Baker’s Dozen’s Award-Winning Run Continues at SIBA East

If you listened to my recent conversation with Dean Baker from Baker’s Dozen Brewery, you’ll know that awards have been an important part of the brewery’s journey.

So it was great to see the brewery pick up a string of results at the SIBA East Indie Beer Awards, held at the CAMRA Peterborough Beer Festival on 25 August.

Baker’s Dozen took Gold for Undertow in the Keg Pale Ale category, while Bull Run and Electric Landlady both picked up Silver awards. The brewery also collected further medals for Sinc Stream, 12 Second Panda, Landlady X and Acoustic Landlady, giving Baker’s Dozen a strong showing across a range of beers and categories.

The awards are part of SIBA’s regional Indie Beer Awards, which are judged by brewers, beer sommeliers, industry professionals and experienced beer judges. Regional winners then have the opportunity to progress to the national finals at BeerX.

Why it matters

For an independent brewery, awards aren't just about having a trophy on the shelf.

They can give a brewery recognition outside its immediate local area, provide something different to talk about with customers and pubs, and help showcase the quality of what is being produced.

For Baker’s Dozen, the spread of awards across different beers also highlights the breadth of the brewery's range rather than one particular beer having a good day.

There was also a nice connection to the wider awards programme, with Dean Baker taking part in a SIBA Indie Brewers Summit panel looking at “What Makes an Award-Winning Beer?” alongside brewers from other independent breweries.

The podcast connection

I recently sat down with Dean on the pod (full episode) to hear more about the Baker’s Dozen story, the breweries beers and the journey behind the business.

So speaking about them picking up multiple awards at SIBA East was particularly a good chat.

It also raises an interesting question: what actually makes an award-winning beer?

Is it technical consistency? Flavour? Drinkability? Something completely different?

That’s part of what makes beer competitions interesting, because behind every medal is a brewery, a brewer and a story.

Read the full SIBA East results: SIBA East Indie Beer Awards results