Brewing firm snatches clutch of major awards

The Kawerau-based brewery won two gold, three silvers and five bronze awards.

Aotearoa Breweries have come home with a fistful of medals for its Mata beer following the Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards.

The Kawerau-based brewery won two gold, three silvers and five bronze awards at the awards ceremony on Saturday night at SkyCity in Auckland.

Gloria Viitakangas from Aotearoa Breweries said the 10 awards were fitting as the brewery headed towards its 10th birthday next month.

"Our medal haul is pretty good and we are up there among the best of them.

"We actually even won more medals than last year and a lot of people were saying if we can even get two medals that's a result."

She said the brewery was keeping up with Auckland's and Wellington's craft beer makers.

"People think a brewery in Kawerau - they disregard it - but we are producing beers as good as anything else out there."

Overall the firm was pleased with the results, she added.

Rotorua's Croucher Brewing Company came home with three bronze awards.

Paul Croucher said they entered five beers and were left a little disappointed with their haul.

"The two that missed out are our bestselling beers by a long shot. We've not seen the judge's feedback yet.

"In the old days we would have been stoked but now we have fairly high expectations. Mata did terrifically and good on them."

This year there was a big leap in entries from 670 last year to a record 858. Judging was held in Christchurch with 25 judges and five trainee judges assembling for three days to assess each beer on its merits.

A total of 59 gold medals, 159 silver and 243 bronze were awarded.