2017 Prizes
Thanks to the great support of NZ's commercial brewers for their homebrew cousins this year's grand prizes are:
Champion brewer (highest accumulated points) will brew their beer with Brewaucracy in Hamilton for commercial release.
Champion beer (single highest scoring beer) will brew the winner with Hallertau in Riverhead also for commercial release.
2015 Prizes
Thanks to our amazing sponsors we have the following prizes up for grabs this year:
Champion Brewer: An Introduction to the World of Commercial Brewing which includes having one of the winners champion beers commercially brewed and released nationwide thanks to BeerNZ.
Champion Ale: brew your Champion Ale at Hallertau Brewery.
2014 Prizes
Thanks again to our Gold sponsor BeerNZ our Champion Brewer Karl Safi was able to brew his Rye IPA (Single Hop American IPA) at 4 Avenues in Christchurch. Watch out for a nationwide launch in August/September both on tap and in bottles.
John Golics got to brew with our other amazing Gold sponsor, Hallertau brewery, to release the champion beer of the competition, and The Dog's Golics has been well-received around the country. The kegs have long disappeared but you should be able to find yourselves a bottle (or two).
2013 Prizes
Thanks to BeerNZ our Champion Brewer Matt Smith (not, I understand, a time traveling Gallifreyan) has launched himself with an American Brown Ale. It's gone nationwide with a hiss and a roar, and is selling well as I write this in September 2014.
Barbara Joppa got to brew with the ever-excellent Hallertau brewery to release the champion beer of the competition, and Joppa Stout was a sellout success!
Kerry Gray showed his ghoulish nature and ran off with the Yeastie Boys award for most creative entry. His beer? Well, I'll let Kerry tell you: 'This is a finely balanced Porter with a rich taste from a "blood soup" made with liver, blood sausage, fava beans and spices cooked in chianti wine from Tuscany'. Never attempt a door to door survey with that man...
2012 Prizes
Thanks to our extremely generous sponsors, we had many prizes to give away in 2012!
Here's how it happened:
Champion Brewer
Thanks to Farra Engineering we can once again offer a beautiful 30L stainless conical fermenter to the brewer who scores the most points. In a change to previous years, we are looking to reward consistency, so while medal winning beers will accrue points toward this total, faulted beers will lose points. Non-medal beers which only have very subtle faults will score no points. The best brewers are the most consistent brewers!
Winner: Brendan Bransgrove
Champion Beer
Our good friends at Hallertau Brewbar have again generously offered to brew a commercial batch of the judges pick for Champion Beer. This will, as always, be the highest scoring beer in any category, with judges deciding in the event of a tie. At least one previous winner of this award has gone on to commercial success after taking this one out!
Winner: Richard Deeble with 'Deeble's Pale Ale' a 0E - New Zealand Pale Ale
Eclectic Excellence
With category 23 (Specialty Beer) shaping up to be huge this year, we have teamed up with Brewers Coop to offer an award to the most creative beer brewed. Of course, creativity is one thing, but the beer has to be something you'd also want to drink several pints of! The beer which hits the mark the best for the judges will win a grab-bag of assorted malts and hops from our friends at Brewers Coop.
Winner: Darrell Hart with 'Vintage Porter' a 23A - Specialty Beer (20% ABV fortified porter with 2 year old homemade oak-aged Brandy)
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
Liberty Brewing have long championed homebrewing creativity, and are offering a $100 credit for brewing supplies for the best in class American IPA.
Winner: Brendan Bransgrove with 'Constant Dillerium' a 14B - American IPA
Battle of Britain
The English styles (Category 8) have often proven challenging in the NHC. They are about subtlety, balance, and drinkability. To reward skill in this restrained category, we've partnered with our good friends at Cryer Malt to offer two sacks of Bairds Maris Otter malt to the brewer of the best Standard/Ordinary Bitter (8A), and a sack each to the winners of Special/Best/Premium Bitter (8B) and Extra Special/Strong Bitter (8C).
Winner: Hamish Ward and Matt Littlejohn with 'Ordinary Bitter' an 8A - Standard/Ordinary Bitter
As there were no medalling beers in categories 8B or 8C, the organisers have decided to award the entire prize a single winner
Brew Strong
For best in class of Category 19 (Strong Ales) we are pleased to be able to offer a $250 credit at Brewshop.co.nz.
Winner: Duncan Goldsmith with 'RJG Barley Wine' a 19B English Barleywine
Kiwi As Bro (part one)
For the best malt influenced beer in any of the New Zealand styles (category 0), Gladfield Malt are offering four sacks of malt - two of lager malt and two of ale malt.
Winner: Adam Barnes with 'Bankot Brown' a 0H - NZ Brown Ale
Kiwi As Bro (part two)
For the best hop influenced beer in any of the New Zealand styles (category 0) NZ Hops are offering a great big box of assorted hops!
Winner: Richard Deeble with 'Deeble's Pale Ale' a 0E - New Zealand Pale Ale
Eurovision
For the judges choice of best Eurpean style beer (Belgian, French, German, Czech, etc.) Hauraki Brewing are offering a box of 6 European brew kits, featuring unique German and Belgian brews.
Winner: Tony Faulkner with 'Vespers' an 18B - Belgian Dubbel
Apple for Teacher
Black Rock have generously offered a case of cider kits to the best Cider or Perry (category 27 or 28). We also have a couple of Black Rock polo shirts to give away to the runner up.
Winner: Tom Mitchell with 'Cracking Pear' a 28B - Fruit Cider
Yeastie Boys Wildcard - Prize for Innovation
The Yeastie Boys came to the party and wanted to give an out-there beer recognition, by offering the winner a box of beer.
Winner: Andrew Henshaw with 'Smoked Snapper Porter' a 23A - Specialty Beer