Maxim Brewery makes top 20 of Sainsbury’s Great British Beer Hunt 2013
COUNTY Durham’s Maxim Brewery will soon see two of its beers hitting the shelves of Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
The Houghton-le-Spring firm, famous for its Double Maxim brown ale, has claimed two of the North’s five finalist slots in this year’s Great British Beer Hunt.
And if shoppers take to the brewery’s Swedish Blonde or American Pale they could win a more permanent place in the drinks aisle of the grocery giant’s 300 stores nationwide.
This year 156 beers from more than 70 breweries were entered into the competition, which has a top prize of a six month listing on Sainsbury’s shelves.
All the brews were categorised by region and judged by beer experts – including John Read and Chris Hall from the British Guild of Beer Writers – as well as Sainsbury’s customers at four regional beer hunt events across the country during April and May.
The five beers which received the highest number of votes at each regional event will go on sale in Sainsbury’s stores for three weeks in September, with the three best-selling beers from each region then going into a grand final on October 4.
A panel of experts will select the two overall winners from a line-up of 12.
Jack Rutherford, Sainsbury’s Beer Buyer, says: “At the regional beer hunt heats this year, we were really impressed with the high quality of British beer on display, which received excellent feedback from the brewers, beer experts and customers alike.
“The competition is a fantastic opportunity to put these beers in front of our customers and in the coming weeks we will be working with breweries to get them on shelf at the beginning of September.”
Winners by region:
| SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND | |
| Barney’s Brew | Hilden Brewery |
| Gonny no brew that | Williams Bros Brewing Co |
| Hipsway | Williams Bros Brewing Co |
| The Honey Thief | Williams Bros Brewing Co |
| Wayfarer IPA | Orkney Brewery |
| NORTH | |
| American Pride | Double Maxim Beer Co |
| Crafty Dan | Thwaites Brewery |
| Infra Red | Hardknott UK LTD |
| Swedish Blonde | Double Maxim Beer Co |
| Windermere Pale | Hawkshead Brewery |
| WEST | |
| Devon Dreamer | Hunters Brewery |
| Gower Gold | Gower brewery company ltd |
| Harbour IPA | Harbour Brewing Co |
| Harbour Porter No.6 | Harbour Brewing Co |
| Serendipity | Bird’s Brewery |
| EAST | |
| B Bok | Batemans |
| Black Pepper Ale | Batemans |
| Reindeer Droppings | Ridgeway Brewing |
| Querkus | Ridgeway Brewing |
| Lavender Honey | WBC (T/A Wolf Brewery) |