Well done DB!

[Christian]

A big thumbs up to DB for cleaning up at this year's Brew NZ awards:

- New Zealand Champion Brewery
- European Lager Styles: Monteith’s Black
- New Zealand Draught: Tui
- New Zealand Lager & Premium Lager Styles: Tui Blonde
- Reduced Alcohol, Reduced Carbohydrate & Gluten-free Styles:Export 33

Man, yous guys got da skillz!!

[Sparky]

*Hands out a jellybean*

[JR]

All the most delicious categories there..

[Tony]

SIGH!!

[Stu McKinlay]

Thought I'd highlight some of the highlights of the awards on the night...

Croucher's:
* International Lager Styles -The Croucher Brewing Company - Pilsner
HUGE award for Paul and the team. This had to be one of the most feelgood awards of the night... and does that make Paul the only homebrew/probrew trophy winner? A shame they weren't there to pick it up!

Three Boys -
* Stout and Porter Styles - Three Boys Brewery - Three Boys Oyster Stout
* Festive Brew- Three Boys Brewery - Three Boys Pineapple Lump Porter
The Oyster is possibly the most deserved "coming of age" awards in all the years I have been involved. And who can't be impressed by the smarts of a man willing to go that extra mile by "dry lumping" his beer.

8 Wired:
* Flavoured and Aged Styles (including Fruit/Spice/Herb/ Honey/Smoke) - 8 Wired Brewing - The Big Smoke
What more can I say... homebrewers, probrewers, beer fans - we all love Soren! Great work mate and well deserved.

The Twisted Hop:
* Cask Conditioned- The Twisted Hop – Nokabollokov
Another "coming of age" trophy (or, about fuckin' time!) for the awesome team at The Twisted Hop. They also medalled for RNA, one of my favourite beers in the last few weeks.

Mata:
* Packaging - Aotearoa Breweries NZ Ltd – Mata
Tammy and Jaysen picked up Gold for their fantastic "Taniwha" festive brew too. It's a sign of how keen a brewer Tammy is that she was gutted with her lesser medals.

Steam Brewing:
* European Ale Styles -Steam Brewing Company - Cock and Bull Fuggles
* New Zealand, US and International Ale Styles - Steam Brewing Company - Cock and Bull Monks Habit
Top week for Shane (and the team). He's now IBD qualified and that's two big awards in two very hotly contested categories... hugely impressive.

Emerson's:
* Wheat and Other Grain Styles - Emerson’s Brewery - Emerson’s Dunkelweiss
9 medals from 11 beers... Richard and team are still at the top of their game, despite not picking up more trophies. Certainly all 'round kings of wheat beer in NZ. Their "Billy T Wit" was probably my favourite festive brew.

Epic:
* Specialty, Experimental, Aged, Barrel and Wood-Aged Styles - Epic Brewing Company – NZ - Epic Barrel Aged IPA
This beer was a pretty gutsy move for a guy who has made a name for himself on technically perfect, clean beers. And I'm sure I caught a little hint of his voice breaking as he accepted the trophy... a bit of emotion from the Terminator of NZ brewing???

Sprig and Fern:
No trophies but they gave themselves the loudest cheers in the entire room for every single one of their medals. Great to talk to Tracy and get a feeling for how important any medal is to someone of NZ's most experienced brewers and best judges.

Moa:
No trophies for these guys either but Their barrel-aged Imperial Stout and barrel-aged 5 Hop Ale were absolutely outstanding drinks for such a special night. We were privilged to have them.

Towshend:
Cathcarts @ Hashigo Zake on Friday night was head and shoulders above anything else for my beer of the week. Perfection in a glass. I could hardly get to the bar because Richard Emerson was camped next to the handpump.


On the DB note... well done to them... They follow the rules, the enter their beers in the right category, they made them expertly, they market them hard and they sell a hell of a lot of them. It just goes to show what a fantastic acheivement it has been for Tuatara and Emerson's to pick up this award over the last couple of years. Interesting that their speeches were so short... there was no word of passion for life or beer in any of the speeches besides the Monteith's Black one.

[Stu McKinlay]

and the Monteith's Black speech was about the passion and love for the West Coast, rather than the beer or the people involved in making it!

[Hugh Grierson]

If you really had a passion for the west coast you might brew some decent volume there, not just hang you marketing on it.
ps Monteiths gives me the shits.