Big Drop Brewing, which was founded by a pair of men from Ipswich, has just won another national award making it the most critically acclaimed brewer in the UK.

Straight from winning a gold medal at the craft beer awards for their Leaf Kicker IPA, cofounder and director James Kindred said: "We've won quite a few awards now. We are officially the most awarded brewer in Britain... and we only make alcohol free beer!"

"The biggest difference between us and other breweries is that we naturally brew to 0.5%.

"Mass produced alcohol free beers, like Heineken zero or Becks Blue, will remove the alcohol by evaporating it, or using a process of reverse osmosis. This, however, also removes some of the flavour.

Ipswich Star: James Kindred, cofounder of Big Drop enjoying a can of his brewJames Kindred, cofounder of Big Drop enjoying a can of his brew (Image: Emma Kindred @eightyone)

James, and his cofounder Rob grew up in Ipswich, attending school here, and returned to the town to start their business.

"My cofounder Rob and I have been friends for years. We went to high school in Ipswich and played in bands together.

"Rob worked in the city, and part of his job was to go and get more customers, which involves a lot of boozy lunches.

"When his first child came along he quit drinking, because boozy lunches and kids don't exactly go together, and he rapidly found there were hardly any alcohol-free drinks available.

"He contacted me, who worked in design at the time, and together we hit up master brewer Johnny.

"We told him that we wanted to make a good alcohol free craft beer, and he replied: 'No'.

"'You want to make a great beer, that happens to be alcohol free.'"

Ipswich Star: Big Drop produces their beer in the country it's due to be drunk in for environmental reasonsBig Drop produces their beer in the country it's due to be drunk in for environmental reasons (Image: Big Drop)

Speaking about his company's operations, Mr Kindred said: "We are from Ipswich, and founded the company in Ipswich but we brew all over the world.

"In the UK, we brew in Merseyside and Berkshire, in the USA, Chicago, in Canada, London, Ontario, and in Australia sydney.

"Our head brewer Johnny analyses all the data we get from each brewery, and then we know how close the beer is to our standards.

"We brew locally, and use local ingredients so our carbon footprint is massively reduced compared to shipping cans and bottles around the world.

"This year we will make four million cans of beer."