Auckland brewery wins prestigious awards

Galbraith's Alehouse on Eden Terrace. Photo / Galbraith's

Auckland's Galbraith's are the only brewery in the world to win two gold medals at the 2017 International Brewing Awards held in England.

The awards, held annually since 1888, are often referred to as "The Oscars of the Brewing Industry" and cover nine categories of beer in 34 classes.

For each class, only one gold, silver, and bronze medal is awarded after tasting by a panel of 45 judges from 21 countries.

Galbraith's were awarded a gold medal in the Lager Class for their Bohemian Pilsner, and a gold in the Strong Dark Beer Class for their Rurik Stout.

Galbraith's were the only brewery from New Zealand to win a gold medal for their beer, and the only brewery in the world to receive two gold medals in competition.

"This is huge for us and for New Zealand craft beer in general. To be acknowledged by a group of your peers that your ale and lager is of world standard is the peak of my 40-year career," said founder Keith Galbraith.

"At Galbraith's we make beers for ourselves first and foremost and ask customers to share our vision. We do not produce beer to "fit" into the categories that many beer competitions impose on entries. We find this limiting as most beers begin to taste the same given the tight parameters. The beers that performed so well in this competition have been thrown out of other comps because they didn't conform. We embrace nonconformity as it lets us express ourselves in the best possible way," he said.

The 2017 competition was held in Burton-on-Trent last week.