The New Zealand Beer Awards 2023 winners have been announced, at a gala dinner held in Christchurch on Saturday 5 August.
The big winners on the evening included 8 Wired Brewing who took out both of the top gongs – Overall Champion New Zealand Brewery Trophy as well as the Champion New Zealand Beer, with their Wild Feijoa 2022.
The Awards also celebrate the wider brewing industry and included awards for Beer Tourism, Sustainability in Brewing, the Packaging Award and the Morton Coutts Award for Innovation, which was won by Simon Ross of Wanaka.
Judging of the 825 entries took place in Christchurch in late July, and Executive Director of the Brewers Guild Melanie Kees said they were thrilled with the number and the quality of entries.
“Considering the challenges the industry has faced over the past few years we were really pleased to receive such a high number of entries. The quality was also improved on from last years competition with the success rate at gaining a medal up 11% from last year, in fact 69% of all entries gained a medal. This is testament to the quality of the beer being brewed, which is of course wonderful to news – for both brewers and consumers.”
Across the 2.5 days of judging 25 stewards, 30 judges and 6 support staff worked together to pour around 400 litres of beer and serve nearly 4000 glasses to the team of judges. NZ Styles and Juicy and Hazy continued to be the largest classes, with Speciality & Experimental and Fruit & Flavoured the next most popular classes, a sure sign that creativity is alive and well in the New Zealand brewing sector.
This year’s celebration was at the Wigram Airforce Museum, where over 300 individuals from across the industry gathered together to celebrate. “It is the first time our industry has been able to celebrate together since 2019, which made the evening even more special,” said Kees.
Chairman of the Brewers Guild of New Zealand, Brian Watson added, “It is always an honour to put these awards together, and to have people from across our entire supply chain together celebrating what we as a collective have achieved, as well of course, the beers, breweries and individuals who receive awards on the night.”
Champion Award Winners
Champion Micro Brewery
Workshop Brewing, Raglan
Champion Small Brewery
Shining Peak Brewing, New Plymouth
Champion Medium Brewery
Behemoth Brewing Company, Auckland
Champion Large Brewery
Garage Project, Wellington
Overall Champion New Zealand Brewing Company
8 Wired Brewing, Warkworth
Champion New Zealand Manufacturer
bStudio, Napier
Champion New Zealand Beer
8 Wired Brewing, Warkworth – Wild Feijoa 2022
Trophy Winners
McLeod’s Brewery
International Lager – Longboarder Lager
Behemoth Brewing Company
New Zealand Styles – Clayton F#$%ing Hops NZIPA
Sprig + Fern Brewing Co
Amber/Dark Lager – Lock Bock Barrel
The Emerson Brewing Company Ltd
British Ale – Emerson’s Old 95
Garage Project Brewery
European Ale – Chance, Luck & Magic 2020
Parrotdog
Amber/Dark Ale – Red IPA
Sawmill Brewery
International Pale Ale – Sawmill XPA
Beer Baroness Brewing Company
No & Reduced Alcohol – Little Mighty
Brave Brewing Co
Indian Pale Ale – Terrible Lizards
Behemoth Brewing Company
Juicy/Hazy – Music City Hazy IPA
Burkes Brewing Co
Stout & Porter – Unforgiven Porter
Good George Brewing
Wheat & Other Grain – Good George Hefe Mulligan
8 Wired Brewing
Fruit & Flavoured – Wild Feijoa 2022
Deep Creek Brewing
Specialty & Experimental – Solera
Wilderness Brewing
Wood & Barrel Aged – Russet
Industry Award Winners
Brewing Sustainability Award – Sawmill Brewery
Beer Tourism Award – Rhyme & Reason
Packaging Award – Waitoa Beer
Morton Coutts Award for Innovation – Simon Ross, MicroBrewTech
