Eight Degrees Brewing has been awarded best in Ireland for two extremely competitive categories at the 2016 World Beer Awards.

The Full Irish Single Malt IPA and Knockmealdown Irish Stout were chosen as the Irish winners of the IPA and stout categories by a panel of international respected judges. With more than 1500 beers from 30 different countries were entered into the 2016 awards, winning a Country Best award is a significant achievement.

“We are over the moon to be judged as having the best IPA and stout from Ireland,” said Eight Degrees Brewing’s Cam Wallace. “Our fingers are crossed as we go through to the best in the world World Beer Awards short list.”

The final round of judging was held in London last week, where 50 international brewers, industry experts and journalists tasted and voted on the World’s Best in each of the eight categories before today’s announcement of the 2016 Country Winners. The World Style and World Category winners will be announced on 23 September.

This is the second award this year for The Full Irish; in February, it won a bronze medal at the Dublin Beer Cup. Last year it was named Beer of the Year by independent consumer group Beoir.

The Full Irish, a luscious hop bomb of a single malt IPA, was first brewed in 2014 as a limited release to showcase local Irish pale ale malt; it was so successful that it is now part of the brewery’s core beer range.

Knockmealdown Irish Stout is a robust stout, balancing dark malts with old world bitter hops. It has a rich chocolatey aroma with distinctive espresso flavours.

More info: www.eightdegrees.ie

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