Skinner's Win Record Third SW Champion Beer Title
Truro-based Skinners Brewery is boasting the South West’s best beer after triumphing in the region’s top beer festival for a record-breaking third time.
Its Cornish Knocker Ale was judged Overall Champion at the 2008 South West Region Beer Competition held at Tucker’s Maltings, Newton Abbot. Cornish Knocker initially won the Best Bitter class, ahead of St Austell Brewery’s Proper Job IPA in second place.
The festival, organised by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), featured over 270 beers – the largest selection of Westcountry beers. The event is now in its 16th year and firmly established as one of the UK’s premier festivals – no brewery has previously won the overall championship three times.
“We were basically competing against all the brewers in the South West, so to be judged Overall Champion is a tremendous accolade,” declared Skinner's Brewery managing director Steve Skinner. “We have a fantastic brewing team and this reflects enormous credit on them and the quality of Cornish barley. It demonstrates our continuing commitment to the highest quality, despite raw material prices doubling and even trebling in recent months.
“We have shown we will not compromise on quality. We will carry on brewing the best beer we can with the best quality raw materials.”
Skinners was previous regional Overall Champion in 1998, also with Cornish Knocker, and a year later with Betty Stogs. Mr Skinner added: “The achievement is all the more notable for the beers having been blind-tasted by trained tasters.”
Now the company is hoping the Newton Abbot triumph is the start of another outstanding year on the festival circuit.
Skinner's Hunny Ales Range
Skinner’s now has a range of fine ales with a special ingredient: Honey. Sourced from a small group of Cornish Beekeepers, the three ales, Hunny Bunny, Heligan Honey, and Ginger Tosser, have been a surprise hit that started as a special one off and have grown to be fully fledged members of the Skinner's Range.
The ales continue Skinner's history of trying new special ingredients and of using the best of Cornish produce in our beers. The ales are available in our shop in bottles or as a giftpack.
Get the skinny on Skinner's
The latest Skinner's news: new products, Skinner's sponsored events, the awards our fine ales, lagers and ciders win, new partnerships and promotions, charity events and fundraising - you'll find the latest skinny here!
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Skinner's Launch New Still Cider: Press Gang!
The new still, medium cider is 4.8% ABV and is described as light and refreshing with the delicate aroma of ripe apples.
It is served through a hand pump from 20-litre "bag in the box" containers, allowing an eight-week use-by period after opening, and strengthens already strong links between Skinner's and Cornish Orchards.
It is the latest in a growing range offered by Skinner's, who launched their own lager in 2005 and this year are celebrating their tenth anniversary. Cornish Orchards began their cider-making activity in 1999 as a diversification of Westnorth Manor Farm, part of the Duloe Manor estate owned and stewarded by the Duchy of Cornwall.
"We already sell all Cornish Orchards' products in our shop and we see enormous potential for the new cider, which is a little less strong than the more conventional product," said Skinner's managing director Steve Skinner.
Cornish Orchards managing director Andy Atkinson welcomed the new opportunity to "put the taste of nature back into a glass of honest cider."
He added: "We are dedicated to keeping alive the more traditional processes and standards. In so many cases, the taste of cider has lost its direction in the journey from a farm-produced natural drink to an industrialized carbonated replica."
Skinners Brewery Record Year
Buoyed by a record year’s trading in 2007, Truro-based Skinners Brewery is charting further growth with a 20 per cent increase in production capacity as part of a quarter-million pound development programme. The installation of another 100-barrel fermenter in the spring will raise weekly capacity at its Newham Road headquarters to 68,000 litres – the equivalent of over 120,000 pints.
The company is also expanding its road fleet with the acquisition of another van and investing in eco-friendly new brewing equipment designed to reduce energy consumption by at least ten per cent. Skinners has recruited two more employees to take its workforce up to 30 for the first time in its 11-year history. It has also launched an on-line shop and an expanded range of drinks and related products for sale over the internet as part of an all-new state-of-the-art website. The new website (www.skinnersbrewery.com), designed and constructed by Cornish web developers MicroAngelo, is highly animated and designed to be very accessible to all visitors to the site.
Skinners is also expanding its range of branded merchandise for sale at its brewery shop and other Cornish retail outlets. The shop is also extending its range of bottled beers to over 100, including beers from other Cornish breweries. “We anticipate that 75 per cent of our trade will continue to be done in Cornwall, where our heart is and where it will stay!” said Mr Skinner.
© Skinner's Brewery
