For more than 20 years, the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards have celebrated the best of Scotland’s food and drink sector. The tradition continued on the 9th of October with industry leaders gathering to honour this year’s finalists and winners.

Popular Carnoustie restaurant and pie maker WeeCOOK emerged as one of the evening’s biggest winners, taking both Scottish Product of the Year and Fish & Seafood Product of the Year.

Known for its unique blend of traditional and modern Scottish cuisine, judges praised the brand’s award-winning pies and dedication to utilising seafood sourced from local waters, such as Arbroath smokies, Shetland mussels, and North Sea haddock.

The Excellence Awards have been the highest accolades in the industry for more than 20 years, and this year comprised of 14 tasted awards and seven business categories.

Reflecting this year’s theme, ‘Sustaining Scotland. Supplying the World.’, Highland Game Loin won the Meat Product of the Year for its premium ‘hill to plate’ venison and for developing the game meats’ supply chain to restaurants and retailers alike.

In the business categories, Edinburgh eatery Bonnie & Wild secured the Best for Scottish (Independent Business) award while Stirling’s Old Leckie Farm was named Primary Producer of the Year.

Dundee’s 71 Brewing scooped the Beer & Cider Product of the Year Award for its Haze Halo 5.0% Hazy IPA, while Aldi was named both Best For Scottish (Multiple) and Confectionary Product of the Year for its Specially Selected Scottish Sicilian Lemon Shortbread Rounds.

Hosted by TV personality Simon Rimmer, host of Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch’, the awards ceremony at The Doubletree was attended by 500 people from across the industry.

Iain Baxter, Chief Executive at Scotland Food & Drink, said: “The Excellence Awards celebrate Scotland’s food and drink producers, whose drive and dedication take the industry from strength to strength each year. The calibre of this year’s entries is a testament to the innovation and skill that are ubiquitous within our sector, setting new benchmarks for quality and creativity.

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists, their achievements are a credit to Scotland’s world-renowned food and drink community.”

Ashley Connolly, Local Buying Manager for Scotland at headline sponsor Asda, headed up the judging panel for the tasted product categories and echoed the sentiment, adding: “We’re thrilled to mark 13 years of Asda’s headline sponsorship of the Excellence Awards. Every year it feels as though we see Scotland’s food and drink producers reaching new heights.

This year’s judging was one of the toughest yet, with so many exceptional products on offer – a true reflection of the outstanding quality across the industry. Congratulations once more to all the winners, who really stood out in an incredibly competitive field.”

The annual awards which recognise the highest quality produce as well as the leading individuals, suppliers, and companies, received a large number of entries across all categories.

Scotland’s food and drink sector is made up of more than 17,000 businesses, directly employs 129,000 people, and contributes £16 billion to the Scottish economy annually.

The awards were organised by Scotland Food & Drink in partnership with headline sponsor Asda.