Recent history turned on its head at NZ Beer Awards
Parrotdog end Garage Project's reign as best large brewery. McLeod's win champion beer, top medium brewery. Three Boys take overall crown. Shining Peak double down on small title. Fork & Brewer back.
Welcome to a Sunday Special Dispatch of Friday Night Beers looking at the results of last night’s NZ Beer Awards in Auckland.
Well, recent history was turned on its head with Parrotdog usurping Garage Project as the country's champion large brewery, and McLeod's ending Behemoth's reign in the medium-sized category.
Three Boys, for the second time in three years, claimed the overall champion brewery crown while Shining Peak retained their small brewery title and Fork & Brewer returned to the stage as the champion microbrewery.
McLeod's won the champion beer with Tropical Cyclone Double IPA and were the stars of the night — visiting the podium four times to pick up major gongs, including trophies in the IPA (Tropical Cyclone) and Pale Ale (Blue Skies) categories.
McLeod's also had the most gold medals on the night with 8, ahead of Garage Project (6), while Three Boys, Sprig & Fern and Behemoth all had five.
Parrotdog and Shining Peak made three trips to the spotlight, with two style trophies each to add to their major titles. Parrotdog ended Garage Project's unprecedented run in which they claimed the champion large brewery title for the past three years in a row.
Parrotdog also claimed two “lager” trophies — in the NZ Lager & Pilsner style with Sundog, and the International Lager class with their L.B. Cold IPA. Yes, an IPA won the lager trophy because it is brewed with a lager yeast!
Shining Peak picked up two trophies — in the Wood & Barrel-aged class with Vintage Stout 2021 and the NZ IPA/Pale Ale/Draught class with Detained & Fabulous, a Bright IPA.
Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night came when Isthmus Brewing claimed the British & European styles trophy with the Gone Troppo, a mango and passionfruit sour.
Isthmus — a husband and wife team of Hamish Ward and Caroline Muller-Ward — suffered a huge setback when Deep Creek went into liquidation last year and Hamish lost his job as head brewer there. He also brewed Isthmus on Deep Creek kit so had to find a new contract partner to make those beers.
"Over the past year we've been through some shit so it's amazing to be rewarded with this trophy," said Hamish. "This beer is Caroline's idea and inspiration and all I did was turn it into liquid."
Caroline added that when they “rebooted” Isthmus in 2018, Gone Troppo was her “dream beer”.
In terms of recent double-ups, Beer Baroness won the Hazy/Juicy Pale Ale Trophy with Slice of Heaven just a few weeks after it had appeared in the New World Beer & Cider Awards, while Sprig & Fern did the same with The G.O.A.T Doppelbock.
Mount Brewing won an elusive trophy to complete a stunning year when Shades of the Pacific won the Stout & Porter trophy after winning the NZ Stout Challenge in June.
Good George’s just-released Virtual Reality Alc Pale Ale was judged the best in the Low, No and Reduced Alcohol category.
There were a total of 712 entries including 695 beers, a decrease on the previous year and well off the peak years for the brewing industry when entries neared 1000.
In all 85 gold medals were awarded and 77% of all entries picked up a medal — a testament to the quality of New Zealand beer.
Champion Trophies
Overall Champion New Zealand Brewing Company — Three Boys Brewery, Christchurch
Champion New Zealand Beer — McLeod’s Brewery Tropical Cyclone
Champion Large Brewery — Parrotdog, Wellington
Champion Medium Brewery — McLeod’s Brewery, Waipu
Champion Small Brewery — Shining Peak Brewing, New Plymouth
Champion Micro Brewery — Fork & Brewer, Wellington
Champion New Zealand Manufacturer — Steam Brewing, Auckland
Style Trophies
Juicy/Hazy Pale Ale — Beer Baroness Slice of Heaven
Juicy/Hazy IPA — Bach Bungy Smuggler
Indian Pale Ale — McLeod’s Tropical Cyclone
International Pale Ale — McLeod’s Blue Sky
NZ IPA, NZ Pale & NZ Draughts — Shining Peak Detained & Fabulous
NZ Lager & NZ Pilsner — Parrotdog Sundog
International Lager — Parrotdog L.B. Cold IPA
British & European Ale — Isthmus Gone Troppo
Amber/Dark Lager & Ale — Sprig & Fern The G.O.A.T Doppelbock
No, Low & Reduced Alcohol — Good George Virtual Reality Non Alcoholic Pale Ale
Stout & Porter — Mount Brewing Shades of the Pacific
Fruit & Flavoured — Behemoth Triple Chocolate Milk Stout
Specialty & Experimental — Three Boys Raspberry Gose
Wood & Barrel Aged — Shining Peak Vintage Stout 2021
Wheat & Other Grain — Panhead Custom Ales Batch 293
Industry Awards
Packaging Award — Hop Federation
Morton Coutts Award for Innovation — Clayton Hops
Brewing Sustainability Award —Sawmill Brewery
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And in case you missed Friday’s edition:
