Financial Times

Three Coins wins international honours

Sri Lanka's only specialty brewer Three Coins recently found the product being rated alongside some of the world's oldest and best professional brewers.

Two of the company's products won prestigious awards at one of the world's largest annual professional beer competitions, reinforcing the Three Coins claim that its beers are world-class, the company said this week.

The 2003 Australian International Beer Awards, at which a record 581 beers from 81 breweries across 22 countries competed, has presented a Silver Award to Three Coins Irish Dark (3CID) in the "Packaged Beer" category in the competition's International Section. The company's flagship product, the all-malt 3 Coins Lager won a bronze award in the same category, beating many well known international brands.

"These awards are proof that as we have often argued, Sri Lanka can aspire to refinement in food and beverage, at least at Three Coins," Three Coins Chief Operating Officer Anton Fernando said. "They also attest to our claim that the Three Coins Company's persistence with the ideals of craft brewing has resulted in the emergence of at least the semblance of a tradition of brewing excellence in Sri Lanka."