A BEER made by Ludlow Brewery has been named as one of the best in Britain.

Gold took bronze in the Golden Ale category of the Champion Beer of Britain 2017 awards, at the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA’s) Great British Beer Festival in London.

Ludlow Brewery describes Ludlow Gold as 'having a golden ale complexion with a sweet malt aroma, Gold has a soft, full-bodied creamy taste'.

“Ludlow Gold is our biggest selling beer – it accounts for 65 per cent of our sales. We are a 20-barrel plant, producing 3,200 litres per brew,” said Gary Walters, owner of Ludlow Brewery.

“We brew five times a week, three of those are Gold and one of the others.”

Gary, who designed Gold, as well as the other five ales in the range, believes the beer’s popularity lies in it being a classic British ale.

“It’s a very traditional pale gold recipe made with old Noble Variety Hops, they are called Goldings and Fuggles, which are grown locally at Little Lambswick Farm, Tenbury Wells,” he added.

“Gold’s popularity shows there’s still a strong call for a really good traditional golden ale. It’s well-balanced with subtle aromas.

“I designed all the beers, using a tasting panel.

“I can’t pick a favourite beer as they are all so different, sometimes I want to drink a pale hoppy beer, other times I might feel like a nice dark malty stout so it changes from week to week! I think the beauty of our range of six ales is that they are varied enough to suit all tastes; we offer a couple of pale modern ales, which are more citrussy, and also the more traditional style.”

Gold was the very first mash produced by the brewery in 2006, winning awards in its first year: CAMRA’s Severn Valley Railway beer festival along with the annual beer festival held at the Sun Inn, Leintwardine.

Its recent success follows the success of two other ales produced by Ludlow Brewery at the Society of Independent Brewers – SIBA – West and Wales beer festival held in Ludlow in May.

One of the craft brewery’s lower strength ales Blonde (four per cent) was awarded Gold in the hotly contested Cask Best Bitters & Pale Ales category, earning its place in the National Independent Beer Awards 2018, next March. And the independent sustainable brewery picked up Silver in the Strong Ale category for Stairway (five per cent), the highest-strength beer brewed at the converted railway shed in Ludlow.

The 20-barrel plant’s two brewers are Chris Davies and Joe Jacks, 24, who have worked at Ludlow Brewery for six years and eight years, respectively.