industry experts. This is a challenging time for everyone involved in beer and pubs, but these awards show that it's still possible to do things to develop our business."

Keith Bott, SIBA chairman, said: "In the eight years of the Business Awards, we've seen a real change in the quality of entries. As competition in the local beer market has intensified, so have local brewers been forced to raise their game as businesspeople.

"Brewing a quality craft beer isn't in itself a route to commercial success - brewers need to market their beers, design professional pumpclips and labels, support their customers and engage with their local communities. Many of these skills are ones that SIBA brewers have had to learn after founding their brewery and it is a credit to their ability to adapt that the Awards submissions are of such a high standard.

"With talented and dedicated individuals like the team at Wold Top Brewery at the forefront of local brewing, we should be optimistic about the prospects for the sector, which is continuing to show growth well ahead of the total UK beer market."

The SIBA Brewing Business Awards celebrate the business development skills and entrepreneurial flair of SIBA's 650+ members and complement the organisation's Beer Competition, which recognises the best beers produced by smaller brewers.