St Austell brewer wins writers' award

l St Austell director of brewing Roger Ryman, the British Guild of Beer Writers' brewer of the year

December 13, 2006: Roger Ryman, St Austell Brewery’s director of brewing, and the man who has helped spearhead the brewery’s renaissance, has been crowned the Brewer of the Year by the British Guild of Beer Writers.

The accolade recognises Roger as the UK’s number one in his field for 2006 — beating off competition from both the brewing giants and independent companies — and highlights the amazing work he has done since joining St Austell Brewery in 1999.

More than 170 journalists, brewers and pub operators attended a glittering awards dinner at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in South Kensington, London, where Roger was announced as the overall champion, winning praise for the award-winning beers he has created, including St Austell Brewery’s flagship Tribute Ale, Admiral’s Ale and Proper Job IPA.

Judges praised the way Roger had “brought a very traditional family brewer into the 21st century” including by “firming up old favourites” such as HSD and Tinners while experimenting and explore exciting new styles of beer. Roger was also described as the driving force behind the highly successful annual Celtic Beer Festival, which was held for the eighth time earlier this month.

British Guild of Beer Writers chairman Tim Hampson said: “Roger Ryman works very hard for the company and the industry as a whole and is absolutely passionate about his subject. He is a great ambassador for brewing.”

Roger said he was delighted and very proud to have been awarded such a prestigious title by the guild, and at a ceremony attended by professionals from across the industry in whom he has such great respect.

He added: “It was something I really wasn’t expecting so I was genuinely surprised when I heard my name called out. Of course I am personally very pleased but this award is really a fantastic tribute to the hard work and commitment of the whole team at the brewery.

“I’m very grateful to have had the support of everyone at what is a unique family-owned brewery, absolutely committed to top quality beer and willing to take a long term view on innovation and development.

“It has allowed me and my brewing team the freedom to work on and perfect our ideas and the greatest honour of all is the feedback we get from real ale fans up and down the country who say they can really appreciate the passion and skill we put into brewing our beers.”

James Staughton, managing director of St Austell Brewery, said: “This award confirms what we at the company and fans of St Austell ales have known for some time — that Roger Ryman brings a touch of genius to the brewing industry.

“His passion for brewing real ale is combined with a no-nonsense approach to the highest standards of quality and consistency. Roger’s innovation has also opened up our beers to new markets and in particular more and more young women are enjoying our ales, as evidenced by truly mixed crowd which flocked to last weeks Celtic Beer Festival.”

Roger arrived with a bang at St Austell Brewery in 1999 when he created Daylight Robbery — a commemoration ale to mark that year’s solar eclipse. The beer’s popularity soon made it obvious the company was on to a winner — brewing continued and Daylight Robbery was relaunched as Tribute, going on to win numerous prestigious awards

While other UK brewers have seen beer sales falling, Tribute has been the driving force behind St Austell Brewery’s success in bucking the national trend and more than doubling its beer production in the last five years. Earlier this year the brewery celebrated an historic milestone by selling more than one million pints of beer in a month, smashing all previous records since the family firm was founded in 1851.

The figures for August 2006 (1,008,000 pints) were per cent up on August 2005 and more than half (576,000 pints) of the record total was attributable to Tribute Ale.

Roger’s success has not been confined to Tribute, however, with his newest ale, Proper Job IPA, going from its official launch in March to selling 53,000 pints in August. On the way it also picked up a gold in the Taste of the West Food and Drink Awards 2006, joining another Roger Ryman creation Admiral’s Ale and Clouded Yellow wheat beer to make up a hat-trick of golds for the brewery in the awards scheme.

Roger is continually experimenting and the Celtic Beer Festival has also become a traditional opportunity for Roger Ryman and his team to showcase their skills by coming up with tasty special ales and unusual brews.

For the 2006 festival, which took place on December 2, they surpassed themselves by creating more than a dozen special ales, taking the total number of St Austell Brewery real ales available at the festival to 26. Ales on offer included Tribute Extra at 5.2% ABV, Red Mist at 4.6% and the impressively named Black Out Stout, which weighs in at 6.4%. One of the most unusual beers was Café Crème — coffee porter, created by Colombian Paola Leather, who joined the brewing team last year.