Beeston Brewery wins National SIBA award

Mark Riches from Beeston Brewery attended the recent SIBA (small independant brewers association) awards ceremony at the Institute of Directors in London. Beeston Brewery were awarded the trophy for the “Best support for an off trade customer.” Mark was very proud to receive this award for a business initiative to improve the link between barley and beer.

Beeston Brewery encouraged and supported local malting barley grower Teddy Maufe at Branthill farm to buy and install a malt crushing machine on his farm. Previous diversification for Teddy has produced an outstanding real ale shop on the premises selling only locally produced ales made with malt grown on his farm. By crushing malt on his premises, brewers can now collect malt, deliver beer to the shop and meet and talk to retail customers so further promoting their locally produced beer. The reduction in beer miles is significant so reducing the environmental impact. It is becoming increasingly important for buyers to experience & understand the link between the countryside & the products they buy.

Beeston Brewery belong to the East Anglian Brewers Co-operative. Other brewers in the Co-op who supported this initiative are: Fox Brewery, Front Street Brewery, Iceni Brewery, Bartrums Brewery, and Norfolk Square Brewery.

This adds to the awards achieved by Beeston Brewery in the first two years of brewing. These include Overall Champion Beer of the 2007 Norwich Beer Festival and Best selling Beer of the Festival at the 2008 East Anglian Beer Festival.

The SIBA Award was sponsored by Off Licence News