Skinners Brewery the best in the south west (From This is The West Country)

Skinners Brewery the best in the south west

3:31pm Monday 28th April 2008 in Cornwall

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 Skinners 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.