Pub suppliers recognised in BBC Food & Farming Awards
Luke Hasell, was a finalist in the Outstanding Farmer of the Year category in the BBC Food and Farming Awards.
He has a farm in the Chew Valley and works with Eggleton on the Eat Drink Bristol Fashion pop restaurant and Community Farm project. The community farm project is a volunteer-led operation that educates people from Bristol and Bath about where their food comes from, traceability and food production.
Best food producer
Gigha Halibut scooped top prize in the Best Food Producer category. Based on the Scottish island of Gigha, the company specialises in the artisan production of sustainable Scottish Atlantic halibut, which is smoked to order using oak chips made from whisky barrels from the Kilchoman Distillery, on Islay.
A technique of rearing the fish in land based tanks means wild stocks are protected and no antibiotics are required in the process.
The other finalists in the category were Dorset-based Capreolus Fine Foods – a family-owned artisan smokehouse that specialises in the production of cured, air dried and smoked meats and other charcuterie – and handmade butter producer Abernethy Butter from Northern Irelanc.
Street-food winner
The honour of best street-food producer went to the Pembrokeshire Beach Food Company, which operates five mobile beach shacks and offers foraged seashore ingredients along with fresh local seafood.
London-based Tongue n Cheek, which uses less popular meat or fish cuts and is famous for its Heartbreaker burger (50% ox heart and 50% dry aged beef), and Chill Daddy, a Bristol company that provides authentic Szechuan dishes not available in ordinary Chinese takeaway shops or Chinese restaurants, were the other finalists.
Drinks winner
Thornbridge Brewery beat off competition from BrewDog and Gusborne Estate to win the best drinks producer award.
The category, judged by beer writer and PMA columnist Pete Brown, recognises the company that uses "carefully sourced ingredients and skill to produce an outstanding drink".
Considered a pioneer of the craft brewing movement, Thornbridge – based in Bakewell – is known for its IPA’s, blonde beers, and barrel aged editions.
Commenting on the judging at Thornbridge, Brown said: "Thornbridge is tapping into the vast library of beer styles that already exist around the world, mastering them in turn.
Having made their name with cask ale and then American style craft beers, they’re now exploring classic German styles such as Kolsch and Weizen."
