At a special Awards Dinner held at the Ardencote Manor Hotel in Warwickshire the winners of the 2003/2004 Oxoid Awards for Beer Quality and Brewery Hygiene Awards received their prizes.

In introducing the prize winners to an audience of safety and hygiene professionals from the food and brewing industries, Brian Pegnall, Chief Executive of the Institute and Guild of Brewing (IGB), said "I am delighted that the IGB are involved in supporting these valuable awards. We would very much like to see more entries from overseas brewers as well as from brewers in the UK and I encourage everyone to register for more details of the 2004/05 Oxoid Awards – and of course to enter!"

George Philliskirk of the Beer Academy (formerly of Carlsberg-Tetley Brewing) and one of the Awards’ judges agreed, "The Awards are a celebration of the excellent work that goes on behind the scenes by brewers to deliver consistent quality products of which they can be truly proud".

The 1^st prize of £1,000 went to Alison Aitchison, Microbiology Team Leader at Scottish Courage, Reading, UK. 2^nd prize was awarded to Jimmy Swan and his team at Wye Valley Brewery Limited, Hereford, UK. Emma Lewis-White of HP Bulmer Limited, Hereford, UK, was awarded 3^rd prize and a special Highly Commended award was given to Stephen Livens and Christopher Giles of Brewing Research International, Nutfield, UK.

The winners and audience were also treated to a taste of a variety of beers, each one chosen by Alison Aitchison to complement a course of the Awards dinner. This was a great success with many converts to Kronenburg Premier Cru which accompanied the goats cheese and courgette starter; Theakston’s Old Peculier for the lamb main course and Mort Subite Kreik, a Belgian fruit beer, which was served with the chocolate and pistachio dessert!

To register for the 2004/2005 Awards and for a copy of Oxoid’s Setting Standards newsletter that gives more details of this year’s winners please contact Val Kane, Awards Co-ordinator on Tel: +44 (0) 1256 841144, Fax: +44 (0) 1256 329728 or Email: val.kane@oxoid.com .