A family run craft brewery in the Highlands has won a prestigious “World Best” in the international beer awards and now is in the running for an even higher accolade.

The Cromarty Brewing Company’s “Man Overboard” has been voted the best in the world in the Imperial/Double IPA style, and is one of the finalists for the title of the world’s best pale beer, which will be announced next month.

More than 1,900 beers from more than 36 countries were entered into this year’s World Beer Awards held in London, where judges blind-tasted and scored the entries in two rounds of judging.

Adrian Tierney-Jones, European Chairman of the World Beer Awards said: “The winners in this year’s World Beer Awards demonstrate that the global beer revolution is not going to go away any time soon.”

There certainly has been an explosion of interest in specialist beers produced locally in Scotland. There are up to 90 craft breweries from the Hebrides to the Borders and another 40 or so smaller beer businesses.

The Cromarty Brewing company is based on the Black Isle, where there was a long tradition of beer making. Its brewery overlooks the Cromarty Firth where Craig Middleton, 29, grew up and now runs the business with his parents Chap and Jenni. It opened in 2011

Craig studied brewing at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, gaining a First Class Honours. He went on to work in different breweries to gain experience, which convinced him that he wanted to produce his own beers.

He said: “Then it was a matter of convincing my parents, grant awarding bodies and the bank, that this would work. It has been a lot of hard work. So we are absolutely delighted to have been winners in the World Beer Awards where we were up against some truly wonderful beers from all round the world. It really is a bit of a dream come true to have impressed the judges, who know about beer.

"There are so many craft breweries now, just in Scotland never mind worldwide. We share a passion for good beer. The challenge is to make some that is truly distinctive.”

He said his winning entry Man Overboard was a double IPA with a strength of 8.8 per cent ABV (alcohol by volume). “This is our IPA for the person who just wants more. Full of dank, piney hops seamlessly combined with sweet, biscuity malts bombard the senses throwing your taste buds overboard.”

Now his fingers are crossed for the pale beer category.

Rachel Athey, membership and commercial director at Scotland Food & Drink said: "Congratulations to the Cromarty Brewing Company on being recognised at this prestigious competition. This is an impressive accolade for this young brewery to win and it is fantastic for the Scottish brewing industry to be represented on this international stage. We have always known that Scottish beer is among the best in the world and this win shows the rest of the world are realising this too."

Cromarty Brewing entered the World Beer Awards for the first time last year with its AKA IPA which won best in the UK. Meanwhile it Red Rocker also got Silver in Champion Beer of Britain speciality section awards last week.