New World Beer & Cider Awards
Mountain IPA you say? It’s a rather romantic way of describing a beer that falls somewhere between the two in-vogue extremes (geographically speaking, that is) of West Coast IPA and East Coast IPA. The former, righteously bitter and brightly clear, the latter as furry and fuzzy and full of fruit juice flavours. Somewhere in between, again geographically speaking, is Colorado where Oskar Blues produced Dale’s Pale Ale (sweet and piney 6.5 per cent pale ale) and Odell created Mountain Standard, juicy fruity with some haze and a hit of late bitterness and thus a regional genre was a born. A handful of Kiwi breweries have played with the “style” including Deep Creek and Ground Up. Given the loose boundaries of Mountain IPA, it’s hard to say a brewery has nailed it as such, but Laughing Bones Treeline IPA (6.3 per cent) gives you exactly what it says it will: a beer that’s juicy, fruity, a little hazy but with an underlying bitter kick. Utilising a load of the tropical-meets-pine Sequoia hop blend, it truly is east meets west and a good waypoint for anyone who finds West Coast IPA too bitter or Hazy IPA too sweet.

New World Beer & Cider Awards Winners

The 2025 New World Beer & Cider Awards have been announced. Here's the list of the Top 25 winners which will be available in New World stores over the next month. Champion Beer Isthmus 3D IPA Isthmus Brewing is the Auckland creation of husband and wife team Hamish...

Isthmus 3D IPA Takes Top Award

Isthmus Brewing in Auckland have taken top spot at the annual New World Beer & Cider Awards with their 3D IPA. The awards, in their 10th year, feature some major changes with the Top 30 reduced to a Top 25, making it an ultra-competitive event. And this year,...

Red Sea Conflict Drives Garage Project-Mikkeller Deal

The congoing conflict in the Red Sea is driving an unusual beer hook-up, with Garage Project brewing and distributing beer into Asia on behalf of Danish craft giant Mikkeller. Yemen's Houthi organisation, in reprisal for Israel's attacks on Gaza, are firing missiles...

Brave Brewing — The Eye Of The Tiger

Just days before Brave Brewing won the Champion Brewery crown at the New Zealand Beer Awards, founder-brewer Matt Smith was wondering aloud about “imposter syndrome”. Talking to the Third Pint Theory podcast, Matt said that despite more than a decade of professional...

Brave Brewing Triumph At NZ Beer Awards

Brave Brewing and their cult IPA, Tigermilk, roared the loudest at last night's New Zealand Beer Awards in Christchurch. Brave Brewing, from Hastings, won a swag of trophies — with the most important being the title of overall Champion New Zealand Brewery. Moments...

Guinness 0.0 Set for Wider Distribution in NZ

Guinness 0.0 — the hard-to-get non-alcoholic version of Guinness — will become more widely available in New Zealand from later this year. Lion is the official brewing and distribution partner of Guinness in New Zealand but has not been able to get its hands on a...