Australian Beer Awards 2004

Judging from the results at this year's International Beer Awards, specialty beers and small breweries are certainly making an impression. The Grand Champion for 2004 is Pelican Pale Ale from a tiny pub brewery in Oregon, USA with population of less than 800.Last years winner was another pale ale Nor'wester PA from the little brewery Dux de Lux in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the year before that (2002), a specialty ale Samuel Adams Double Bock from the Boston Beer Company, USA was the big winner. The fact is the public hasn't had a chance to taste an Australian lager as Beer of the Year since 1999's Hahn Premium which also took out this yearís Champion Lager. Beer judges are brewers who we all know, have a serious hop addiction, but is that what the public wants as representative of their Grand Champion. From my observations at this year's Beer Festival, a limited amount of the beer drinking public who had the opportunity to taste the Pelican Pale Ale, which also won the trophy for Champion Ale, would rather have seen it get lost somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. I'm not having a go at the judges who do their job admirably, but are the judges judging only on what brewers find appealing, and not taking into consideration what will work for the average punter. Or perhaps it's a cyclical thing, as the previous five years 1995-1999 was dominated by the cold filtered brew. Philosophy aside, it gets down to selling more beer over the counter rather than some oblique product that nobody has either seen or heard of for the mug punter and the major sponsors alike I'd also like an old fashioned finale where we stand and toast the beer of the year, rather than finishing with an uncharged glass and retire to the back bar.

The Premier's Trophy for Best Victorian Beer went to the Mountain Goat Beer boys with their winter delight Surefoot Stout. According to brewer Dave Bonighton I think our appeal is the fact that we offer a different style of stout, a sweet English styled stout with chocolate, liquorice, and coffee notes as opposed to other dark, bitter styled stouts.î This could well be the case as the Champion Stout was a rich and complex Russian Imperial Stout from the Wig & Pen Brewery & Tavern in downtown Canberra. While speaking about stout, it's good to see the continuing success of Coopers Best Extra which was Grand Champion in 1994, and their Special Old Stout which is a beauty. South Australian Southwark Old Stout and Tasmanian Cascade Special Stout continue to impress the judges year in and year out.

The Kiwi's would certainly be pleased with their trophy haul this year including Champion Specialty Beer White Rock Wheat Beer from the Martinborough Brewing Company and Champion Reduced Alcohol Beer Steinlager Premium Light from Lion Breweries. From the Best in Class Winners, Auckland Pub Brewery Cock & Bull's Monks Habit won twice, with Monteiths Black and Speights Porter also posting winning scores along with the South Island's Lighthouse Brewery Classic Stout.

On a night of surprises, Paddy's Brewery at the Flemington Markets in Sydney earned the title of Champion Small Brewery. Other winners included an Eumundi Porter from Noosa Brewing, a Raspberry Wheat from a Redoak, Sydney, and a Chilli Beer from the Outback Brewery in 'outback Sydney' all of whom before the award night I'd never heard of. My confidence in kwowledge about Australian small breweries was restored with honours going to West Australia's Champion Australasian Brewery Swan Brewing along with Little Creatures Pale Ale, Matilda Bay's Redback & Dogbolter, plus Bootleg Brewery's Raging Bull all winning their Best in Class. Sydney's Malt Shovel Brewery got in the mix with their James Squire Porter and Victorian country favourites Grand Ridge heavyweights Moonshine (8.5% A/V) and Supershine (11% A/V) pretty well finished up the prizes for this year.

The National Liquor News was pleased to participate in the two day Australian International Beer Awards Festival held at the Convention Centre in Melbourne. Five 3 hour public taste testing sessions combined thirty breweries and fifteen industry sites with over 400 beers available for tasting. Seminars to inform the public on aspects of judging a beer, history of beer, plus beer and food matching were enjoyed by an audience up 25% on previous years. Our major breweries were well represented with terrific stands from Matilda Bay, Malt Shovel Brewery, Tooheyís and of course Coopers Brewery. Good to see the Victorian State Government supporting the small breweries in their state that joined forces to provide a super-stand for micro breweries including beers from Fitzroy, Mountain Goat, Grand Ridge, Jamieson , 3 Ravens, Buckley's, Stockade, and Holgate Brewhouse, while pub-breweries Gunn Island and Bell's Hotel offered samples of their craft. Representation by small breweries in other states certainly helped to round out the various styles available for tasting which included a South Australian Super Site including samples from Grumpy's Brewhaus, Holdfast Bay Brewing, Lawrence Victor Estate, and Port Adelaide Pub-Brewery. Newly established Bluetongue Brewery from the Hunter Valley, NSW offered samples of their premium lager and ginger beer along with Braidwood Traditional Ales located near Bathhurst. But without a doubt, the most popular stand was from the Belgian Beer CafÈ Bluestone in cooperation with Interbrew and Carlton & United who offered samples of Belgian waffles to munch on while sipping Stella Artois, Hoegaarden White Ale and Leffe Brun all poured from an authentic Belgian bar. Besides the beer, other attractions at the festival included stands highlighting malts, home-brewing equipment & advice, sports memorabilia, free samples of beef jerky, beer merchandise, and even a hangover remedy station. From our observations, the crowds were well behaved and enthusiastic who seemed to enjoy the opportunity to try different beers from around the world, including beers from Germany, Belgium, Austria, China, Thailand, Japan, Malawi, USA, and Canada.