Traquair Ales Win at London Beer Competition 2023
At the fifth edition London Beer Competition, which took place in London on March 20, 2023, Traquair Jacobite Ale won a Silver medal and Traquair House Ale a Bronze medal, which is the ultimate seal of approval in the global beer industry. In order to receive this distinction, the ales needed to score highly in three different categories: Quality, Value and Packaging.
Thousands of international brands entered the London Beer Competition, the goal of which is to award and celebrate beers that beer buyers want to buy. The competition’s judges examine the many emerging and re-discovered styles which intrigue the drinker and appeal to new and lapsed beer drinkers.
The London Beer Competition is designed to applaud and award the beers that drinkers and beer lovers would enjoy choosing from a beer list of a pub or restaurant in the UK or simply pick at a retail store. To be able to achieve this, the criteria of the London Beer Competition is to look at the beers as a whole. The panel of judges score the beers based on their quality, brewing ability and the technical expertise they are made with. It also includes two other essential factors – the Value the beer offers and its Packaging. The combination of the judging criteria gives the beers writer, beer sommelier, peer and buyer accreditation that adds a feather in the cap of the winners
According to CEO Sid Patel of event organizer Beverage Trade Network:
“The beer revolution has brought us many different styles, previously either unknown or re-found. Our judges have thoroughly enjoyed looking at and debating the many different entrants, looking at beers the way beer drinkers do. Yes, they professionally analyse the quality, but crucially make awards by adding appearance and value for money into the mix.”
The judges were selected from all sides of the industry – writing, brewing, trading, beer sommeliers, marketing and educators. During the course of judging, interviews with leading judges revealed the importance of the packaging in process. Some even reported that the packaging influenced the resulting taste and flavour, declaring that it set an expectation which in turn influenced not only how consumers saw the product, but how their senses responded to it once tasted. This underscored the importance that London Beer Competition places on packaging as an element of judging and complete assessment of sensory perception.
The holistic make-up of the judging panel consisting of beer industry experts from across the commercial buying aspects ensures that all beers selected as winners are exactly the types of beers that are favoured by both the beer trade and the end consumer. Beers were judged on the basis of three primary criteria – quality, value and packaging – and then scored on a 100-point scale. Beers that scored 90+ points were awarded Gold medals, 76 to 89 points were awarded Silver medals, whilst Bronze medals were awarded to those that scored 65-75 points.
“With so many breweries opening up in the last few years, the market is intensely competitive and it is rewarding to see that the quality of some of the older classic ales are still winning through. Traquair House Brewery has been brewing over 50 years and our ales are still coming out top amongst thousands of beers internationally” Catherine Maxwell Stuart, director, Traquair House Brewery.
“That’s why we are so proud to win this award because it shows that we are making the types of beers that beer drinkers actually want to buy and enjoy, and that the industry wants to list.”
Traquair House Brewery is the oldest working domestic brewery in UK and the only brewery left fermenting its total production in oak.
About the London Beer Competition
The London Beer Competition is the only beer competition of its kind that rates beers by quality, value and packaging. The organizers of the event are Beverage Trade Network, which organizes alcohol beverage industry events around the world. For more information, please see: www.londonbeercompetition.com
