Saltaire Brewery of Shipley, West Yorkshire, scooped three awards in the 2010 National Beer Competition run by SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers. The awards were announced this week at SIBA's annual conference in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Saltaire took the top title of Supreme Champion Beer 2010 for its Triple Chocoholic, a 4.8% chocolate stout. The same beer won the Gold Award in the Champion Speciality Beer category, while the brewery's Cascade Pale Ale took the Champion Premium Bitter accolade.
All 10 winning beers were chosen by 50 judges who gathered to pick the winners from the 56 cask and seven bottled finalist beers. A Gold, Silver and Bronze awards were given in each of the nine categories and the Supreme Champion title was then selected from the eight draught Gold winners.
The winners were:
Supreme Champion Beer 2010: Triple Chocoholic, Saltaire Brewery.
Champion Milds (up to 4% ABV): Dark Mild, Bank Top Brewery, Bolton
Champion Bitters & Pale Ales (up to 4%): Lord Marples, Thornbridge Brewery, Derbyshire
Champion Best Bitters (4.1-4.5%): Darwins Origin, Salopian Brewing, Shrewsbury
Champion Premium Bitters (4.6-4.9%) Cascade Pale Ale, Saltaire Brewery
Champion Strong Bitters (5.1-5.5%): Big Chief Bitter, Greenmill Brewery, Rochdale
Champion Strong Ales (over 5.5%): Dorothy Goodbody's Country Ale, Wye Valley Brewery
Champion Porters, Strong Milds, Old Ales & Stouts: Guerilla, Blue Monkey Brewery, Derbyshire
Champion Speciality Beers: Triple Chocoholic, Saltaire Brewery
Champion Bottled Beers: Proper Job, St Austell Brewery

Keith Bott, boss of the Titanic Brewery in Stoke-on-Trent, has been elected chairman of SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers, the body that represents most of Britain's craft breweries.
Boot took over the helm at SIBA's annual meeting in Stratford-upon-Avon this week from outgoing chairman Peter Amor of Wye Valley Brewery, who was in post for the past three years. Keith Bott has been SIBA chairman before, from 2002-2005, and helped mastermind the campaign to introduce Progressive Beer Duty for smaller breweries. He said: "SIBA today is a very different organisation to the one I chaired three years ago. Since then we have appointed our first chief executive, Julian Grocock, who has steered SIBA through a period of change and enhanced our standing with government, trade bodies, the media and other stakeholders.
"This is an exciting time to be taking on the chairman's role and I look forward to working with Julian and SIBA's trustees and directors, to ensure the continued success of the UK's thriving quality beer sector."
Bott will stand from his current role as SIBA President and will include that role's lobbying elements within the chairman's remit.

The National Brewing Centre in Burton-on-Trent is due to open on Saturday 1 May, following a major campaign to maintain a museum dedicated to beer in the town that was once the capital of British brewing.
The centre was originally the Bass Museum. It became the Coors Visitor Centre when the American brewing group took over the Bass breweries in Burton in 2000. Last year Coors announced it would close the centre as it was making a £1 million-a-year loss. A spirited campaign, led by the local MP, Janet Dean, led last November to Coors reaching a deal with Planning Solutions to re-open the centre.
Planning Solutions chief executive John Lowther said he was confident his company would meet the planned opening on 1 May. He said the much-loved shire horses, a feature of the old museum, would return to their stables next week to prepare for the opening. The new centre will feature live actors and audio-visual displays.

The insensivity of global brewers knows no bounds. After months of speculation, Carlsberg announced today (2 March) that production of the cask version of the legendary Tetley Bitter from Leeds will be switched to Banks's Brewery in Wolverhampton when the Leeds brewery closes in 2011.
Tetley Bitter is an iconic Yorkshire beer. Wolverhampton, when last checked on a road map, is in the West Midlands. Conscious of the need to save on carbon footprints, Carlsberg will trunk the beer 100 miles to the beer's Yorkshire heartland every time a batch is brewed at Banks's.
The keg "smoothflow" version of Tetley Bitter will be switched to the John Smith's factory in Tadcaster. The fact that keg beer will stay in Yorkshire speaks volumes for the priorities of Carlsberg. John Smith's should perhaps be renamed the Brewery of Lost Souls: as well as fizzy Tetley, it will also soon become home to Newcastle [sic] Brown Ale when Heineken UK closes the Tyneside brewery.
Bob Stukins, vice-chairman of CAMRA and a Yorkshireman, said: "Carlsberg don't do geography lessons but if they did they'd clearly realise the impact this move will have on the beer-drinking copmmunity in Yorkshire. It's unbelievable to think that a long-standing global brewer would make this move at a time when the real ale industry is recording year-on-year growth and CAMRA's annual research is showing a steep increase in the number of consumers try real ale for the first time."
A spokesman for Carlsberg said Tetley Mild and Dark Mild will continue to be produced but at present no new home had been found for them.

The Co-operative supermarket group is highlighting the wider availability of its certified Fairtrade bottled beer range brewed by Freeminer during Fairtrade Fortnight (22 Feb-7 March) with a generous price promotion across the range.
The Co-op now owns Somerfield, which means its range of Freeminer-brewed beers will be available in around 450 new outlets across the country, given them greater access to beer drinkers. Both the Co-op Fairtrade Bumble Bee Honey Ale (4.6%) and Organic Premium Ale (5%) are available at a discount during Fairtrade Fortnight.
Organic Premium Ale is the first-ever nationally-listed beer to be both Fairtrade and organic. The brewery, based in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, uses floor-malted barley and traditional organic hops from Germany. They are blended with Fairtrade Demerara sugar. Bumble Bee Ale is the biggest-selling Fairtrade beer in Britain and uses honey from Fairtrade producers in Chile.

Freedom Brewery in Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire, has entered the growing 4% lager sector with a new beer of that strength. The lager-only brewery, run by Ed and Susan Mayman, brews Organic Lager,Organic Dark Lager and Pilsener. The 4% sector was kick-started a few years ago by Beck's of Hamburg and has been followed by Stella Artois and other major lager brewers.
The Freedom 4% has a fine toasted malt aroma, with sweet malt, spicy hops and light citrus fruit in the mouth, and a dry and hoppy finish. By mainstream lager standards, it's a bitter beer.
The beer is currently only available on draught -- there are no immediate plans to bottle it. See www.freedomlager.com.

Colin Valentine from Edinburgh is to be the first Scottish national chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). He will take over the reins in April at the campaign's annual meeting in the Isle of Man as current chairman Paula Waters steps down after six years in the post. Valentine is currently CAMRA's vice-chairman and has also been Scottish organiser.