{"id":28220,"date":"2026-05-21T16:47:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=28220"},"modified":"2026-05-21T16:47:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:47:28","slug":"medals-and-math-nzba-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2026\/05\/21\/medals-and-math-nzba-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Medals & math: a look back at the 2025 New Zealand Beer Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"An<\/a>
Here’s one I prepared earlier…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is very much Awards Season: I was recently at the World Beer Cup, the Australian International Beer Awards crowned new champions last week, and entries are now open for the 2026 New Zealand Beer Awards<\/a>. But I still owe you all my traditional analysis of the 2025 data.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Post-match attention largely focused on the spectacular run by Brave Brewing<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> \u2014 and I think the numbers actually reveal a few more<\/em> reasons to be impressed with them \u2014 but there’s always a lot of weird little wrinkles to shine a light on, and try to learn from. Plus, it’s good context for this year’s competition.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Brewers Guild provide a list of every beer entered into their awards<\/a> \u2014 unlike most competitions, which only publish the winners \u2014 so (as I’ve done since 2017<\/a>) I’ve worked out two measures of each brewery’s performance: medal percentage<\/em> (MPC), simply what fraction of their beers earned any kind of medal; and points per entry<\/em> (PPE), a weighted score which adds 3 for gold, 2 for silver, 1 for bronze, and divides by their total entries. 2025’s competition-wide MPC was 80.3% and the median PPE was 1.25. The table below shows the full standings, sorted by PPE.<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Performance at the 2025 New Zealand Beer Awards<\/h4>\n

N = no. of entries, MPC = medal percentage, PPE = points per entry, T = style trophies, G\/S\/B = medals, \ud83c\udf7a = brewer of Champion beer, \ud83c\udfc6 = Championship winner \u2014 all breweries are from NZ unless noted<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Brewery<\/th>n<\/th>MPC<\/th>PPE<\/th>T<\/th>G<\/th>S<\/th>B<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Brave (\ud83c\udfc6 Small & \"Overall\")<\/td>17<\/td>100<\/td>2.18<\/td>3<\/td>8<\/td>4<\/td>5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Garage Project (\ud83c\udf7a & \ud83c\udfc6 Large)<\/td>27<\/td>100<\/td>2.15<\/td>2<\/td>10<\/td>11<\/td>6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Karamu Barrelworks (\ud83c\udfc6 Micro)<\/td>7<\/td>100<\/td>2.00<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>5<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Volstead<\/td>2<\/td>100<\/td>2.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8 Wired<\/td>5<\/td>80<\/td>2.00<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>2<\/td>0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Beer Baroness<\/td>10<\/td>100<\/td>1.90<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>5<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Abandoned<\/td>8<\/td>100<\/td>1.88<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>3<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shining Peak<\/td>19<\/td>100<\/td>1.84<\/td>1<\/td>4<\/td>8<\/td>7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ghost Brewing<\/td>5<\/td>100<\/td>1.80<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sunshine<\/td>10<\/td>90<\/td>1.80<\/td>0<\/td>3<\/td>3<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Heyday<\/td>9<\/td>100<\/td>1.78<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>5<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Brew Moon<\/td>8<\/td>100<\/td>1.75<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>2<\/td>4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Altitude (\ud83c\udfc6 Medium)<\/td>21<\/td>90.5<\/td>1.71<\/td>2<\/td>5<\/td>7<\/td>7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hop Federation<\/td>13<\/td>84.6<\/td>1.69<\/td>0<\/td>4<\/td>3<\/td>4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Three Boys<\/td>13<\/td>76.9<\/td>1.69<\/td>0<\/td>4<\/td>4<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Good George<\/td>12<\/td>91.7<\/td>1.67<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>5<\/td>4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
McLeod\u2019s<\/td>14<\/td>92.9<\/td>1.64<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>6<\/td>5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mount<\/td>10<\/td>90<\/td>1.60<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>7<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lion<\/td>18<\/td>83.3<\/td>1.56<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>9<\/td>4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Behemoth<\/td>32<\/td>84.4<\/td>1.53<\/td>0<\/td>4<\/td>14<\/td>9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lakeman<\/td>19<\/td>84.2<\/td>1.53<\/td>0<\/td>4<\/td>5<\/td>7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Parrotdog<\/td>19<\/td>84.2<\/td>1.53<\/td>0<\/td>3<\/td>7<\/td>6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wilderness<\/td>4<\/td>100<\/td>1.50<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>0<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fork & Brewer<\/td>8<\/td>100<\/td>1.50<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>4<\/td>4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Canyon<\/td>8<\/td>87.5<\/td>1.50<\/td>1<\/td>1<\/td>3<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Emerson's<\/td>24<\/td>79.2<\/td>1.46<\/td>1<\/td>4<\/td>8<\/td>7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Liberty<\/td>11<\/td>72.7<\/td>1.45<\/td>0<\/td>3<\/td>2<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Island<\/td>5<\/td>100<\/td>1.40<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>0<\/td>4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DB (incl. Tuatara, etc.)<\/td>22<\/td>90.9<\/td>1.36<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>6<\/td>12<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Panhead<\/td>22<\/td>90.9<\/td>1.36<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>10<\/td>10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Renaissance<\/td>3<\/td>100<\/td>1.33<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mountain Goat (Aust.)<\/td>6<\/td>83.3<\/td>1.33<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>3<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sawmill<\/td>11<\/td>81.8<\/td>1.27<\/td>1<\/td>1<\/td>3<\/td>5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Martinborough<\/td>8<\/td>87.5<\/td>1.25<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>3<\/td>4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Isthmus<\/td>4<\/td>75<\/td>1.25<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Eruption<\/td>9<\/td>77.8<\/td>1.22<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>4<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Glenorchy<\/td>5<\/td>80<\/td>1.20<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Black Sands<\/td>6<\/td>83.3<\/td>1.17<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bach<\/td>6<\/td>66.7<\/td>1.17<\/td>1<\/td>1<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Duncan\u2019s<\/td>8<\/td>62.5<\/td>1.13<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Alibi<\/td>9<\/td>66.7<\/td>1.11<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Urbanaut<\/td>10<\/td>80<\/td>1.10<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>3<\/td>5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Emporium<\/td>1<\/td>100<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mad Whale<\/td>1<\/td>100<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Laboratory<\/td>5<\/td>80<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Brew Union<\/td>4<\/td>75<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Twofold<\/td>4<\/td>75<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
b.effect<\/td>7<\/td>71.4<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ChinChiller<\/td>7<\/td>71.4<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Choice Bros.<\/td>7<\/td>71.4<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Asahi (incl. some Aust.)<\/td>12<\/td>66.7<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>4<\/td>4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Colab<\/td>5<\/td>60<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bridge Road (Aust.)<\/td>2<\/td>50<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Brood<\/td>2<\/td>50<\/td>1.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sprig + Fern<\/td>16<\/td>56.3<\/td>0.94<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>4<\/td>4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rhyme & Reason<\/td>7<\/td>57.1<\/td>0.86<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rudi\u2019s<\/td>5<\/td>40<\/td>0.80<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wigram<\/td>7<\/td>57.1<\/td>0.71<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Two Thumb<\/td>12<\/td>33.3<\/td>0.67<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>4<\/td>0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Cargo Collective<\/td>4<\/td>50<\/td>0.50<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
North End<\/td>2<\/td>50<\/td>0.50<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Roosters<\/td>2<\/td>50<\/td>0.50<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thief<\/td>2<\/td>50<\/td>0.50<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DNA<\/td>5<\/td>40<\/td>0.40<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Rudd House<\/td>3<\/td>33.3<\/td>0.33<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shortjaw<\/td>5<\/td>20<\/td>0.20<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Moa<\/td>7<\/td>14.3<\/td>0.14<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gadoochi<\/td>4<\/td>0<\/td>0.00<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n
Definitely not just chance and luck; jury still out on magic<\/h5>\n

The beer at the top of this post is Garage Project’s ‘Chance, Luck & Magic’ which won Champion New Zealand Beer, the sort of ‘Best In Show’ title awarded after a final taste-off among the trophy winners from each style category. In November, it also won a bronze medal at the Brussels Beer Challenge<\/a>, and then a silver at the World Beer Cup this April \u2014 and I already had a photo of it because a different vintage won top honours at the NZBAs back in 2022<\/a>. It’s a nice reminder of how key the Wild Workshop<\/a> is to GP’s success in competitions; it probably accounted for about half of the company’s medals in this round, and both of their style-category trophies.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the only question about a 2021 vintage winning in 2025 is whether they’d rationed enough stock to keep entering it in competitions and<\/em> maintain its status as “commercially available”<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> \u2014 but I did notice occasional events showcasing it and its labelmates. So it’s rare<\/em>, sure, but so is everything from Karamu, the Champion Micro Brewery<\/a>. You evidently have good grounds to grab anything you see from either.<\/p>\n

\/b\u0279\u00e6\u026av<\/span>\/ (adjective) \u2014 making a fine show or display<\/h5>\n
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A unusual beast indeed; a bottled champion IPA (photo from the brewery’s online store<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 2025 competition really did belong to Brave, though. On their way to claiming the “Overall Champion” title, they won trophies in three different style categories: International Pale Ale, (non-hazy) IPA, and ‘Specialty & Experimental’<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> \u2014 all of which were at the more hotly-contested end of the spectrum in terms of entrants and other gold medal winners. One brewery taking home two trophies in a year is actually surprisingly common, but three<\/em> is something else \u2014 not unique<\/em> as the Guild claimed,<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> but very impressive all the same.<\/p>\n

The “Overall” title is \u2014 confusingly, I think \u2014 awarded on a different basis than the other Champion Brewery titles; it’s basically PPE.<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Brave were ahead by a decent amount there: more than 10%, well over an order of magnitude bigger than 8 Wired’s 2023 winning margin<\/a>. And if that award had never been invented and everyone still competed together regardless of size, I think Brave would’ve been Champion NZ Brewery Full Stop, as it were, since some of Garage Project’s gold medal beers were likely made by their contract partner bStudio (themselves Champion Manufacturer of such things) and those aren’t included.<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And while they’ve been ahead of the competition-wide MPC and PPE stats every year I’ve run the numbers, their 8 gold medals in 2025 is only one short of what they took home in the previous seven years combined<\/em>. It really was a stunning achievement.<\/p>\n

The other local Champions, and the absent Australians<\/h5>\n

No one spammed their way to victory in this run of the competition. I’m always on the lookout for that, since beers that don’t medal only<\/em> count against you in the PPE-based “Overall” category and many have brute-forced a title with surprisingly poor performance, statistically speaking. But Brave and Garage Project set a high bar, Karamu were right up there with them, and Altitude aren’t that<\/em> far behind despite falling onto page two of my table.<\/p>\n

The other interesting thing, Championship-wise, is that one award wasn’t<\/em> given out: Champion Australian Brewery. After a minor fiasco (if you ask me)<\/a> with the two “International” entrants in 2023 and then zero<\/em> in 2024, the category was retooled to be Australia-specific<\/a> \u2014 but despite many NZ breweries entering the awards across the Tasman, only three<\/em> (and arguably really just two) took up the reciprocal offer.<\/p>\n

Bridge Road put in two of their non-alc beers, winning one silver. But you must enter at least four beers in three different classes to qualify.<\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Asahi Australia met that<\/em> requirement,<\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span> but none of theirs won a gold, which is the second condition for Champion status here. Mountain Goat (an Asahi subsidiary<\/a>) did slightly better than the competition average MPC and PPE with their six beers, but none earned a gold.<\/p>\n

The Australian trophy category is open again this year<\/a>, but it lacks credibility and prestige when only a handful of entrants contest it. If one Mountain Goat beer had earned a few extra points and struck gold, theirs would’ve been a hollow victory.<\/p>\n

A miscellany of medalists and many who missed<\/h5>\n
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A silver in a contextless competition; a gold in shamelessness (image from their Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Outside of the headline-grabbing trophies, there’s always a lot of interesting details; both good and bad. Since I praised their impressive turn in 2024<\/a>, I should note that Sprig + Fern reverted back to their previously-dismal performance, damn near halving<\/em> their MPC and PPE. Hopefully they’ve had a hard look at what caused the positive outlier and undone whatever decision undermined it. Publicly, they were crowing about a silver at the ‘World Beer Awards’<\/a> \u2014 a competition which told me S+F were the only entrant from New Zealand that year, necessitating a rather large asterisk in addition to the awkwardness of going on about “the greatest of all time”<\/a> winning a WBA silver and an NZBA bronze.<\/p>\n

Two Thumb also really struggled, putting in a dozen beers and having two thirds of them fail to medal. Behemoth look to have been operating in spam mode again, once more submitting the most beers in the competition to land 4th by medals (so likely narrowly missing out on the Medium-tier Championship) but 20th by PPE and 27th by MPC. On the flip side, Beer Baroness, Brew Moon, Heyday and Abandoned all deserved more fanfare for their performances \u2014 the former two did take one style-category trophy home each, but those are also easily overshadowed on the day.<\/p>\n

North End make for an interesting case, too: they’ve gone from putting forward 5 to 10 beers and doing very well in previous years to earning only one bronze from two entries. Personnel must’ve be a key factor, there; their former brewer was also<\/em> an experienced judge \u2014 and knowing which beers to enter in what category is basically as important as brewing them well in the first place.<\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

How many medals is too many..? How few beers is too few..?<\/h5>\n

Overall MPC continues its steady climb, up about four points to 80% and so way<\/em> up on the 52% we first saw in 2017 \u2014 even as total entries equally reliably goes the other way, now at 625 from 695 in 2024 and trending down from a high of 955 in 2019. 16 breweries scored 100 MPC this round, and 7 more were in the 90s. Golds are still rare enough (about 13% overall) and the Guild has tie-breaking rules ready,<\/span>12<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0so MPC creep isn’t really a problem<\/em> \u2014 but I think it vindicates keeping an eye on PPE.<\/p>\n

Looking more closely at the contestation of different styles, you have to wonder if it’s time for another reshuffle when some categories have several times more entries than others. The Guild provides a version of the table below,<\/span>13<\/sup><\/a><\/span> but I’ve added how many breweries submitted for each, plus MPC and ‘GPC’ to show that some classes have wildly<\/em> different gold medal frequencies. Look how poorly on-trend hazies and low-alc beers fared, for example \u2014 though it’d take a\u00a0lot<\/em> more work to figure out if that’s harsher judging of ‘novel’ varieties, or a bandwagon effect lowering quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\t
Category<\/th>Brewers<\/th>Beers<\/th>MPC<\/th>G<\/th>GPC<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Amber\/Dark Lager & Ale<\/td>21<\/td>28<\/td>67.9<\/td>5<\/td>17.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
British & European Ale<\/td>24<\/td>37<\/td>86.5<\/td>5<\/td>13.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fruit & Flavoured<\/td>25<\/td>42<\/td>83.3<\/td>5<\/td>11.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
International Lager<\/td>33<\/td>58<\/td>70.7<\/td>3<\/td>5.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
International Pale Ale<\/td>38<\/td>61<\/td>77<\/td>6<\/td>9.8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
India Pale Ale<\/td>29<\/td>46<\/td>91.3<\/td>9<\/td>19.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Juicy\/Hazy IPA<\/td>24<\/td>34<\/td>76.5<\/td>2<\/td>5.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Juicy\/Hazy Pale Ale<\/td>32<\/td>57<\/td>82.5<\/td>3<\/td>5.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
No, Low & Reduced Alc.<\/td>22<\/td>34<\/td>70.6<\/td>2<\/td>5.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NZ IPA, Pale Ale & Draught<\/td>31<\/td>44<\/td>79.5<\/td>7<\/td>15.9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
NZ Lager & Pils<\/td>35<\/td>61<\/td>82<\/td>14<\/td>23<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Specialty & Experimental<\/td>26<\/td>47<\/td>83<\/td>10<\/td>21.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stout & Porter<\/td>33<\/td>46<\/td>84.8<\/td>8<\/td>17.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wheat & Other Grain<\/td>12<\/td>12<\/td>83.3<\/td>1<\/td>8.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Wood & Barrel Aged<\/td>10<\/td>18<\/td>88.9<\/td>4<\/td>22.2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n
Grand Total<\/th>68<\/th>625<\/th>80.3<\/th>84<\/th>13.4<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tfoot>\n<\/table>\n\n
An unsustainable award, and its nebulous new replacements<\/h5>\n
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Ask me what I think the ‘B’ should really stand for, some time (image from their homepage<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, turning to 2025’s anciliary awards, Sawmill won in the Brewing Sustainability category \u2014 as they had done every year since it was introduced in 2019.<\/span>14<\/sup><\/a><\/span> It was always unclear whether this award was intended to recognise efforts undertaken in the relevant year or if everything a brewery had ever done, cumulatively, could count each time. I asked Sawmill and they said they’d “love to give [me] more information…” but they never did.<\/span>15<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Back when we had a Beer Media award (2012-2022, rip<\/span>), it was strictly for work published in the past calendar year \u2014 and even then, there was a practice where the winner would sit on the judging panel in the following year, absenting themselves.<\/p>\n

So if Sawmill didn’t have the decency step aside, the Guild should’ve adjusted their criteria to enable and encourage some turnover and highlight other good work going on. Instead, I noticed that the rules for 2025 were changed to make fully half of a submission’s points dependent on the project’s ‘cost savings or improved returns.’<\/span>16<\/sup><\/a><\/span> This brought in brute economic language that was previously absent and gave the whole thing an unfortunate ‘green-washing’ feel.<\/span>17<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0No one ever demanded that the Champion Barrel-Aged beer be “economically viable” \u2014 we just wanted it to be good<\/em>. A brewery should still be applauded for something that costs them real money but secures a tangible environmental benefit or avoids a serious harm.<\/p>\n

Anyway, that category is now gone. So is the Beer Tourism one, and the old Morton Coutts<\/a> Trophy for Innovation. The Industry Awards are now Packaging (as in design, which has been around since 2021), Community, People, and Future.\u00a0The three new ones are fleshed out with a paragraph each and then a page with more guidance and the judging criteria (see p23-28 of the 2026 Entry Guide<\/a>), and you can see how previous trophy concepts can be re-homed in one or another, with room to spare.<\/p>\n

But they’re all still a little vague \u2014 and maybe that’s an opportunity. Anyone can nominate for them, so with a little paperwork (and $60, an unfortunate barrier, but maybe a necessary one in the age of sloptext generators) you and me and the rest of us can help shape these various new hats by choosing what names we throw in them.<\/p>\n

Submissions are open until 10 June. So go ponder that while I turn my attention to the recent AIBAs in Melbourne, and then work on a different kind of debrief from the World Beer Cup in Philadelphia.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is very much Awards Season: I was recently at the World Beer Cup, the Australian International Beer Awards crowned new champions last week, and entries are now open for the 2026 New Zealand Beer Awards. But I still owe you all my traditional analysis of the 2025 data. Post-match attention largely focused on the … Continue reading Medals & math: a look back at the 2025 New Zealand Beer Awards<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beer-awards"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24014,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2025\/05\/09\/keg-bottle-can\/","url_meta":{"origin":28220,"position":0},"title":"Keg \ud835\udc63 Bottle & Can \u2014 a natural experiment at the AIBAs","author":"Phil","date":"May 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm going to try and convince you that this an interesting graph. It charts the relative performance, at last year's Australian International Beer Awards, of all the beers that were entered twice; once in keg, and again packaged. This year's judging is currently underway in Melbourne, so the process is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Beer awards"","block_context":{"text":"Beer awards","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/beer-awards\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/KBC-histogram-wide-annotated.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/KBC-histogram-wide-annotated.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/KBC-histogram-wide-annotated.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/KBC-histogram-wide-annotated.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/KBC-histogram-wide-annotated.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19805,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2018\/09\/25\/medals-and-math-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":28220,"position":1},"title":"Medals and math II \u2014 the numbers behind this year’s beer awards","author":"Phil","date":"September 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Last weekend gave us a fresh round of #BGONZAs \u2014 the Brewers' Guild of New Zealand Awards.\u00a0Continuing the new practice they started last year, the Guild has provided us not just with a list of who\u00a0won what, but a full accounting of who\u00a0tried to. So, like I did last time,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Beer awards"","block_context":{"text":"Beer awards","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/beer-awards\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Neon signage at the ParrotDog bar, Lyall Bay","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/ParrotDog-Nice.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/ParrotDog-Nice.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/ParrotDog-Nice.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/ParrotDog-Nice.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/ParrotDog-Nice.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20244,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2022\/07\/21\/medals-and-math-iii\/","url_meta":{"origin":28220,"position":2},"title":"Medals and math III \u2014 a bonanza of BGONZAs","author":"Phil","date":"July 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It's beer awards night back home in New Zealand. 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Beer awards, again. (And belatedly, again.) The announcement that entries were open for the 2024 Brewers Guild of NZ Awards, together with the fact I was at the presentation dinner for the Australian competition last week, plus the chance to drink a bunch more New Zealand beer than usual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Beer awards"","block_context":{"text":"Beer awards","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/beer-awards\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A bottle of 8 Wired's 'Wild Feijoa' on the bench out the front of my house","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/8-Wired-Wild-Feijoa-on-the-bench.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/8-Wired-Wild-Feijoa-on-the-bench.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/8-Wired-Wild-Feijoa-on-the-bench.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/8-Wired-Wild-Feijoa-on-the-bench.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/8-Wired-Wild-Feijoa-on-the-bench.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":20383,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2023\/07\/19\/fixation-local-consistent\/","url_meta":{"origin":28220,"position":5},"title":"Fixation: not really Melbourne’s, and not particularly consistent","author":"Phil","date":"July 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Melbourne's Own Consistently Excellent Beer, the billboard read, provided you walked back and forward a bit or at least leaned side to side, since it'd been stuck up on a surface that was too tightly curved. I'd seen variations on that poster campaign before, but now it made me mad;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Observations"","block_context":{"text":"Observations","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/reports\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fixation Brewing billboard on a bollard at the University of Melbourne, which reads 'Melbourne's Own Consistently Excellent Beer'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fixation-billboll-or-bollboard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fixation-billboll-or-bollboard.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fixation-billboll-or-bollboard.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fixation-billboll-or-bollboard.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fixation-billboll-or-bollboard.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Fixation-billboll-or-bollboard.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28220"}],"version-history":[{"count":205,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30119,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28220\/revisions\/30119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}