25 Mar 2024
Tennent Caledonian Breweries has taken home two medals at the prestigious International Brewing & Cider Awards 2024, which took place in Manchester last week – meanwhile a collaboration between Glasgow-based Brewgooder and Tiny Rebel also won Gold.
Following three days of deliberation from an international panel of 38 judges from around the world, medals were awarded to beers and ciders from across the globe – Tennents and Brewgooder took home three medals between them.
For the first time in its 138-year history, Manchester hosted the brewing industry ‘Oscars’ which date back to 1886 and have a rich history championing the world’s best brewers and cider-makers.
Tennents took a Gold in the ‘Lager - Class 1’ division and a bronze for its Tennents Gluten Free Lager in the ‘Gluten-free/reduced gluten’ division. Meanwhile Brewgooder’s collaboration with Tiny Rebel saw it take home a Gold for its Brewgooder x Tiny Rebel Hazy Peach IPA.
In total, 30 Gold beer medal winners were awarded, with brewers in England taking home 13, followed by Japan (6), Scotland (2), Australia (2), USA (2) plus one each for breweries in China, Germany, Spain, Taiwan and Thailand.
The International Brewing & Cider Awards relocated to Depot Mayfield in Manchester this year and – in another first – was accompanied by a public festival. The two-day International Brewing & Cider Festival will provide a rare opportunity for the public to sample the range of beers and ciders entered into the competition, including the award-winners.
The judging for The International Brewing & Cider Awards took place over three days between 19 – 21 March and provided an unparalleled opportunity for brewers and cidermakers to have their products evaluated by internationally acclaimed, commercially practicing international brewers and cidermakers, led by Chair of Beer Judging, Rob McCaig and Chair of Cider Judging, Gabe Cook.
Ruth Evans MBE, Director of the International Brewing & Cider Awards, said: “It’s been an honour to recognise and celebrate the extraordinary beers and ciders across the world at our new home here in Manchester.
“We support the brewing and cidermaking industry on a not-for-profit basis, and the Awards has a long and rich history championing the best beers and ciders going into market.
“This week, we’ve had some of the best brewers and cidermakers in the world judge our prestigious competition and I’d like to personally thank all of them, as well as all the brewers and cidermakers who entered their products to make this year’s Awards one to remember.
“We’re thrilled to be able to continue to provide a platform to reward the best beers and ciders with the recognition they so truly deserve. And for the first time ever expand to launch our Festival, providing the public a chance to sample these award-winning drinks from the most extensive collection of international beers and cider in Europe.”
Rob McCaig, Chair of Beer Judging, said: “We’ve had such an outstanding line up of judges from all corners of the world, and they’ve all done a remarkable job tasting and evaluating some of the finest beers from around the globe.
“This year proved to be one of the toughest yet to determine which of the beers were deserving of a medal. We had an exceptional amount of great quality beers enter this year, making the job of our judging panel extremely difficult. It’s a shame we couldn’t award more medals, as there were so many beers that were deserving of the accolade – some of which narrowly missed out.
“We saw a significant increase in entries in the Non & Low Alcohol category, which reflects the growing demand in the industry, and also saw an influx of international brewers enter the Smallpack Ale category, which is very promising. Historically, this category has often been dominated by the UK, but this year saw the inclusion of breweries from Japan, North America and South America.”
The competition’s unique approach to the judging process sets it apart from other awards, which ensures each beer and cider is judged fairly and rigorously on its quality and commercial value. The 38 strong judging panel was chosen to reflect the current expertise in the tasting and commercial evaluation of beers and ciders going into the market and blind tasted hundreds of beers and ciders submitted by brewers and cidermakers from around the world. It is these values that has earnt it the reputation as the ‘Oscars of the brewing and cider world’.
A full list of all 2024 medal winners can be found on The International Brewing & Cider Awards’ website: www.brewingawards.org
