St Anne’s Brewery and Glamorgan Brewing Co have taken home the two top awards in SIBA’s Wales & West Independent Beer Awards, winning the “cask” and “bottle & can” competitions respectively – one with a coffee stout and one with a Welsh Cake Stout.

The awards are run by the Society of Independent Brewers prior to the opening of the popular SIBA Ludlow Beer Festival at Ludlow Castle and judge the best independent craft beers across a variety of style categories before overall 'Gold Champions' are selected in the seperate 'Cask' and 'Bottle & Can' competitions.

It was ‘Iron and Fire’ by St Anne’s Brewery which took home the Overall Gold in the cask beer competition. Featuring fresh ground coffee, it’s a collaboration brew with a local artisanal coffee roasters, giving extra zip to this traditional stout. Chris Yeomans, Head Brewer at St Anne’s Brewery was there to collect the award,

“I’m absolutely blown away, I genuinely wasn’t expecting to win anything and we’ll all be celebrating back at the brewery. This stout was a collaboration with a local coffee roasters and they’ll be over the moon as well – I can’t wait to tell them!”

‘Welsh Cake Stout’ by Glamorgan brewery is a take on the Welsh classic with all of the flavours of the tea-time cake, wrapped up in a smooth, rich stout. Gavin Parsons, Regional Sales Manager for Glamorgan Brewery accepted the award on behalf of the team

“Absolutely overwhelmed with this achievement - this goes down to all the hardwork of the brewery team. Just incredible, absolutely fantastic to win and the team will be so proud of this. What we tried to do with this beer is do something which represents Wales, which for us is Welsh Cake, it seems to have gone down really well with people - and beer judges!”

Guy Sheppard, SIBA’s competitions committee Chair presented the awards; 

“It’s great to see two dark beers taking the overall Golds and just shows that craft beer is about more than just hoppy pale ales – there were a huge range of flavours on show at these awards and the quality across the board was fantastic. I’d like to thank all of the brewers who entered and congratulate those who were lucky enough to walk away with the silverware!”

The SIBA Wales & West Independent Beer Awards judge a huge range of beers across a number of styles before the winners from each category go forward to an ‘Overall Champions’ final. It was this ‘best-of-the-best’ final that finds the best winners in cask and small pack, which judges cans and bottles side by side. 

Pictured: Award winning brewers St Anne's and Glamorgan

High res image link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/34bpmjs9pvi2qpc/577Z0703.JPG?dl=0 

FULL WINNERS LIST:

Overall Champion of the Cask Competition Sponsored by Radnor Hills Water Brewery Product ABV Gold  St Annes Brewery   Iron And Fire 7.5 Silver  Stonehouse Brewery Limited   Ballast 4.4 Bronze Brew Monster   Leviathan 4 Cask British Dark Beers (up to 4.4%) 

Brewery Product ABV Gold Stonehouse Brewery Limited Ballast 4.4 Silver Mumbles Brewery Ltd Oystermouth Stout 4.4 Bronze Hobsons Brewery  Champion Mild 3.2 Cask British Dark Beers (4.5 to 6.4%) 

Brewery Product ABV Gold Boss Brewing Company  Boss Black 5 Silver Purple Moose Brewery Ltd Dark Side of the Moose 4.6 Bronze Bewdley Brewery   William Mucklow's Dark Mild 6 Cask British Bitters (up to 4.4%) 

Sponsored by Charles Faram & Co. Ltd Brewery Product ABV Gold Glamorgan Brewing Co CWRW GORSLAS 4 Silver Tomos & Lilford Wright's Best Bitter 4.3 Bronze Salopian Brewery Darwins Origin 4.3 Cask Premium Bitters (4.5 to 6.4%)  

Sponsored by Rankin Brother & Sons Brewery Product ABV Gold Mantle Brewery  Hoodwinked 5 Silver Goffs Brewery  White Knight 4.7 Bronze Harbwr Brewery Tenby  R.F.A Sir Galahad 4.6 Cask Session IPA (up to 4.3%) 

Sponsored by Rastal GmbH & Co. Ltd Brewery Product ABV Gold Brew Monster Leviathan 4 Silver Brewhouse & Kitchen Shed Head 4 Bronze Glamorgan Brewing Co welsh pale ale 4.1 Cask Premium PAs (4.4 to 5.4%) 

Sponsored by Crisp Malting Group Brewery Product ABV Gold Prescott Ales   Super 6 No 1 4.5 Silver Hobsons Brewery   Simcoe Chinook (BBNo Colab) 4.8 Bronze Grey Trees Ind Craft Brewers  Afghan Pale Ale 5.4 Cask IPA (5.5 to 6.4%) 

Brewery Product ABV Gold Salopian Brewery Bulletproof 5.8 Silver Cold Black Label Red Beast 6 Bronze Boss Brewing Company Boss Brave 5.5 Cask Speciality Light Beers 

Sponsored by Napthens Brewery Product ABV Gold Gower Brewery Company Limited  Lighthouse Lager 4.5 Silver Mumbles Brewery Ltd  Murmelt 4.2 Bronze Corvedale Brewery   Ale Of ODIN 4.2 Cask Speciality Mid to Dark Beers 

Brewery Product ABV Gold St Annes Brewery Iron And Fire 7.5 Silver Mantle Brewery Dark Heart 5.2 Bronze Harbwr Brewery Tenby Trawlers Dread 5.4

Cask Strong Beers 6.5% and over 

Brewery Product ABV Gold St Annes Brewery  Majors Stout 7 Silver Salopian Brewery  Cico Buff 6.9 Bronze Clun Brewery  Unk IPA 7.5 

Champion Bottle/Can Beers 

Brewery Product ABV Gold Glamorgan Brewing Co  WELSH CAKE STOUT 4.3 Silver Brecon Brewing Mind Bleach 10 Bronze Boss Brewing Company  Boss Black - Chocolate Orange Edition 5 Bottle/Can British Dark Beers (up to 4.4%)  Brewery Product ABV Gold Glamorgan Brewing Co WELSH CAKE STOUT 4.3 Silver Mumbles Brewery Ltd Oystermouth Stout 4.4 Bronze Stonehouse Brewery Limited Ballast 4.4

Bottle/Can British Dark Beers (4.5 to 6.4%)  Brewery Product ABV Gold Mumbles Brewery Ltd Lifesaver 4.9 Silver Stroud Brewery Ltd  Big Cat, Organic Stout 4.5 Bronze Wye Valley Brewery Ltd Wholesome Stout 4.6 Bottle/Can British Bitters (up to 4.4%)  Brewery Product ABV Gold Magic Dragon Brewing Eyton Gold 4 Silver Salopian Brewery Darwins Origin 4.3 Bronze Gloucester Brewery Cascade 4.2 Bottle/Can Premium Bitters (4.5 to 6.4%)  Brewery Product ABV Gold Goffs Brewery White Knight 4.7 Silver Bewdley Brewery  2857 5 Bronze Magic Dragon Brewing  Eyton Bitter 4.5 Bottle/Can Session IPA (up to 4.3%) 

Brewery Product ABV Gold Salopian Brewery Oracle 4 Silver Ludlow Brewery Blonde 4 Bronze The Hop Shed Pekin Pale Ale 4 Bottle/Can Premium PAs (4.4 to 5.4%) 

Sponsored by Beatson ClarkLtd Brewery Product ABV Gold  Wood Brewery Ltd   Coracle 5.2 Silver Stonehouse Brewery Limited   Kelly Point IPA 4.4 Bronze  Purple Moose Brewery Ltd   Antlered IPA 5.2 Bottle/Can Can IPA (5.5 to 6.4%) Sponsored by Anton Paar Ltd Brewery Product ABV Gold Astwood (T/A Lab Culture Brewery) Galilale Galilei 6 Silver Salopian Brewery Kashmir 5.5 Bronze Wye Valley Brewery Ltd Glorious IPA 6 

Bottle/Can Can Imperial IPA (6.5% and over)  Brewery Product ABV Gold Brecon Brewing  Mind Bleach 10 

Bottle/Can Session Lager & Pilsners  Brewery Product ABV Gold Glamorgan Brewing Co WELSH LAGER 4.3

Bottle/Can Premium Lager & Pilsners  Brewery Product ABV Gold Zerodegrees Cardiff  The Bohemian Czech Pilsner 4.8 Silver Purple Moose Brewery Ltd  Mwsh 4.7 Bronze Wye Valley Brewery Ltd 1985 4.5 

Bottle/Can Speciality Light Beers  

Brewery Product ABV Gold Salopian Brewery  Slipstream 5.1 Silver Geipel Brewing  Hefeweizen 5.6 Bronze Stonehouse Brewery Limited  Witbier 4.4 

Bottle/Can Speciality Mid to Dark Beers   Brewery Product ABV Gold Boss Brewing Company  Boss Black - Chocolate Orange Edition 5 Silver Astwood (T/A Lab Culture Brewery)  Chocolate Milk Stout 5 Bronze Purple Moose Brewery Ltd  Chocolate Moose 4.5 

Bottle/Can Sours/Spontaneous  Brewery Product ABV Gold Tomos & Lilford Wild Rose 4.9 

Bottle/Can Strong Beers 6.5% and over  Brewery Product ABV Gold Salopian Brewery  Cico Buff 6.9 Silver Bewdley Brewery   Decennium 10 Bronze Bluestone Brewing Co.  Pierre Bleu 6.5