Williams Brothers Brewery have four finalist beers in Sainsbury’s Beer Competition 2009

Whilst the Scottish brewing industry headlines are dominated these days by the guys at Brew Dog with their take on American style beers & eye catching artwork, there has also been a lot going on with other Scottish breweries. With the recent 6% fall in lager sales and a 4% increase in ale sales it is hardly surprising that small Scottish ale breweries are getting their time to shine & sit among the giants of the beer world… that is on the shelf of our local supermarkets. Supermarkets that had as little as 50 different ales on sale just over 2 years ago are now pushing past the 300 ales mark, with yet more ranges planned to hit the shelves over the next year. People might think that it’s the older consumer causing the increase in sales, however Tesco’s ale buying manager, Ian Targett, says “… it’s not being driven by cloth cap wearing old fogies but by the younger drinkers seeking more refined tastes from their beers.”

The Sainsbury’s Beer Competition has been held for the past couple of years as an opportunity for smaller, as well as larger, UK breweries to submit their new range of beers and ales to Sainsbury’s team of 9 beer experts for a chance to have their ranges rolled out nationally across Sainsbury’s stores. In the Judging on the 3rd of April 115 different beers from 57 different UK breweries were laid out in order of alcohol %, ranging from 3.5% up to a whopping 9%. The 11 judges began their judging at 10am & took around 3 hours to work their way through all the entrants. The beers were initially judged on their appearance, aroma & flavour before they were passed on to a 2nd panel of experts to be judged on their appearance in terms of bottle style & label designed. As competition innovator & organiser Richard Morrice points out “…a great beer will be bought & enjoyed again & again, but one which is poorly presented may never be bought at all.”

Out of the 115 entrants (& after a few too many beers) the 15 finalists were announced to the judges, 7 of which were Scottish & 4 of them from our brewery. Not only are we the brewery with the most beers in the final this year, we were also the only brewery to have more than one beer in the final last year, with both Harvest Sun & Good Times finishing in the final 16.

Our Finalists 2009:
WILLIAMS BIRDS & BEES – 5% alc/vol
A bright, golden summer ale brewed with a blend of Belgian pale malt, Cascade & Bobek hops with a late infusion of fresh elderflowers & lemon zest. Fruity, aromatic & deliciously refreshing.

WILLIAMS 80/- 4.2% alc/vol
A traditional Scottish ale brewed with an emphasis on the malt characteristics. Lightly hopped, as is true to this style of beer, with fruity malt aromas and a toffeeish mouth feel.

WILLIAMS CEILIDH – 4.7% alc/vol
A 'gathering' of ingredients from around the world: Hops from the Czech Republic and the U.S, Belgian pilsener malt, German yeast, and Scottish water take their own good time to combine and produce a delicious, crisp, citrusy lager.

WILLIAMS IPA – 5% alc/vol
A bright golden IPA. Produced with lager malt and malted wheat. Aggressively hopped to give a real alpha bite and late hopped with an unusual blend of Bramling X and Amarillo hop varieties. Balanced to appeal to the true 'hop head' as well as the adventurous hop novice.

These will be available from selected Sainsbury’s stores as of the 13th of July, and will be rolled out nationally for 5 weeks over August & September with 40,000 50cl bottles of each going on sale. Naturally due to the large numbers & quantity of bottled beers needing to be produce there has been a great deal of expansion going on within our brewery. With a new top of the range labeller & shrink wrapper added to our bottling line, as well as two brand new 80 barrel conditioning tanks to age our 1st ever lager (Ceilidh) to the desired quality that will be clear to anyone who tastes it.

Williams Brothers Brewing Co - A brief history
A long time ago, in a homebrew shop not too far away……..
A lady of Gaelic descent came into the Williams owned homebrew shop in Partick, bearing a translation of a 17th century recipe for “Leanne Fraoch” (Heather Ale). Inherited from her Gaelic family, it was her goal to try to recreate the legendry recipe. The legend talks of a Pictish king who supposedly threw himself off a cliff after the English king captured & tortured his son in an attempt to coax the recipe from the Pict King. This translated recipe was developed in homebrew size quantities by shop owner Bruce Williams to the recipe that is used today.

The company started life in 1988 with Bruce brewing our flagship beer Heather Ale in a tiny brewery in Taynult, where we could produce no more than 5 barrels per batch. This was just enough to supply 5 pubs across Scotland: 2 in Edinburgh, 2 in Glasgow & The Clachaig Inn in Glencoe. As demand grew the project expanded & a bigger brewery was needed, so the recipe was taken to the old Maclay’s brewery in the traditional Scottish brew town of Alloa. Along with Heather Ale, 4 other historic Scottish ales were developed using natural Scottish produce: Ebullum from elderberries, Alba from shoots of Scots pine, Kelpie from seaweed & Grozet made from gooseberries. In 1998 the Heather Ale brewery moved its office & production of cask ales to Craigmill outside Strathaven where we remained for 6 years before taking over the New Alloa Brewery at Kelliebank, Alloa, where we are the last remaining brewery in the old Scottish brew capital.

After taking on the brewery we decided to expand our range to include some classic beer styles under the new company name Williams Bros Brewing Co. To this day we have stuck to our guns & kept using the best local ingredients, malt & water to create high quality beers with true Scottish character. We have had a great deal of success doing so & have gained a great deal of praise & respect from the Great British ale drinker, not to mention plenty of awards from the likes of CAMRA, SIBA, Tesco, Sainsbury’s & The World Beer Cup.

Williams Bros Brewing Co.
New Alloa Brewery,
Kelliebank,
Alloa
FK10 1NU
Tel: 01259 725511
Email: info@williamsbrosbrew.com