Scotland's all-female brew team celebrate gold at World Beer Awards

Scotland’s all-female brew team are raising a glass to gold award success at the World Beer Awards this week.

Amy Cockburn and Lisa Matthews from Harviestoun Brewery in Clackmannanshire scooped the top global accolade for the brewery’s iconic craft lager, Schiehallion (pronounced she-hal-ion), which takes its name from the well-known Perthshire mountain. 

Schiehallion won the Gold award in the Classic Pilsner category at the Word Beer Awards and was also the only Scottish winner in that class. 

All products that have been awarded the title of the country winner will now battle it out to determine the World’s Best in each category. Only these 80 finalists will then go head-to-head, for the coveted title of World’s Best in each of the 10 categories. 

Harviestoun’s Schiehallion is now shortlisted in the finals of The World Beer Awards on 24^th August with a chance to be crowned the planet’s best craft lager. 

Master Brewer, Amy, and Brewer, Lisa, are the driving force behind Harviestoun Brewery.

Harviestoun, which is based in Alva, near Stirling, has been at the forefront of craft brewing excellence in Scotland for four decades. The brewery is a pioneering producer of high-quality craft beer and lagers, and has been making craft beer in Scotland since 1983, long before it became a popular trend. 

Harviestoun’s Master Brewer, Amy Cockburn, said: 

“We’re over the moon to have won this top gold award for Schiehallion. The success and global reputation of this very special craft lager is owed to the unrelenting passion and craftsmanship of everyone in the Harviestoun brewing team.

“When you name your beer after a mountain like Schiehallion, your beer better be breath-taking too. Ours has an elegant head, fresh crispness and a lingering grapefruit finish, which is all thanks to a lot of uphill work from our entire brewing team.

“As a pioneering producer and modern craft classic, we’ve been brewing since the early 1980s and have been crafting beer long before it became a popular trend, but we’re continuing to innovate and develop our product range.”

As part of this year’s celebrations to mark 40 years as a modern craft classic, Harviestoun will be releasing a new limited edition lager and a limited edition 40-year-old expression of Ola Dubh later in the year. The development of both new products is being led by Amy and Lisa. 

Harviestoun’s beers are made with soft local water from Glenturret, barley from down by the Forth and its own unique yeast. The brewery remains steadfastly committed to using the same local ingredients, the same yeast as they always have. They insist on the very best ingredients in their imaginative recipes which are crafted without compromise. All at Harviestoun respect and celebrate the provenance that they have inherited and are developing this special business with energy and imagination.

Harviestoun currently employs 12 people, including Master Brewer, Amy Cockburn, who celebrates 15 years at Harviestoun this year, and Brewer, Lisa Matthews. Amy and Lisa make a formidable all-female brew team.

Harviestoun is lucky to have a diverse sales mix and is well represented in the UK’s leading hospitality establishments, including Gleneagles, Cameron House, The Caledonian, The Balmoral and Turnberry. 

For more information about Harviestoun, visit https://harviestoun.com and follow on social media, including Instagram www.instagram.com/harviestounbrewery, Facebook www.facebook.com/HarviestounBrewery and Twitter https://twitter.com/HarviestounBrew