Raise a glass to a hat-trick of awards for brewmeisters
SOUTHPORT Brewery won a bronze, silver and gold award in the Society of Independent Beer Awards North West Beer competition.
The event was held at Macron Stadium in Bolton earlier this month.
The family-run brewery, which has been trading for more than 12 years, won a bronze for their Dark Night bottled beer, a silver for their Golden Sands bottled beer and a bronze for their Golden Sands draught beer.
The beers were blind tasted by a panel of judges from breweries and suppliers in the industry.
Owner Paul Bardsley, from Parbold, turned his hobby into a business because he wanted to bring local beer to the Southport area.
The beers are handcrafted by a small team of six at the brewery on Russell Road in Southport.
Paul said: “It’s a hattrick for us, we have such a dedicated, hardworking team and it’s a big acco- lade – one of the most recognised awards in the industry. Paul Crawford deserves a special mention, he means a lot to the business.”
All the beers are named after local topics and landmarks in Southport, such as the Sandgrounder, the name given to people from Southport, the Cyclone and the Carousel. The Dark Night is named in remembrance of the 1886 Southport and St Anne’s lifeboats disaster, which saw more than 20 crew members drown after trying to rescue the stranded crew of the Mexico barque.
The Dark Night came third in last year’s national event and will compete again in March 2017.
The 55-year-old added: “We’re happy just to get to the nationals. We never expect anything but if we could improve on our third place it’d be even better.”
The brewery sells its award-winning bottled beers at a number of locations in Southport. For more information on stockists, you can visit www. southportbrewery. co.uk.