A North West brewery’s lager has scooped a gold and silver award from the Society of Independent Brewers.
Wirral-based Brimstage Brewery’s Woolyback Lager was given the North West region’s gold award and the national silver for Premium Keg Lager at the BeerX event.
Woolyback is the firm’s interpretation of a classic German lager made using Munich malt and traditional hops, and co-owner Nat Young said gaining regional and national recognition was a “great honour for us, reflecting the hard work of our highly-skilled brew team”.
Mr Young added: “We really wanted to show that we can also compete with the best in the country outside of our core real ale range, so we introduced Woolyback Lager in mid-2018.
“We hope these awards from SIBA will help us to stand out as a high-quality producer across all styles. We introduced Shed Day Session IPA in 2019 for the same reasons.
Liverpool City Region Business News
“Our aim is to produce products where customers are confident they’ll always get a cracking beer when they choose Brimstage whatever the style, and be it in keg, cask, bottle or can. That reputation is only built over time and is an important differentiator in a competitive marketplace, flooded with different beers.”
The phrase “Woolyback” or “wool” is widely used on Merseyside, and was historically used to describe a person who worked in the Liverpool docks.
It’s now often used as slang for a person from several areas around the city.
Most Read
Mr Young added that winning an award for the firm’s lager was “quite an achievement” for a real ale brewery, founded in 2006 in an abandoned dairy.
Society of Independent Brewers Awards - BeerX - took place at Liverpool’s ACC Exhibition Centre on March 11 and 12.
Mr Young added: “Hopefully this will help us build on the success of our session ale, Trapper’s Hat, last year, which was finalist in CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival.
“Our customers named this lager, so it feels like Woolyback is representing our home - and its sense of humour - outside of our region, which is something we’re very proud of. Thank you to SIBA for these awards and recognition.”