Big award win for small town brewer

Eight Arch Brewing Co has won the ‘Best Cask Beer in the South West’ at the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) South West Independent Beer Awards, which took place at MaltingsFest in Devon. This is a major achievement for a small but growing independent brewery in it’s eighth year of production in Wimborne.

The beer that won was their popular 4.2% pale ale, Square Logic, which has been in production since 2017. Square Logic has previously won multiple regional and national SIBA awards including National Small Pack Champion in 2020.

“Judges had a tough job separating the pack as the standard was extremely high once again. The winners from the SIBA competition are officially the best independent cask beers in the South West region, something brewers of which brewers should be extremely proud,” said Richard Naisby, SIBA chairman.

The SIBA South West Independent Beer Awards judge a huge range of beers across a number of styles in the cask competition. As the awards are judged mostly by brewers, industry experts and beer journalists, the awards are very much seen as the prestigious ‘Brewers’ choice Awards’ by the industry.

Eight Arch crowned an excellent week when they won ‘Best Café/Pub/Casual Dining’ and ‘Joint Runner-up Overall’ at the Wimborne Business Awards held in April.

The win was because of their successful Friday evening taproom which is open every Friday to the public where they serve their beers alongside street food. The taproom welcomes everyone in with its relaxed atmosphere and has grown to become known as the place to go every Friday evening.

Steve Farrell, owner of Eight Arch, had this to say on the wins: “These awards are a massive achievement for our team and reward for the hard work we all put in every day. I never imagined we’d win one award back in 2015 when I opened the brewery, but to continually win awards and now have the best cask beer in the South West is amazing. “I couldn’t do it without my team and an extra special mention has to go to Mark the head brewer who has been by my side since 2016.’’