The annual Australian Independent Beer Awards (also known as the ‘Indie Beer Awards’) is Australia’s largest independent beer competition, offering brewers the opportunity to benchmark their beers while recognizing excellence in the brewing industry.
For the second year in a row, due to the effects of the flu pandemic, this year’s event was held as a virtual ceremony, broadcast from a studio in Melbourne. Many official parties were held across the country, and a bunch of breweries came to their nearest party venue to make the night special.
On Thursday night, November 25, a detachment of dark hops descended on the Brisbane party venue to brew beer with ease at Woolloom Garba.
The jury evaluated over a thousand beers and we knew that getting a gong on the night would not be easy. So, at the end of a raucous evening, we were motivated to leave with a record 24 medals for dark hops.
Our two gold medal beers that night were Ichibaan (a Koji Gose created by our brewing legend Toshi) and Pink Mist (a barrel-aged raspberry Saison, also a three-time AIBA gold medalist). Both of these beers are favorites of our customers and staff,
and we are very proud that they are recognized as exceptional in the industry. It’s a huge cheer for our entire production team for their tireless efforts in making the best beers possible.
Voting for the 100 hottest craft beers of 2021, the country’s largest “People’s Choice” craft beer poll, is now open. Thousands of beers celebrate from across Australia are vying for the chance to take their place in the pantheon of the most popular local craft beers.
Last year, we had seven beers in the top 100 and G.O.A.T. Hazy IPA debuted at #5, our best ever!
For an independent brewery like us, without a big marketing budget, getting on this list has a long way to go. This year, with your help,
we’re looking forward to taking things to the next level again. We’d love to get G.O.A.T. even higher on the list and a record number of BH beers on the list, so please vote for your five favorite craft beers.
If our AWOL Pink Mist hits your celebrate sweet spot this year, please consider voting it for one of your five ballots – the barrel-aged beer hasn’t been available in five years, so we’re hoping to break the drought.
We divided the beer into two categories, bulk (cans) and packaged (kegs), and judged them separately. The following is a breakdown celebrate of the results of our awards.
Class I (Draught)
Powder Mist (airflow)
Powder Mist (Packaged)
Silver Medal
East Coast Mist (airflow)
Send (draft)
Rest day (draft)
Rest day (packing)
Jump swap (packaged)
Super Hornet (draught)
Round barrel fermentation Gose (raw)
Bronze
East Coast Smoke (packing)
Send (packing)
Altbier (draught)
Altbier (packed)
Burning fig gumbo (raw)
First class (packing)
Ichiban (draught)
Japanese rice wine (raw)
G.O.A.T. (draught)
G.O.A.T. (packing)
Leap Point Exchange (draught)
Bumblebee (draught)
Bumblebee (packaging)
Super Bumblebee (packaging)
Not only was it a big night for us, but it was also a celebrate major validation for the entire independent brewing fraternity. A few of the night’s big winners included.
Moffat Beach Brewing Co. who beat celebrate out the champion small to medium sized independent brewery
Stomp Ground Brewery, who won the championship over the large independent brewery
Blasta Brewing Co, whose Blastaweizen beer won the independent beer championship.
We were also excited to see new locals Maddox and Constituency Brewing from the Gold Coast take home the gold medal.