Who Will Be New Zealand’s Next Champion Brewer?

Who Will Be New Zealand’s Next Champion Brewer?

The Brewers Guild announces the 10th Champion New Zealand Brewery next month, and more than 100 breweries from all over New Zealand are in the running.

Reigning champion Tuatara Brewing made history last year when it became the first brewer to win Champion twice – it was also the first winner in 2008.

Over the past decade Champion Brewer has been held by some of the smallest breweries in the country, such as 8 Wired, Renaissance and Townshend’s. Big breweries have won too – DB Breweries in 2010 and Lion in 2015.

“This very wide spread of winners shows the strength of New Zealand’s brewing scene,” says Brewers Guild Chairman Jonathan Alve. “We have winners from rural areas and big cities, small operators and international businesses. More breweries opening each year, and every brewer who can make a range of consistently good beer is in with a real chance.”

Champion Brewer is based on the medal count from the Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards, and since these are determined by blind judging with a panel of experts, any brewer in the competition has a chance of becoming the 2017 Champion.

This year the judging panel will taste its way through 964 beers and ciders, up from 946 last year and 858 in 2015.

“The Brewers Guild Awards are easily the biggest and most-respected beer competition run in New Zealand. We have international beer judges working to the highest standards, and brewers are very keen to win recognition from their peers,” Jonathan Alve says.

The 2017 Champion New Zealand Brewery will be announced on Saturday 7 October at the Brewers Guild Awards Dinner, Air Force Museum, Wigram, Christchurch.

Previous winners:

2016 Tuatara Brewing (Wellington)

2015 Lion (Auckland)

2014 Townshend Brewery (Nelson)

2013 Renaissance Brewing (Marlborough)

2012 Harrington’s Breweries (Christchurch)

2011 8 Wired Brewing (Marlborough then, now in Auckland)

2010 DB Breweries (Nationwide)

2009 Emerson’s Brewery (Dunedin)

2008 Tuatara Brewing (Wellington)

ENDS

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