Not for the first time, the foreign brigade carried off most of the major awards at this year’s Australian International Beer Awards held in Melbourne recently.

As the name suggests, the AIBA encourages international entries, regardless of whether they are commercially available within Australia. This year’s record 1,170 entries included 675 Australian beers and 495 international entries from 34 different countries.

Norwegian brewery Nogne O carried off both the champion small brewery and grand champion exhibitor trophies. The name of this Grimstad-based craft brewery means “naked island” with a sub-title which translates as “the uncompromising brewery”, and was launched in 2003 by owner Kjetil Jikiun, who apparently discovered home brewing while living in the USA.

Nogne O specializes in bottle-conditioned ales and entered some of their strongest brews in the AIBA, including a saison (6.5%), an imperial stout (9%) and the simplistically-named #100 (10%). Their beers are distributed in Australia by Queensland-based importer Innspire; details: www.innspire.com.au

While overseas exhibitors accounted for 11 of the 15 trophies awarded on the night, NSW breweries The Hunter Beer Company and Redoak carried off trophies for champion porter and best reduced-alcohol beer, respectively.

Defending grand champion Feral Brewing from WA picked up the champion ale trophy with a beer named The Runt. The only other Australian brewery to win a trophy was Melbourne-based 2 Brothers Brewery with Voodoo, which won the Premier’s trophy for the highest-scoring Victorian beer.

A pair of Sydney craft breweries starred in the draught British-style pale ale category with 4 Pines Brewing Company winning a gold medal for their 4 Pines Extra Special Bitter, and the Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel matching that effort with Victory Bitter.

Over recent years the Lord Nelson has struck gold with nearly all their house brews at the AIBA. “It proves that – after 25 years in this microbrewing game – consistency is achievable,” says veteran Lord Nelson licensee Blair Hayden.

Canberra-based The Wig & Pen Brewery & Tavern came to the fore with three individual gold medals, including one with the provocatively-named The Judges are Old Codgers Russian Imperial Stout. While the Wig & Pen has certain judicial connections with the nearby Canberra law courts, the name of this particular beer was undoubtedly aimed at some of the decidedly mature-aged AIBA judges.

One trophy that wasn’t awarded this year was that allocated for the best gluten-free beer, with the judges deciding that none of the entries was up to trophy-winning standards.

Other notable NSW results included James Squire Sundown Lager winning the sole gold medal awarded in the Australian style lager category, and Byron Bay Blonde achieving a similar result in the low carbohydrate/dry beer section.

The Little Brewing Company, based in Port Macquarie, added to their impressive awards portfolio with a gold medal-winning Wicked Elf Pale Ale and silvers for their Wicked Elf Pilsner, Wicked Elf Witbier, and Mad Abbot Dubbel and Tripel brews.

RESULTS:

CHAMPION SMALL BREWERY & GRAND CHAMPION EXHIBITOR

Nogne O, Norway

NSW GOLD MEDAL WINNERS:

4 Pines Brewing Company

4 Pines Extra Special Bitter

Byron Bay Brewery

Byron Bay Blonde

Hunter Beer Company

Hunter Chocolate Porter – Champion Porter

Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel

Victory Bitter

Malt Shovel Brewery

James Squire Sundown Lager

Redoak

Redoak Bitter – Champion Reduced Alcohol

The Little Brewing Company

Wicked Elf Pale Ale

Wig & Pen Brewery & Tavern

Staggered

Tarty Blonde

The Judges are Old Codgers Russian Imperial Stout