News of the brews
Rebel Brewing Co celebrated winning Supreme Champion Beer award for the third consecutive year after the Rebel’s 80 shilling scored top marks at the Falmouth Beer Festival.
This was the second time the 80 Shilling wowed judges from CAMRA Kernow, beating over 200 beers to claim the accolade as the best Cornwall has to offer.
A Celtic-style beer, which is dark with a red eclipse when held in the light, it is characterised by a roasted malty smell, the taste of coffee and black treacle.
Brewery founder, Rob Lowe, said: “This is a testament to our commitment to consistency and producing great tasting beers.”
Following the installation of a new brew kit back in the spring this year, Rebel has produced an estimated 18,000 pints of high quality craft ale per week.
Orkney’s award-winning Highland Brewing Company has been reborn as Swannay Brewery with a striking new look.
Backed by Highland and Islands Enterprise, the roll out is key to the brewer’s ambitious plans to treble production and drive sales forward both in the UK and abroad.
Four new 20-barrel fermenting vessels will boost production capacity to 100 brewer’s barrels-a-week (28,800 pints), allowing the export of both bottled and keg beers to North America, Japan and Scandinavia.
“With this distinctive new identity we should raise our profile very effectively in an increasingly crowded, exciting market place,” Lewis Hill, son of founder Rob Hill, said.
The new brand was unveiled to an audience of suppliers and customers at the Cloisters Bar in Edinburgh.
Ringwood Brewery has renamed its most popular beer, Ringwood Best Bitter, as part of an initiative to make it more relevant to the current consumer.
Ringwood Razorback retains the same 37-year-old recipe but is designed to satisfy the requirement for ‘quirky named’ beers, rather than the more traditional Bitter image.
The change took place November 1st, affecting over a thousand pubs, with the most noticeable effect in the New Forest area where Ringwood is the largest regional brewer.
Alex Harrison, brand manager, said: “The name pays homage to our brewery symbol, the boar, and as Razorback is an American and Australian term for a wild boar it seemed to be the perfect choice.”
Moorhouse’s Brewery has launched a premium strength Pendle Porter that celebrates the 18th century London street porters who inspired the name.
The 5% ABV seasonal ale is a blend of chocolate malt, roasted barley and English Fuggles hops, married with the adventurous twist of New Zealand Green Bullet hops for ‘piney notes’.
Managing director, David Grant, said: “Pendle Porter is a deliciously comforting beer for the long dark nights of November – a traditional porter but with the imaginative twist of the New World hop.”
A new £4.5m brewing complex in 2011 trebled Moorhouse’s former production capacity to allow special ales to be brewed each month.
