The results for the Sydney Royal Show beer competition have been released and demonstrate the ever growing standard of beer brewed in Australia.

The big winners in this year’s competition were Sydney’s Redoak which won Champion Bottled Beer for its IPA and Victoria’s Matilda Bay, winning the Champion Draught Beer for Alpha Pale Ale.

The competition, that despite its size is regarded by many as one of the toughest in Australia, this years awarded 10 Gold Medals, far exceeding the six awarded in the previous three years combined.

Competition judge Brad Rogers from Stone & Wood Brewery praised the standard of beers at this year’s event.

“They were head and shoulders above last years and the quality of the beers really blew me away.”

With the Sydney competition generally awarding few medals it has been subject to criticism for the approach taken to judging, criticism that Rogers rejects.

“It’s a tough competition, but a good beer will win on the day,” he said.

The Sydney competition is judged differently to other competitions, such as the Australian International Beer Awards or the biennial World Beer Cup in the United States. The AIBA approach is that medals are awarded as representation of a score. A gold medal is awarded to any beer exceeding the threshold score 17 out of 20. In the World Beer Cup points are not awarded, instead a panel of judges meet, sample and discuss the beers and select one Gold, Silver and Bronze-award winning beer from all entries in a class. Both awards have also been subject of criticism for awarding too many medals and too few.

“These awards stand out. The Sydney competition is designed to be tough, but we don’t want to go down the path of the World Beer Cup and only have one medal in each category,” Brad said.

“But if you win a medal, any medal, in Sydney it is certainly something to jump up and down about.”

“And good beer will do well.”

An interesting element to the judging of the Sydney Royal Show beer competition is that judges are ineligible to enter. This creates the situation where experienced brewers such as Rogers and last year’s AIBA champion brewer, Brendan Varis, are unable to enter.

The results:

Bottled Beer

FINE FOOD – BEER COMPETITION: BOTTLED BEER
CLASS: S001 CHAMPION BOTTLED BEER (Classes 1 – 14)

• Redoak (NSW) IPA

CLASS: 1 Golden Lagers – Pilsner Style

Gold

• St Arnou Pty Limited (NSW) Pilsner

Silver

• Moo Brew (Tas) Pilsner
• Matilda Bay Brewing Company (Vic) Bohemian Pilsner
• The Little Brewing Company Pty Ltd (NSW) Wicked Elf Pilsner

CLASS: 2 Golden Lagers – Australian Style

Silver

• St Arnou Pty Limited (NSW) Premium Blonde

CLASS: 4 Golden Lagers – Other Style

Silver

• Murray’s Craft Brewing Co Pty Ltd (NSW) Pilsner
• Knappstein Enterprise Brewery (SA) Knappstein Enterprise Lager

CLASS: 5 Dark Lagers

• Redoak (NSW) Rauch

CLASS: 6 Pale/Golden Ales

Gold

• Redoak (NSW) IPA
• Matilda Bay Brewing Company (Vic) Alpha Pale Ale Garage Reserve

Silver

• McLaren Vale Beer Company (SA) McLaren Vale Ale
• Malt Shovel Brewery (NSW) James Squire Golden Ale

Bronze

• Gage Roads Brewing (WA) Wahoo Premium Ale
• Malt Shovel Brewery (NSW) Kosciuszko Pale Ale
• Schwartz Brewery Surry Hills (NSW) Summertime
• Matilda Bay Brewing Company (Vic) Fat Yak Pale Ale
• Nail Brewing Australia (WA)Ale
• The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel (NSW) Three Sheets
• St Arnou Pty Limited (NSW)Pale Ale
• Murray’s Craft Brewing Co Pty Ltd (NSW) Nirvana Pale Ale
• Redoak (NSW)Organic Pale Ale
• Beard And Brau (SA) Golden Paw
• Schwartz Brewery (NSW) Pale Ale
• Gage Roads Brewing (WA) Gage Roads IPA
• The Little Brewing Company Pty Ltd (NSW) Wicked Elf Pale Ale
• Moo Brew Berriedale (Tas) Pale Ale
• Boatrocker Brewing Company (Vic) Alpha Queen Highly Hopped Ale
• Bowral Brewing Company (NSW) Pigs Fly Pale Ale

CLASS: 7 Amber and Dark Ales

Bronze

• Moo Brew (Tas) Dark Ale
• The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel (NSW) Old Admiral
• Redoak (NSW) SSB Special Strong Bitter
• Beard And Brau (SA) Red Tail

CLASS: 8 Stouts and Porters

Gold

• Redoak (NSW) Oatmeal Stout

Silver

• Nail Brewing Australia (WA) Stout

CLASS: 9 Wheat Beers. Minimum wheat content 30%

Silver

• Moo Brew (Tas) Hefeweizen
• The Little Brewing Company Pty Ltd (NSW) Wicked Elf Witbier

Bronze

• Barons Brewing Co (NSW) Lemon Myrtle Witbier
• Redoak (NSW) Organic Hefeweizen
• Matilda Bay Brewing Company (Vic) Redback Original Wheat Beer

CLASS: 10 Strong Beers – English/Scottish. Minimum alcohol content 6%

Silver

• Redoak (NSW) Wee Heavy

CLASS: 12 Strong Beers – Other. Minimum alcohol content 6%

Gold

• The Little Brewing Company Pty Ltd (NSW) Mad Abbot Tripel

Silver

• Murray’s Craft Brewing Co Pty Ltd (NSW) Grand Cru
• Redoak (NSW) Baltic Porter

Bronze

• The Little Brewing Company Pty Ltd (NSW) Mad Abbot Dubbel

CLASS: 13 Other / Specialty Beers. Minimum grain content 30%

Silver

• Barons Brewing Co (NSW) Black Wattle Original Ale

Bronze

• Redoak (NSW) Honey Ale
• Redoak (NSW) Aussie Ale
• Matilda Bay Brewing Company (Vic) Dogbolter Dark Lager Garage Reserve

CLASS: 14 Reduced Alcohol Beer (Alcohol content not less than 1.15% and not greater than 3.5% v/v)

Silver

• Redoak (NSW) Berliner Weiss
• St Arnou Pty Limited (NSW) Premium Light
• Redoak (NSW) Bitter

Draught Beer

FINE FOOD – BEER COMPETITION: DRAUGHT BEER
CLASS: S002 CHAMPION DRAUGHT BEER (Classes 15 – 20)

• Matilda Bay Brewing Company (Vic) Alpha Pale Ale Garage Reserve

CLASS: 15 Golden Lagers – Pilsner Style

Gold

• Moo Brew (Tas) Pilsner
• Matilda Bay Brewing Company (Vic) Bohemian Pilsner

Silver

• St Arnou Pty Limited (NSW) Pilsner
• Paddy’s Brewery (NSW) Pilsner
• The Little Brewing Company Pty Ltd (NSW) Wicked Elf Pilsner

CLASS: 16 Golden Lagers – Australian Style

Bronze

• St Arnou Pty Limited (NSW) Premium Blonde

CLASS: 17 Golden Lagers – International Style

Gold

• 4 Pines Brewing Company (NSW) Kolsch

CLASS: 18 Golden Lagers – Other Style

Silver

• Murray’s Craft Brewing Co Pty Ltd (NSW) Pilsner

CLASS: 19 Pale/Golden Ales

Gold

• Matilda Bay Brewing Company (Vic) Alpha Pale Ale Garage Reserve

Silver

• Schwartz Brewery (NSW) Summertime
• McLaren Vale Beer Company (SA) McLaren Vale Ale
• 4 Pines Brewing Company (NSW) Pale Ale
• Paddy’s Brewery (NSW) Pale Ale
• 4 Pines Brewing Company (NSW) ESB
• Schwartz Brewery (NSW) Pale Ale
• Redoak (NSW) IPA

Bronze

• Matilda Bay Brewing Company (Vic) Fat Yak Pale Ale
• St Arnou Pty Limited (NSW) Pale Ale
• Redoak (NSW) Organic Pale Ale
• Murray’s Craft Brewing Co Pty Ltd (NSW) Nirvana Pale Ale
• The Little Brewing Company Pty Ltd (NSW) Wicked Elf Pale Ale
• Paddy’s Brewery (NSW) IPA

CLASS: 20 Wheat Beers. Minimum wheat content 30%

Silver

• Matilda Bay Brewing Company (Vic) Redback Original Wheat Beer
• The Little Brewing Company Pty Ltd (NSW) Wicked Elf Witbier
• Murray’s Craft Brewing Co Pty Ltd (NSW) Whale Ale

Bronze

• Moo Brew (Tas) Hefeweizen
• Redoak (NSW) Organic Hefeweizen
• Schwartz Brewery (NSW) Wild Wheat