The 2013 NZ Brewers Guild Awards Dinner took place in Wellington last night and there were some names that will be very familiar to Aussie drinkers taking out trophies – as well as a few lesser known lights that only those who’ve travelled across the ditch will have sampled.
Renaissance Brewing took out the Champion New Zealand Brewery as well as Champion British Ale style for its Tribute Barleywine and Champion Wheat & Other Grain Styles for its Enlightenment Black the RIPA. The Boston Beer Company picked up Champion International Brewery, while there were also multiple trophies for Tuatara and Townshends.
Other winners whose beers are available in Australia included Garage Project, for the Cockswain’s Courage Double-Barrelled Edition, Emerson’s for their Dinner Bell, and Three Boys for their Coconut Milk Stout. Pick of the Festive Brews – beers brewed to a theme to be launched at this weekend’s Beervana Festival, which this year meant brewers could use only three of beer’s normal four ingredients – was The Twisted Hop’s Cheery.
Away from the brewing side of the industry, the second Beer Writer of the Year award, one which The Crafty Pint was lucky enough to present last year, went to Michael Donaldson, the newspaper editor who last year published Beer Nation, a book on New Zealand’s beer history. Not bad for someone who told Crafty he only started writing about beer three years ago!
FULL RESULTS
Champion New Zealand Brewery
Sponsored by Dish
Renaissance Brewing
Champion International Brewery
Sponsored by NZ Hops
Boston Beer Company
European Lager Styles
Sponsored by Weyermann Specialty Malts
Cassels and Sons Dunkel
International Lager Styles
Sponsored by O-I
Townshend Brewery Oldhams Tap Riwaka Pilsner
British Ale Styles
Sponsored by Leading Label
Renaissance Brewing Tribute Barley Wine
Wheat & Other Grain Styles Sponsored by Beer & Brewer Magazine
Renaissance Brewing Enlightenment Black the RIPA
Other European Ale Styles
Sponsored by CryerMalt
Emerson’s Brewery Dinner Bell
US Ale Styles
Sponsored by Pall NZ
Tuatara Brewing Tuatara American Pale Ale
International Ale Styles
Sponsored by Kiwi Labels
Lion – The Pride Mac’s Shady Pale
Stout & Porter Styles
Sponsored by Orica Chemnet
Wigram Brewing Company The Czar
Flavoured & Aged Styles (incl. Fruit/ Spice/ Herb/ Honey/ Smoke)
Sponsored by Farra
Three Boys Brewery Three Boys Coconut Milk-Stout
New Zealand Specific Styles
Sponsored by Gladfield
Boundary Road Brewery Haagen Lager
Specialty, Experimental, Aged, Barrel, Wood-Aged Styles
Sponsored by Plant & Food Research
Garage Project Cockswain’s Courage Double-Barrelled Edition
Cider & Perry Styles
Sponsored by Charta Packaging
Good George Brewing Drop Hop Cider
Cask Conditioned Styles
Sponsored by AIBA & CBIA
Townshend Brewery Old House ESB
Packaging
Sponsored by Endeavour Glass
Tuatara Brewing Tuatara Range
Brewers Guild New Zealand Beer Writer of the Year
Michael Donaldson
Morton Coutts Trophy for Innovation
Sponsored by DB Breweries
Doug Banks and Jim Banks
Festive Brew
Sponsored by Beervana
The Twisted Hop Cheery
