Media Release

The Craft Beer Industry Association announces the inaugural Craft BeerAwards

The Craft Beer Industry Association is proud to announce the inaugural Craft Beer Awards: The Best Of Australian Brewing.

To be held during Sydney Craft Beer Week, the Craft Beer Awards will be open to all Australian breweries and brewing companies that are eligible for CBIA membership (Australian breweries that produce less than 40 million litres per annum).

Entries open on the 4th of August, with judging occurring on the 21st and 22nd of October and the awards being presented at a ceremony on the 24th of October.

“We are very excited by this,” said CBIA Chair Dave Bonighton.

“The CBIA’s purpose is to be the independent voice shaping and driving the future of Australian craft beer and holding our own awards has always been an important part of achieving this,” said Bonighton.

“Competitions have many benefits for the industry: quality improvement, professional development for participants and providing further marketing opportunities for the successful beers among them. Being able to put Champion Australian Craft Beer on the side of the bottle will be a major coup for one Australian brewer.”

“Up until now the Australian brewing industry has been lucky enough to have had the Australian International Beer Awards and the respective state based competitions but we have never had a national competition focused solely on craft beer. The Craft Beer Awards will allow Australia’s craft brewers to have their beers benchmarked against those of their peers,” said Bonighton.
The CBIA has assembled a line-up of Australia’s best beer judges to be involved.

“We’re lucky to have so many experienced judges in Australia, many of them with international experience,” said Bonighton.

“With the Craft Beer Awards we have decided to follow the World Beer Cup model and not appoint a Head Judge. This will ensure that all of Australia’s best brewers will be able to enter their beers with no concerns of a conflict of interest.”

“We are also committed to bringing on the next generation of judges and will be instituting an Associate Judges programme, the details of which we will be releasing shortly,” said Bonighton.

The Craft Beer Awards will judge nine categories with trophies being awarded to the best beer in each category. The trophy winners will then be judged against each other with the winner taking the prestigious title of Champion Australian Craft Beer.
Awards will also given out to the best performing Large (300 000 to 40 million litres per annum), Medium (50 000 to 299 999 litres per annum) and Small (up to 49 999 litres per annum) breweries .

Another major award to be presented will be the CBIA Services to Australian Craft Beer award.

“This will be the chance for the industry to recognise one of the many individuals whose tireless efforts have helped build this fantastic industry,” said Bonighton.

Full details of the Craft Beer Awards including style guidelines, entry fees and the judging system will be available on the Craft Beer Awards 2014 page of the Craft Beer Industry Association website (australiancraftbeer.org.au) from the 4th of August, 2014 when entries open.

The awards presentation ceremony will be held at the Giant Dwarf Theatre (199 Cleveland Street, Redfern) on Friday, the 24th of October.

This event promises to quickly become one of the highlights on the annual craft beer calendar with the Australia’s beer lovers getting the chance to rub shoulders with best of the nation’s brewers as the awards are handed out.

Guests will be able to sample throughout the night from a wide range of the beers that had been entered in the awards.

Dining for the evening will be provided by David O’Brien of Food Rascal (formerly Executive Chef with the Merrivale Group). David will be presenting a range of canapés and a BBQ serving Ranges Valley Wagyu brisket and Kurobuta pork-shoulder rolls.

Tickets are $95 and are available through the Sydney Craft Beer Week website.

CBIA Chair Dave Bonighton is available for further comment. To organise an interview time or for any further information please contact Chris McNamara on 0409 836 714 or chris.mcnamara@australiancraftbeer.org.au

Judges list for the 2014 CBIA Craft Beer Awards:

• Richard Adamson Young (Henrys Brewing Company)
• Dave Bonighton (Mountain Goat Brewery)
• Neal Cameron (Australian Brewery)
• Michael Capaldo (Sydney Brewery)
• Dave Edney (Mountain Goat Brewery)
• Brennan Fielding (Burleigh Brewing Company)
• Justin Fox (Colonial Brewing Company)
• Sam Fuss (Young Henrys Brewing Company)
• Andrew Gow (Mornington Peninsula Brewery)
• Chuck Hahn (Malt Shovel Brewery)
• Scott Hargreaves (Byron Bay Brewing Company)
• Paul Holgate (Holgate Brewhouse)
• Matt Houghton (Boatrocker Brewery)
• Will Irving (Feral Brewing Company)
• Owen Johnston (Hop Products Australia)
• Ian Kingham (Woolworths)
• Ben Kraus (Bridge Road Brewers)
• Jayne Lewis (Two Birds Brewing)
• Lachlan MacBean (Grain Fed Brewing Company)
• Tina Panoutsos (Fosters Group)
• Warren Pawsey (Little Creatures Brewing)
• Nic Sanderly (Stone Brewing Company)
• Shawn Sherlock (Murrays Brewing Company)
• Bradford Tetlow (Lion Co (NZ))
• Brendan Varis (Feral Brewing Company)
• Scott Vincent (Matilda Bay Brewing Co)
• Brian Watson (Good George Brewing (NZ))
• Chris Willcock (4 Pines Brewing Company)