New! Amazing success for famous Harrogate brewery

The Harrogate district's standing as a UK leader in craft beer has been reinforced by national success for one of its most-loved independent breweries.
National winners - Harrogate family brewers Oliver, Ian and Tom Fozard, left, celebrate their win at the SIBA National Independent Beer Awards.National winners - Harrogate family brewers Oliver, Ian and Tom Fozard, left, celebrate their win at the SIBA National Independent Beer Awards.
National winners - Harrogate family brewers Oliver, Ian and Tom Fozard, left, celebrate their win at the SIBA National Independent Beer Awards.

Family-run Rooster’s Brewing Co, which is currently preparing to move from its Knaresborough base to a new purpose-built plant and tap room in Harrogate, won a gold and silver award for two of its beers at SIBA, one of the UK’s largest beer competitions.The two beers that did it for them are well known to true craft beer fans - Yankee and Baby-Faced Assassin.

Oliver Fozard, Rooster’s head brewer, said: “It’s always a pleasure to be recognised for what we do and to have our efforts rewarded, especially on a national level. "Rooster's commercial manager Tom Fozard said: "To have two beers be judged and recognised as being amongst the best in the country is incredibly rewarding and reinforces our approach to consistency and quality."

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One of the area's longest-standing and most pioneering indie brewers, Rooster's flagship pale ale Yankee was the overall winner in its category at the 2019 SIBA National Independent Beer Awards.Baby-Faced Assassin, Rooster’s deceptively drinkable IPA, took second place in its section of the competition.

First brewed when Rooster’s was established in 1993, Yankee is a pale ale that is widely regarded as being the first beer in the UK to be brewed using Cascade hops – a modern, aromatic variety from the USA - and a beer that was a forerunner to the craft beer revolution.Having originally been conceived as a home-brew recipe in 2011, Baby-Faced Assassin became part of Rooster’s core range of beers, alongside Yankee, in 2012 and has developed a reputation as being one of the best IPAs in the UK.

A small, family-owned set-up which keeps on developing and improving, in January, Rooster’s announced that its selection of beers provided in cask, keg and can are now suitable for vegans, making them available to a wider audience for the first time.To assist those serving and drinking the beers, this information is now highlighted on the brewery’s pump clips and website.

After celebrating 25 years of brewing in 2018, Rooster’s is in the process of relocating to new premises at Hornbeam Park in Harrogate, close to where the brewery was originally formed in 1993.

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Currently based in Knaresborough, the relocation will see brand new brewing plant installed and the opening of a new, onsite taproom in May, serving a range of Rooster’s beers across 16 cask and keg lines, as well as limited edition beers in can. Brewery tours will be available from the summer, as well as a function space and beer garden.

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