Camra Bailiwick of Guernsey Branch
 

Liberation Brewery News...

February 14th 2012



RESULTS OF THE BREWING INDUSTRY

 INTERNATIONAL AWARDS 2011

Class 2 for Cask Ale 3.9% - 4.3% ABV                                                    AWARD

LIBERATION BREWERY   –       LIBERATION ALE               GOLD

Liberation Group picks up Precious Metals at International Awards

Liberation Group has collected two Gold and a Silver medal at the Brewing Industry International Awards at Burton in the UK.

 The Channel Islands company’s Liberation Ale and Mary Ann Best Bitter were nominated for a Gold Award, with Mary Ann Best Bitter also picking up a Silver. It’s a fantastic achievement for Liberation Brewery to collect three top awards against competition from breweries around the world.

Liberation Brewery Head Brewer Paul Hurley was at the competition as a judge, which in itself demonstrates the high regard in which the company is held. He says: “This was my fourth time as a judge at the Awards and it was by far the most exciting. I was working with some of the giants of the industry and we had three days of intense judging and debate at the end of which we had to select the best beers from around the world in nine broad categories.”

Chairman of the Judging Panel Bill Taylor said of the event: “This is often unofficially termed “the Oscars of the Brewing Industry”. Watching the judges at work it is easy to see how this is justified. They take the process very seriously, in order to reach the right result. Once an Award is made that beer and its brewing team are said to have reached “the pinnacle of brewing achievement”, because they have received the ultimate accolade of their brewing peers”.

The two Gold Medals awarded at the competition put Liberation Brewery in contention for Championship trophies in their respective categories.  And there could be further honours for Liberation Group to come. A week before the Guildhall ceremony Liberation Group will find out if it has been successful in this year’s Publican Awards, the UK’s highest recognition for industry excellence. The company has been nominated in the Regional Brewer of the Year category.

International Cask Ale Competition

Class 2 for Cask Ale 3.9% - 4.3% ABV                                                    AWARD

LIBERATION BREWERY – LIBERATION ALE                                               GOLD

International Dark Beer Competition

Class 1 for Dark Beer 2.9% -3.7% ABV                                                   AWARD

 MARY ANN – JERSEY BREWERY – BEST BITTER                                       GOLD

International Keg Ale Competition

Class 1 for Ale 2.9% -3.7% ABV                                                           AWARD

MARY ANN – JERSEY BREWERY – BEST BITTER                                                            SILVER		 

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LIBERATION BREWERY- Cask Marque


Special symbols denoting that quality cask beer is on sale are appearing on selected island pubs owned and supplied by the Liberation Group.

Cask Marque and Cyclops are recognised throughout the British Isles and internationally as important industry standards and as handy guides for those who are new to cask ale, as well as regular ale drinkers who like to try different brands.

Cask Marque is a voluntary accreditation scheme, judged by a series of unannounced audit inspections. Once a pub has been through cellar management training and passed the organisation’s inspections, it is presented with a plaque which guarantees customers that they will be served a great pint of ale.

Cyclops is a scheme that the Liberation Brewery has signed up to whereby ales are described in standardised ways. This helps bar staff and customers to understand what to expect from a particular ale.  Tasting notes have been produced which describe the taste, colour and smell, with bitterness and sweetness rated on a scale of one to five for Mary Ann Best and Special along with the flagship Channel Islands cask beer, Liberation Ale.  This aims to make tasting notes simpler to use, while also educating core customers, attracting new ones and making ale drinking more attractive to those who would probably not normally try it such as younger drinkers and women.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Liberation Group, Mark Crowther, said: ‘There is so much more to serving a perfect pint than simply pulling the hand pump. Cask ale should be treated the same as a fine wine; it requires careful handling if it is to be served at the correct temperature and with the exact appearance, aroma and taste as the brewer intended when he came up with the brew. The Liberation Group is proud that so many of its pubs in Guernsey and Jersey have passed these industry tests and we look forward to seeing the Cask Marque and Cyclops Beer symbols appearing on even more in the coming months.’

The first Liberation Group pubs and stockists in Guernsey to be awarded Cask Marque status are:

  

  • Deerhound Inn

  • Albion Tavern

  • The Houmet

  • Thomas de la Rue

  • Couture Inn

  • Longfrie Inn

  • Dorset Arms

  • Captain’s Hotel

  • Fleur de Jardin Hotel

  • Rocquettes

  • Ship and Crown

  • Yacht Club


Since its foundation in 1997, Cask Marque has inspected more than 250,000 pints of beer and accredited over 6,000 of the 36,500 pubs in the British Isles which serve one or more cask conditioned ales. For further information on Cask Marque go to: www.cask-marque.co.uk

There are currently 212 breweries affiliated to Cyclops Beer and 1,122 beers – including the Liberation Brewery and Mary Ann Best and Special and Liberation Ale. For further information on Cyclops go to: www.cyclopsbeer.co.uk