Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1510125
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 OCTOBER 2023 9 COMMERCIAL Bellfield recognised as Brewery of the Year at the Scottish Beer Awards 2023 EDINBURGH'S Bellfield Brew- ery won four awards at last month's Scottish Beer Awards, winning three medals in the taste awards and the ultimate prize of the night, "Scottish Brewery of the Year", sponsored by Aldi. Bellfield's Vienna Secession Lager won gold for "Best Amber or Dark Beer", their Craft Lager won silver for "Best Lager" and Wild Shore Saison won bronze (out of 27 finalists!) for "Best Session Beer". The 37 strong Scottish Beer Awards judging panel is an in- dependently appointed group of brewing industry experts who bring together experience and market knowledge from across Scotland. In awarding the ultimate acco- lade of the night, "Scottish Brew- ery of the Year", the judges said that Bellfield Brewery had "care- fully and systematically devel- oped the brewery with growth in all areas, they have a strong link with community and people, which is the very ethos that beer is based on." New product development has been a big focus for the brewery over the last three years, led by Head Brewer Keith Robertson. Bellfield now boasts a range of over twenty beers, from refresh- ing and crisp lagers and pilsners to IPAs, ales and stouts. The brewery was set up in 2015 by a group of friends from Portobel- lo, Edinburgh. Bellfield also has a growing reputation for the excellence of its cask beers, which are espe- cially popular with customers in the brewery's CAMRA accredit- ed Taproom and Beer Garden in Abbeyhill and available in pubs across Scotland. The previous week at the SIBA run Indie Beer Scotland Awards, Bellfield's Vienna Secession La- ger won Gold in the "Session La- ger in Keg" competition and Sil- ver in the "Overall Champion of Keg" category. And their Lucky Spence IPA (3.5%) won Gold in the "Keg Session Pale Ale" and Gold in the "Cask Session Pale Ale" category. Lucky Spence was also award- ed Bronze in the "Overall Cham- pion of the Cask" competition. Quite an achievement given the quality of the cask beers from the leading breweries in Scotland. Alistair Brown, Founder and CEO commented, "We are over the moon to be recognised as Scottish Brewery of the Year 2023 given the quality and track record of the other finalists. When we started Bellfield our sole objective was to produce great tasting beers that were accessible to as many people as possible - being both vegan and gluten free – and to have fun do- ing it. For our beers to be con- sistently winning awards like this from industry experts hope- fully demonstrates we are meet- ing this objective. We have built an amazing team and these awards are testament to their ability, commitment and hard work. Bellfield is all about people. We are a Living Wage employer, the team have shares in the business and we support local businesses and community groups whenever possible. Our continued growth across all areas of the busi- ness has been recognised by the judging panel and this growth is 100% down to the efforts of the whole Bellfield team". A selection of Bellfield beers is proudly imported, marketed and distributed by Farsons Bev- erage Imports Company (FBIC) Limited, a member of the Far- sons Group. Bellfield beers can be purchased online at https:// bit.ly/3tdDL0S. MeDirect partners with ZfinMalta for a new season MEDIRECT Malta is once again supporting ŻfinMalta, the Na- tional Dance Company, ahead of a busy and exciting 2023-24 sea- son. MeDirect's support, part of its ongoing commitment to the arts in Malta, will help ŻfinMalta in the production of several per- formances, its numerous com- munity and educational outreach efforts. and participation in inter- national events. An important highlight of the 2023-24 season will be 'Ħolm tal-Milied?', ŻfinMalta's first ever Christmas production featuring original music performed live by The New Victorians. This pro- duction, choreographed by Adri- ano Bolognino, is a new dance theatre adaptation of the book 'Ħolm tal-Milied?' by Trevor Zah- ra and has been designed for all the family to enjoy. Dominic Galea, Chief Executive Officer at the National Agency for the Performing Arts (NAPA), said, "With another packed cal- endar on the horizon including several international performanc- es in Slovenia, Serbia, Italy and Jersey, ŻfinMalta continues to go from strength to strength. While bringing new productions to the Maltese audience we also contin- ue to work with children and in the community to share the phys- ical and mental benefits that come from dance. It is thanks also to the support of partners like MeDirect that our efforts continue to ex- pand each year." As from June 2023 ŻfinMalta forms part of the National Agen- cy for the Performing Arts (NA- PA), a new agency formed after the recent amalgamation – on an administrative, legislative and or- ganisational level – of ŻfinMalta, Teatru Malta, and KorMalta. More information on ŻfinMalta, including the full 2023-23 pro- gramme is available at https:// www.zfinmalta.org/. For further details about MeDi- rect's Corporate Social Responsi- bility (CSR) initiatives, one can visit: https://www.medirect.com. mt/about-us/csr/. Marija Fenech, Chief Risk Officer at MeDirect presenting MeDirect's sponsorship of ZfinMalta, to Dominic Galea, Chief Executive Officer at NAPA and Christabel Borg Preca, Agency Head at ZfinMalta.