Utopian strikes double gold at SIBA BeerX 2022 beer awards

We’re celebrating scooping two golds at the prestigious Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) Independent Beer Awards for the South West region at BeerX 2022.

Judged by a panel of brewers and beer experts, the SIBA Independent Beer Awards recognise the very best of beer being produced across the UK by independent brewers.

We were delighted to come away with a double win for our signature lager, our Premium British Lager, in the Premium Lager and Pilsner category, and our Vienna Keller Lager in the Amber to Dark Lager category.

This year is the third in a row that we’ve been recognised for our lager at the SIBA Independent Beer Awards – so it’s good to know we must be getting something right!

We’re all about celebrating great-tasting lager through putting our own stamp on classic styles, and doing that using only 100% British ingredients. It means a lot to us to see our original craft lagers recognised in this way and it’s a testament to our brilliant brewhouse team.

We use only the highest quality British ingredients to produce our range of lagers at our modern 35 hectolitre brewery in rural Crediton. That’s because we believe this ensures the production of the incredible beer, given that the British climate lends itself to growing high quality hops and malting barley, but it also enables us to keep our food mileage low.

Each batch of beer spends at least four weeks in the tank – and often a lot longer – to ensure ample time to mature before being kegged. Nothing is added to accelerate the process; we like to take an all-natural approach to brewing.

We try to be environmentally conscious about our brewing practices too. The brewhouse is also lit by movement-sensing LED lighting and we generate our own nitrogen to naturally carbonate our lagers. We also use a large heat exchanger to recover and reuse heat from one brew to the next, and our spent grain is fed to the Red Ruby cattle owned by our landlord.

At Utopian, we’re about brewing great beer but also doing our bit. That’s why we developed our Stand with Ukraine donation pack, and we’re donating money via the Humanity and Inclusion Fund for every 6, 12 or 24 pack sold. The pack features our two best-sellers – our Czechia-influenced Ten Degrees session lager and our SIBA award-winning Premium British Lager.

We donated £950 in March and we’re still going with our fundraising effort. You can purchase a donation pack at our online beer shop.