Borders brewery takes double victory in Scottish Beer Awards

John Henderson, owner of Born Brewery, with taste judge Colin Johnston. Photo: Gerardo Jaconelli.

The sixth annual awards ceremony, sponsored by supermarket Aldi, has named 18 gold medal-winning beers as the highest rated beers in Scotland, according to 34 expert tasters who participated in a wide-ranging blind tasting competition.

Born Brewery picked up gold in the Best British Ale Style Category for Born Dark, and Born Amber won Best Amber or Dark Beer.

John Henderson, owner of Born Brewery, said: “We are absolutely over the moon with these wins. Our brewing team, led by Thomas Graham, has put so much effort into improving the quality of our products over the last couple of years, and all that hard work has finally paid off.

"To be judged as having produced two of the top 18 beers in Scotland at such an esteemed event is just absolutely incredible, and the perfect way to celebrate our first whole decade in brewing.”

The competition judges various beers according to their beer style with marks awarded for quality, appearance, and flavour.

Hilary Jones, chair of the judging panel, said: “The Scottish Beer Awards is quite possibly the largest and most comprehensive beer competition now in the UK.

"The results are endlessly fascinating, and this is helped by the fact we rate our entered beers against some of the world’s biggest-selling brands which are also assessed.

"The results show that Scottish beers are simply the best in the world.

“Congratulations to all our winners and we wish them every success as they continue their journeys out of an incredibly challenging year and into a busy Christmas period and successful 2022.”

The awards programme was broadcast live on digital media to ticket holders and nearly 200 guests working in Scottish brewing attended the live dinner in Glasgow, presented by comedian Des Clarke.

Graham Nicolson, group buying director at Aldi Scotland, said: “There’s no denying it’s been a really tough couple of years for the beer industry but we at Aldi remain completely committed to providing a platform for sharing amazing beers with our Scottish shoppers.”