Western Australia’s Beerland Brewing was awarded the prestigious title of Champion Australian Beer for its Beerland Blueberry Clouds at the Australian International Beer Awards last night. The brewery was also awarded the trophy for Best Fruit Beer.
Beerland brewers, Andrew Deacon and Brandon Brooker, were in Melbourne to accept the trophy.
The legendary Ken Arrowsmith, is Head Brewer at Beerland. A qualified chemist, he is an an active member of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling (IBD), In 2004, he was awarded the prestigious IBD Fellowship. He is responsible for some of the best beers in Australia, adding Beerland Blueberry Clouds to the list.
Beerland Brewing was also awarded Champion Australian Beer for its Beerland Wheat Beer (Draught) in 2018.
Melbourne Royal handed out 35 trophies at the 2022 Australian International Beer Awards to breweries from all around the world. The Trophy Presentation Dinner at the Victoria Pavilion at Melbourne Showgrounds was a sell-out.
Brad Jenkins, CEO of Melbourne Royal, said, “We had an extraordinary response to the 2022 Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards from the beer and brewing industry. We received a record number of entries this year, despite the ongoing global challenges and the natural disasters that occurred across north-east Australia. This is a testament to the value and importance the beer and brewing industry places on winning a trophy or medal in these world-class awards.”
Champion Victorian Brewery was awarded to Reservoir’s Hawkers Beer, which also snapped up Champion Large Australian Brewery.
Last year’s Australian beer champions, Dollar Bill Brewing, took out the Australian Gypsy Brewer Award and Collingwood’s Stomping Ground Brewing Co took out three awards, including:
- Champion Medium Australian Brewery,
- Best British or European-Style Ale for its Raspberry Smash and
- Best Porter or Stout for its Bunker Porter.
Footscray’s Hop Nation snapped up Best Modern Indian Pale Ale for its Get The Gist and Collingwood’s Molly Rose picked up Best Belgian/French Ale for its Nectarined. Thornbury’s 3 Ravens Brewery walked away with Best European Style Lager for its Hugin.
Whitfield’s King River Brewing picked up Best Amber/Dark Lager for its Mabon Doppelbock; Co-Conspirators Brewing won Best Modern Pale Ale for The Hop Peddler Hazy Pale Ale and Ocean Reach Brewing took home Best Amber/Dark Ale for its Journey Home Black IPA.
Asahi Beverages won Best Pilsner for its draught Peroni.
Representation from New South Wales breweries is noticeably light with the only winners being Byron Bay’s Stone & Wood which won Best Reduced/Low Alcohol Beer for its East Point Draught and Wayward Ripasso Bianco, Packaged Wayward Brewing Co, New South Wales which won for Best Wood- And Barrel-Aged Beer.
Damian Nieuwesteeg, Manager of the Awards Programs for Beverage said, “NSW was well represented in the trophy rounds, with many gold medals awarded to the state. Ultimately, the judges identified the best beers with no regard to where they are brewed. It’s a blind tasting and provenance plays no part.
“Of the 11 Champion Trophies and 21 beer category trophies awarded, NSW claimed 2 of these – Stone & Wood and Wayward, which is six per cent of the trophies awarded.
“Another point noted by our judges this year was the exceptional quality – rather than entering their entire range, brewers chose to be more selective about their entries this year and in many cases put forward their very best beers for consideration.”
Queensland winners include Moffat Beach Brewing Co, which won three awards:
- Champion Small Australian Brewery,
- Best International-Style Pale Ale for its Shadow Of The Moon Eclipse Strong Pale Ale and
- Best Traditional India Pale Ale for its Trilogy Best Coast IPA.
Bulimba’s Revel Brewing Company won Best International Lager for its draught Revel NZ Pils.
Other Western Australian winners were Metricup’s Beer Farm winning Consistency of Excellence award for its India Pale Ale, King Road Brewing Co won Best Australian-Style Lager for its King Road Lager and Cheeky Monkey Brewery won Best Australian Style Pale Ale for its draught XPA.
South Australia’s Big Shed Brewing’s won Best Specialty Beer for its Viscosiraptor, and NSW’s Wayward Brewing C. took home Best Wood and Barrel Aged Beer for its packaged Wayward Ripasso Bianco.
Other prestigious categories include Champion International Beer which went to Belching Beaver Brewery from California, USA for its Viva La Beaver Stout.
Other international winners include:
- All Day Non-Alcoholic IPA: Bach Brewing, Auckland, New Zealand winning Best Non-Alcohol Beer
- Champion Medium International Brewery: Deep Creek Brewing Co, Auckland, New Zealand
- Champion Large International Brewery: Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Bavaria, Germany
- Champion Small International Brewery: Artmonster Brewery, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
- The Gary Sheppard Memorial Trophy for Best New Exhibitor: The Bold Mariner Brewing Co, Virginia, USA
- Best Wheat Beer: China Resources Snow Breweries for its Lowen White Beer.
- Best Design – Label/Surface Graphic: Belching Beaver Brewery in California for its Viva La Beaver.
- Best Design – Outer Packaging: New Zealand’s Hallertau Brewery for its Hallertau – The Keeper.
The Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards is the largest annual beer competition in the world assessing both draught and packaged beer and this year saw 65 judges taste 2,630 entries from 355 exhibitors, from 20 countries.
- Champion Australian Beer: Beerland Blueberry Clouds, Draught, Beerland Brewing, Western Australia
- Champion International Beer: Viva La Beaver, Packaged, Belching Beaver Brewery, CA, USA
- Champion Large Australian Brewery: Hawkers Beer, Victoria
- Champion Large International Brewery: Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, Bavaria, Germany
- Champion Medium Australian Brewery: Stomping Ground Brewing Co, Victoria
- Champion Medium International Brewery: Deep Creek Brewing Co, Auckland, New Zealand
- Champion Small Australian Brewery: Moffat Beach Brewing Co, Queensland
- Champion Small International Brewery: Artmonster Brewery, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
- Champion Victorian Brewery: Hawkers Beer, Victoria
- Australian Gypsy Brewer Award: Dollar Bill Brewing, Victoria
- Best Australian Style Lager: King Road, Draught, King Road Brewing Co, Western Australia
- Best European-Style Lager (Excluding Pilsner): Hugin, Packaged 3 Ravens Brewery, Victoria
- Best International Lager: Revel NZ Pils, Draught, Revel Brewing Company, Queensland
- Best Pilsner – Australia: Peroni, Draught, Asahi Beverages,
- Best Amber/Dark Lager (Excluding Baltic-Style Porter): Mabon Doppelbock, Packaged King River Brewing, Victoria
- Best Australian Style-Pale Ale: XPA, Draught, Cheeky Monkey Brewery, Western Australia
- Best Modern Pale Ale: The Hop Peddler Hazy Pale Ale, Draught, Co-Conspirators Brewing, Victoria
- Best International-Style Pale Ale : Shadow Of The Moon Eclipse, Strong Pale Ale, Packaged, Moffat Beach Brewing Co, Queensland
- Best British or European-Style Ale (Including India Pale Ale & Pale Ale): Raspberry Smash, Packaged Stomping Ground Brewing Co, Queensland
- Best Traditional Pale Ale: Triology Best Coast, IPA, Moffat Beach Brewing Co, Queensland
- Best Modern India Pale Ale: Get The Gist, Draught, Hop Nation, Victoria
- Best Amber / Dark Ale: Journey Home Black IPA, Packaged Ocean Reach Brewing, Victoria
- Best Porter or Stout (including Baltic-Style Porter): Bunker Porter, Draught, Stomping Ground Brewing Co, Victoria
- Best Reduced / Low Alcohol Beer: East Point, Draught, Stone & Wood Brewing Co, NSW
- Best Non-Alcohol Beer: All Day Non-Alcoholic, IPA, Packaged, Bach Brewing, Auckland, New Zealand
- Best Wheat Beer: Lowen White Beer, Packaged China Resources Snow Breweries, Beijing, China
- Best Belgian / French Ale: Nectarined, Packaged Molly Rose Brewing, Victoria
- Best Fruit Beer: Beerland Blueberry Clouds, Draught, Beerland Brewing, Western Australia
- Best Wood- And Barrel-Aged Beer: Wayward Ripasso Bianco, Packaged Wayward Brewing Co, New South Wales
- Best Specialty Beer: Viscosiraptor, Packaged Big Shed Brewing, South Australia
- Best Specialty Flavoured Beer: Viva La Beaver, Packaged Belching Beaver Brewery, CA, United States
- Best Design – Label / Surface Graphic: Hallertau – The Keeper, Hallertau Brewery, New Zealand
- Best Media: Clare Burnett (Brews News), Queensland
- Consistency of Excellence (2019, 2021, 2022): India Pale Ale, Draught, Beer Farm, Western Australia
