Harrogate craft breweries win big in UK’s best independent beers competition run by SIBA

Rooster's Brewing Co, which is this year celebrating its 30th anniversary, has won two gold medals in the UK contest:

Roots. Rock. Reggae (ABV 6.4) in the Cask Speciality Light Beer category

Hello, Dimitri? (ABV 10.4) in the Keg Speciality & Flavoured Beer category

Owned by the Fozard family, Rooster’s has risen from grassroots beginnings in 1993 in Knaresborough to a £850,000 state-of-the-art brewery and taproom at Hornbeam Park in Harrogate which opened in 2020.

Meanwhile, another independent Harrogate brewery has struck gold in the SIBA awards.

Harrogate Brewing Co, which is located at the Hookstone Centre at Hookstone Chase in Harrogate where its has its own taproom, won gold in the Bottle/Can Imperial & Strong Ale category for its Kursaaal (ABV 9.0).

One of the biggest winners was a Leeds-based brewery which Harrogate beer fans will be familiar with.

Overall Champion of the Keg Beer Awards was North Brewing Co’s Triple Fruited Gose: Mango, Guava, Guava (ABV 4.5)

The brewery is an offshoot of pioneering North Bar which launched in Leeds in 1997 before expanding with the Harrogate North Bar opening in 2016.

Christian Townsley, North Bar and brewery’s co-founder, said: "It been a really tough year for our industry and this award will mean so much to everybody at the brewery.

“This is a huge pat on the back for everyone at the brewery from the brewing to the distribution.”