Recent history was turned on its head at the NZ Beer Awards in Auckland last night with Parrotdog usurping Garage Project as the country’s champion large brewery, and McLeod’s ending Behemoth’s reign in the medium-sized category.

Three Boys, for the second time in three years, claimed the overall champion brewery crown while Shining Peak retained their small brewery title and Fork & Brewer returned to the stage as the champion microbrewery.

McLeod’s won the champion beer with Tropical Cyclone Double IPA and were the stars of the night — visiting the podium four times to pick up major gongs, including trophies in the IPA (Tropical Cyclone) and Pale Ale (Blue Skies) categories.

McLeod’s also had the most gold medals on the night with 8, ahead of Garage Project (6), while Three Boys, Sprig & Fern and Behemoth all had five.

Parrotdog and Shining Peak made three trips to the spotlight, with two style trophies each to add to their major titles. Parrotdog ended Garage Project’s unprecedented run in which they claimed the champion large brewery title for three years in a row.

Parrotdog also claimed two “lager” trophies — in the NZ Lager & Pilsner style with Sundog, and the International Lager class with their L.B. series Cold IPA. Yes, an IPA won the lager trophy because it is brewed with a lager yeast!

Shining Peak picked up two trophies — in the Wood & Barrel-aged class with Vintage Stout 2021 and the NZ IPA/Pale Ale/Draught class with Detained & Fabulous, a Bright IPA.

Perhaps the biggest cheer of the night came when Isthmus Brewing claimed the British & European styles trophy with the Gone Troppo, a mango and passionfruit sour.

Isthmus — a husband and wife team of Hamish Ward and Caroline Muller-Ward — suffered a huge setback when Deep Creek went into liquidation last year and Hamish lost his job as head brewer there. He also brewed Isthmus on Deep Creek kit so had to find a new contract partner to make those beers.

“Over the past year we’ve been through some shit so it’s amazing to be rewarded with this trophy,” said Hamish. “This beer is Caroline’s idea and inspiration and all I did was turn it into liquid.”

Caroline added that when they “rebooted” Isthmus in 2018, Gone Troppo was her “dream beer”.

There were a total of 712 entries including 695 beers, a decrease on the previous year and well off the peak years for the brewing industry when entries neared 1000.

In all 85 gold medals were awarded and 77% of all entries picked up a medal — a testament to the quality of New Zealand.
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Champion Trophies

Overall Champion New Zealand Brewing Company — Three Boys Brewery, Christchurch  

Champion New Zealand Beer — McLeod’s Brewery Tropical Cyclone

Champion Large Brewery — Parrotdog, Wellington  

Champion Medium Brewery — McLeod’s Brewery, Waipu

Champion Small Brewery — Shining Peak Brewing, New Plymouth  

Champion Micro Brewery — Fork & Brewer, Wellington

Champion New Zealand Manufacturer — Steam Brewing, Auckland  

Style Trophies

Juicy/Hazy Pale Ale — Beer Baroness Slice of Heaven  

Juicy/Hazy IPA — Bach Brewing Bungy Smuggler

Indian Pale Ale — McLeod’s Brewery Tropical Cyclone  

International Pale Ale — McLeod’s Brewery Blue Sky  

NZ IPA, NZ Pale & NZ Draughts — Shining Peak Brewing Detained & Fabulous  

NZ Lager & NZ Pilsner — Parrotdog Sundog  

International Lager — Parrotdog L.B. Cold IPA  

British & European Ale — Isthmus Brewing Gone Troppo  

Amber/Dark Lager & Ale — Sprig & Fern The G.O.A.T Doppelbock  

No, Low & Reduced Alcohol — Good George Brewing Virtual Reality Non Alcoholic Pale Ale

Stout & Porter — Mount Brewing Shades of the Pacific

Fruit & Flavoured — Behemoth Triple Chocolate Milk Stout  

Specialty & Experimental — Three Boys Raspberry Gose  

Wood & Barrel Aged — Shining Peak Brewing Vintage Stout 2021

Wheat & Other Grain — Panhead Custom Ales Batch 293

Industry Awards

Packaging Award — Hop Federation

Morton Coutts Award for Innovation — Clayton Hops

Brewing Sustainability Award —Sawmill Brewery

Beer Tourism Award — Altitude Brewing