Duo celebrate winning year’s supply of beer from Shropshire brewery
An independent brewery in Shropshire has announced the winners of a festive golden ticket competition.
Hobsons Brewery, based in Cleobury Mortimer, launched the chance for recipients of its festive advent calendar to win a year’s supply of beer.
And Ross Edwards from Telford, Shropshire, and Edward Shaw from Kings Lynn, Norfolk, were the lucky finders of a golden ticket, who will now receive a case of beer of their choice every month in 2024.
The golden tickets were randomly placed by the brewery team within two advent calendars just before shipping.
Ross, 44, is a big West Bromwich Albion fan and proud member of CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale).
He has been drinking Hobsons beer for more than 20 years at some of his favourite local pubs, with Town Crier and Champion Mild being two particular favourites.
He said: “When I opened the advent calendar, I was absolutely delighted and I'm now looking forward to trying lots of new and classic Hobsons beer throughout the year.
"For my first case of beer, I’m going to go for Town Crier, a firm favourite that I've been drinking for years. They stock it at a number of pubs, including the Red Lion in Bobbington, where I used to drink before moving house.
"In Wellington, I used to drink at the Cock Hotel and actually attended one of the tastings Hobsons hosted there, which must have been around six years ago.
"During lockdown I bought one of the beer pumps from Hobsons and had regular polypins of Town Crier, as there’s really no substitute for real ale. Personally, I really like how Hobsons has stayed true to its roots — brewing original beer rather than mass produced homogenous brews. In the advent calendar, a stand out brew for me was Green Hop, a style I was introduced to by a friend living in Kent who pools their hops to produce their own green hop beer.”
Edward, 31, has been a lover of traditional ales since a young age, sparked by a trip to a famous brewery in Dublin.
After winning, he said: “My initial reaction was shock, followed by excitement — it's rare to win such a generous prize!
“I've always been in favour of supporting smaller scale ale producers and I very much enjoy classic styles of beer. The quality of product, branding and origin of Hobsons is excellent."
