Pukehina brewery wins best in class trophy at NZ Beer Awards

Roman Grimard and Ian O'Malley. Photo / Supplied

A Pukehina brewer has won a Best in Class trophy at this year's national Beer Awards but with a beer "a lot of people probably wouldn't like".

Lumberjack Brewery's Saison beer "From the Woods" won the overall trophy in the Barrel Aged category at the Brewer's Guild of New Zealand awards.

The brewery's owner, Ian O'Malley, said the win still felt "surreal".

O'Malley said it was the first time he had entered the awards since starting the brewery in 2017, so he was "pretty stoked" to win.

"We are a super small team ... so to receive, I suppose, recognition for this kind of thing is amazing, just to reinforce what we are doing is good."

O'Malley and his business partner Brett Vincent started the business as the next step in their beer entrepreneurship.

O'Malley had previously started the Beer Necessities store in Tauranga, where Vincent was a customer. O'Malley still runs the business online.

But O'Malley said the award-winning beer was not for the faint of heart.

"A lot of people probably wouldn't like it, to be honest - it's a little bit sour. I'd say it's along a kind of farmhouse-style."

The brew contains coriander seed, ginger, hops and lemon peel among other ingredients.

"It is a more funky beer, but it is still a nice clean funk.

"With some of the sours and things you get on the market, they're kind of strip-the-enamel-off-your-teeth kind of sour. This one's not; it's a lot more of a delicate sourness to it. It's quite refined - it's lovely."

He said the refined nature of the brew made him "even more stoked about the award, because it's such a highly regarded category", and he "still can't believe" his beer won.

He said the win was especially "amazing" given how "extremely difficult" the past two years had been for his business.

"People I talk to just have no idea how incredibly difficult times have been over the past few years for anyone in hospitality or that supports or relies on hospitality.

"Everyone is relying a lot more on their hyper-local market ... it is amazing, we've got a really supportive local community around us that's kept us going, which we're really grateful for."

He said the award had already proven great exposure for the business.

"I had lots of messages from people saying, 'congratulations on the award - I have no idea who you guys are, I wanna come and try your beer.'

"A lot of smaller New Zealand breweries won this year, which is super cool."

Lumberjack also took home bronze awards in the International Lager and Juicy/Hazy categories, and a silver award in the Stout & Porter category.

Hospitality NZ regional manager Melissa Renwick. Photo / Supplied

Hospitality NZ's regional manager, Melissa Renwick, said awards like this were important for recognising the work that goes into creating local products and services.

Renwick said awards can have a significant economic benefit for a business and such recognition can really help to introduce others to their brand.

The effect can have a "wider halo impact" on the district with people visiting the town to try the winning beer as well as spin-off effects for other businesses, she said.

The awards particularly help small businesses to give people the trust to try their products.

"For a small business, that trust is often the largest barrier to obtaining new customers.

"To place a value on that is near impossible, if a business can maximise it then it can be significant."

Renwick said awards can also be especially helpful in the current difficult time for hospitality.

"When we have a limited number of customers available to us due to relying on domestic travellers, bringing people into small towns attracted by such awards and/or hearing of places for the first time can really help out.

"I am so excited for the Lumberjack team and hope that they can maximise this award to fully fulfil their potential."