Every year there is a period after the
BrewNZ results are announced where I am continually called on to account for
them. Much of the reaction to results stems from the public not understanding how
beer competitions work.
When beers are entered into competition
they are entered in one of 95 different style categories.
The beers are then served blind to a panel of judges and are evaluated for
their technical merit and for how accurately they adhere to style. The beers
are evaluated once as to whether they are medal worthy, and then those that are
medal beers are judged again by a second panel and awarded gold, silver or
bronze.
The judging panels are made up of brewers
and beer specialists from around the world and from around New Zealand.
Aligned judges never judge their own beers preventing the situation where
brewers recognise their own beers and create biased results.
The trophy is then awarded to the highest ranked beer in each category that is
commercially available in New
Zealand. This system means that beers are
always evaluated for what they are rather than according to the subjective
tastes of the judges.
There are styles to cover every type of beer imaginable from low alcohol,
Gluten Free and New Zealand Draught right through to super strength
barleywines, highly hopped double IPA’s and beers spiced with Manuka.
In short the most mundane of beers can achieve gold medal status when brewed
well and entered in the correct style category just as the most flavoursome
boundary pushing beers can.
This year, for the third time, BrewNZ awarded the Champion Brewer Trophy to the
brewery with the highest scoring top three beers. For the last two years craft
brewers have taken the trophy with Tuatara being followed by Emerson’s last
year.
This year DB performed very well taking gold medals in the New Zealand Lager
and Low Carbohydrate Categories and a Silver in the New Zealand Draught
Category, the picture is of a mainstream brewer doing what it does well but is
hardly an advert for imaginative or character full brewing.
Luckily there were plenty of other results to get excited about. Hot on DB’s
heels was Christchurch’s
Three Boys Brewery. Three Boys managed a stunning comeback from last year when
they defied many expectations and earned no medals to this year where they took
Gold and Best in Class Trophies for both Oyster Stout and their festive brew
Pineapple Lump Porter, Silver for Golden Ale and bronze for Wheat.
Emerson’s kept up their enviable record with
nine medals including the wheat beer trophy for Dunkelweiss. Blenheim’s
Renaissance took out four Silvers and two Bronze medals. 8 Wired took a Trophy
and Gold Medal for The Big Smoke Porter, Yeastie Boys took a Silver for Yakima
Monster and a Bronze for Her Majesty, and Christchurch’s
Twisted Hop took out the newly created Cask Ale trophy.
See below for the full results.
Cheers
Kieran
Haslett-Moore
Class C: European Lager Styles Sponsored by
Cryermalt
Trophy: DB Breweries Monteith’s Black
Silver Boston
Beer Company Samuel Adams Double Bock
Silver DB Breweries Monteith’s Black
Bronze Cassels & Sons Brewery Dunkel
Bronze Lagunitas Brewing Co Lagunitas Pils
Bronze Rogue Ales Dead Guy Ale
Bronze Sierra Nevada Brewing Co Sierra Nevada Summerfest
Bronze Sprig and Fern Brewery Doppelbock
Class D: International Lager Styles
Sponsored by New Zealand Hops Limited
Trophy: The Croucher Brewing Company Pilsner
Gold The Croucher Brewing Company Pilsner
Silver Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd. Tiger
Crystal Beer
Silver Sprig and Fern Brewery Harvest
Pilsner
Silver Three Towns Independent Brewers S:t
Eriks Sommarlager
Bronze Emerson’s Brewery Emerson’s Pilsner
Bronze Lakefront Brewing Co Riverwest Stein
Beer
Class E: European Ale Styles Sponsored by
Pall New Zealand Limited
Trophy: Steam Brewing Company Cock &
Bull Fuggles
Gold Nogne-O Tyttebaer
Gold Boston Beer Company Samuel Adams New World Triple
Gold Steam Brewing Company Cock & Bull
Fuggles
Gold Uinta Brewing Co Cutthroat Pale Ale
Silver Alltech’s Lexington Brewing Co
Kentucky Light
Silver Boston Beer Company Samuel Adams Longshot Lemon Pepper Saison
Silver Boston Beer Company Samuel Adams
Pale Ale
Silver Bridge Road Brewers - Beechworth Chevalier Saison
Silver DB Breweries Monteith’s Celtic Red
Silver Deschutes
Brewery Twilight
Silver Emerson’s Brewery JP 2010
Silver Jopenbier Jopen Hoppenbier
Silver Jubeljoop Jubeljoop III Tripel
Silver Renaissance Brewing Ltd Stonecutter
Scotch Ale
Silver Renaissance Brewing Ltd Old Scotch
Ale