Orkney Porter: champion of the (keg) world (in Scotland)

It's always hugely gratifying to win awards, particularly when our beers are judged blind against those from our friends and peers from other breweries. One of the regular occasions for this north of the border is at the annual SIBA Scotland Awards, and we were thrilled to learn that we won a trio of SIBA gongs, including best in (keg) show for our porter.

As judged on Friday at the Indie Beer Scotland festival in Ibrox, Orkney Porter ended up winning Gold in the keg Strong Ale category, and then going to to lift the overall 'Champion of the Keg Competition', which is amazing, and proof (if any were needed) that big beers are great on keg and can go toe to toe with any others.

What this means is that Orkney Porter will go on to represent Scotland at the SIBA National Awards, which are taking place in Liverpool in March 2024. And what that means is that unlike last week, we'll have to get on a plane and be there in person!

Awards ceremonies are seldom held in Orkney so we have to pick and choose which ones to attend (without wanting to be too big-headed and expect to win something at all of them), but thanks to everyone at SIBA Scotland and Indie Beer Scotland for helping us get a major achievement, and we wished we could have been there to raise the trophy.

Also at the awards, Scapa Special took Bronze in Cask Bitters and Orkney IPA took Silver in Cask Best British Bitters, so it was brilliant to see we managed to medal in both sides of the dispense spectrum. 

Speaking of which, we'd better get on and brew more Orkney Porter, as you guys cleared us all out of it. We'll need to re-brew it for keg to enter the finals next year, and maybe (and here's a treat for reaching the end of this blog post) we might have a special release of Porter in smaller metal containers very soon...