Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards
The results from the 2024 Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards, the leading awards of its kind, have highlighted breweries Stone & Wood, Brick Lane Brewing, Kaiju! Beer, King Road Co, and Dollar Bill Brewing as the makers of Australia’s finest brews for this year.
Stone & Wood was awarded the event’s top accolade of Champion Australian Beer for its Hinterland Big Pale, along with receiving the Best Australian Style Pale Ale award.
The Hinterland was chosen out of a total of 2500 entered beers from over 400 different breweries. These were judged by an 84-strong panel of industry experts, including 30% female judges and 15 international judges.
Originally crafted as part of Stone & Wood’s All-Australian Hops Series, the brew has since been added to its core range due to popular demand.
Melbourne’s Brick Lane Brewing received four awards, including Champion Victorian Brewery and Champion Large Australian Brewery. Following this, Kaiju! Beer was named the Champion Medium Australian Brewery, King Road Brewing Co was named the Champion Small Australian Brewery and Dollar Bill Brewing was awarded the Australian Gypsy Brewer Award.
New Zealand’s Garage Project also performed strongly, receiving awards for four of its beers along with being named the Champion Large International Brewery of 2024.
“We are immensely grateful for the extraordinary support from the beer industry and thank all brewers, judges, stewards, sponsors and event staff for ensuring this world-class event remains at the highest level,” said Darren Keating, Melbourne Royal Executive General Manager, Agriculture.
“The pinnacle event for celebrating excellence, hard work and innovation in the beer and brewing industry, this year’s Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards was an incredible success with a record number of brewers showcasing their passion, and precision for crafting some of the world’s best beer.
“Winning a trophy or medal at the coveted Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards opens many commercial doors and inspires consumer trends, and I extend my congratulations to all winners of medals and trophies.”
Click here to view a full list of results.
Four Pillars wins big at American Distilling Institute’s International Spirits Competition
Four Pillars’ Olive Leaf Gin has been named Best of Category – International Signature Botanical Gin at the prestigious 2024 American Distilling Institute (ADI) International Spirits Competition, along with receiving a double gold medal.
The ADI is the largest small-batch, independently owned craft distillery association in the world, and as such its awards competition commands a significant level of importance in the industry. The latest awards involved more than 1000 spirits, which were evaluated over three days by 50 judges.
Olive Leaf is the first savoury gin in Four Pillars’ portfolio and is the result of five years of development.
“I’ve always loved a savoury-style gin so making Olive Leaf was a no-brainer,” said Cameron Mackenzie, Head Distiller.
The win is big news for Four Pillars, which has recently established a US-based international lead that will likely be striving to capitalise on Olive Leaf’s suitability to the current gin Martini trend.
SOCraft Awards
Australia received 10 out of the 43 awards at the inaugural Socraft craft spirits awards, the first Asia-based awards dedicated to artisanal spirits production.
The top Australian performer was the Launceston Distillery Single Malt Tawny Cask Matured, which was one of only two spirits to receive both a three-star rating and a green ring for environmental efforts.
Below is a list of all Australian awards winners:
- Launceston Distillery Single Malt Tawny Cask Matured – 3 Star + Green Ring
- Taylor & Smith Dry Gin – 2 Star + Green Ring
- Taylor & Smith Gin – 2 Star + Green Ring
- Bass & Flinders Monsoon Gin – 2 Star
- Luxe Brew Moonshadow Chocolate Liqueur – 2 Star
- Bass & Flinders Ochre Fine Brandy – 1 Star
- Bass & Flinders Orient Gin – 1 Star
- Hunter Island Tasmanian Poitin – 1 Star
- Luxe Brew Sakura Cherry Blossom Liqueur – 1 Star
- Mother of Pearl Vodka – 1 Star
A full list of winners can be viewed here.
World Drinks Awards
Results from the 2024 World Drinks Awards have revealed a number of winners across categories such as Spirits, Liqueurs, RTD, No/low, and Range Design.
Australia received the following nine World’s Best Awards for the following categories:
- Sugarcane Spirit – FNQ Rum Co., Platinum Cane Spirit
- Premix Spirit and Mixer – Starward, Tonic And Juicy Ruby Grapefruit
- Premix Range Design – FELLR x MESSINA
- No & Low Design – Noot, Classic G+T
- Hybrid Still Rum – Solander Rum Company, Cask Strength Rum
- Traditional Spiced Rum – Ester Spirits, Spiced Cane
- Cream Liqueur – Hellyers Road, Whisky Cream Liqueur – Original
- Flavoured Spirits & Speciality – Act Of Treason Australian Agave, Blanco
- Premix Contemporary Cocktail – Melbourne Martini, Bar Strength Smoked Chilli Margarita
FELLR’s Sorbet Series collaborative range with Messina was awarded the World’s Best Range Design trophy along with two gold medals.
The range, launched last year, includes seltzer flavours such as Yuzu and Salted Coconut & Mango, booth of which received gold medals at the most recent World Premix Awards event.
”We knew we had our work cut out for us to create a liquid that stood up to such an incredible product that’s so well-loved across the country,” said Will Morgan, Co-Founder of FELLR.
Since launching in 2020, FELLR has grown to be Australia’s leading independent Hard Seltzer brand.
