Belhaven cheers award for fruit-flavoured beer

Agrapefruit-flavouredaleproduced by Dunbar-based Belhaven Brewery has scooped a top award.

The Greene King-owned brewery, which next year celebrates its 300th anniversary, has seen its Twisted Grapefruit IPA named beer of the year 2018 at the annual Scottish Beer Awards.

In addition to the top accolade, the hoppy fruit flavoured IPA won the gold taste award for “best fruit-forward beer”.

The award was judged by a panel of experts drawn from across the sector and from almost 300 entries.

Matt Starbuck, the brewery’s managing director, said: “With our 300th anniversary just months away this award is testament to the brewery’s ability to embrace our heritage whilst continuing to create cracking beers to reflect new trends and tastes.”

Last month, pubs and brewing group Greene King booked a rise of 2.8 per cent in overall like-for-like sales for the 18 weeks to 2 September.