It's three Golds and a Silver for Strathaven Ales

The brewery team joked this week that they might need to get a bigger wall for award certificates, as this latest sucess - at the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) annual awards - is the latest in a long line of similar honours.

However they are every bit as prized as previous honours, as they prove the brewery remains at the top of its game, and that it is arguably among the top ten producers in Scotland.

The judges’ verdicts are a tribute to the skill in producing and dispensing (or packaging, if it’s a bottled variant) beers which are seen as being at the forefront of Scotland’s much-touted “cask ale renaissance”.

In recent years many drinkers have elbowed the fizzy, gaseous lagers made popular by major brewers in the 70’s in favour of craft products which major on taste and quality.

However while dozens of new breweries have mushroomed around Scotland to answer demand from discerning drinkers only a relative handful are judged good enough to be in the frame for a SIBA award.

The Gold award-winning Strathaven Ales beers were the 4.2% abv Old Mortality, the light 3.9% abv session ale Duchess Anne, the 4.5% abv Claverhouse (named after the notorious “Bluidy Clavers”, whose troopers were routed by Covenanters at nearby Drumclog.

The brewery’s 7% abv Usequebae added to the collection by winning the Silver accolade in its category.

SIBA committee chairman Guy Sheppard, who presented the awards said: “Scottish beer continues to go from strength to strength, and these awards really were a representation of the very best independent craft beers the country has to offer - the standard was especially high”.