Bay brews prove consistently excellent

Hawke's Bay Brewing Company brewers toasting their success - Mathew Smiles (left), Keegan Forest, Howard Parkinson, Stu Russell, Geoff Edwards and Basil Diack. Photo / Paul Taylor

For Hawke's Bay Brewing Company operations manager and chief brewer Geoff Edwards the name of the game in creating a fine drop is consistency.

It is an approach that clearly works - as after picking up seven awards at last year's Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards the Meeanee-based brewery has bagged seven again for 2015.

"We're very pleased with that as it shows the consistencies of the beers," Mr Edwards said, adding several of this year's gold, silver and bronze winners had scored similar results in the 2014 competition. "So they are not one-hit wonders."

The Auckland-based event was another good one for the Bay's brewing industry with Hastings-based Brave Brewing Company, driven by Matt and Gemma Smith, picking up four medals.

In the Pale Ale class they took a silver for their Extra Pale Ale and a bronze for the New Zealand Pale Ale.

They also bagged a silver in the Wheat and Other Grain category with their Pacific Wheat Ale, and a bronze in the US Ale class with their American Brown Ale.

The Fat Monk Brewing Company picking up a silver medal for its Fat Monk India Red Ale in the US Ale class and Zeelandt Brewery emerged with a bronze medal for its Schwarzbier in the International Lager class.

For the Hawke's Bay Brewing Company, which is celebrating 20 years of operation, two of the seven awards came from the cider classes with the Kingston Original bagging a silver and the Calabash taking a bronze.

Paynters Cider of Hastings also tasted success in that class with a bronze for the 2014 Pilgrims Dry.

For Hawke's Bay Brewing Company founder and director Basil Diack the results were "very satisfying".

He said as the event was all angled around the skills of individual brewers he sent their five brewers up and he stayed at home.

"It was their day," he said.

"It's a brewer's day and you know, they talk different to you and I - you can't get a word in when they all start talking about brewing." The brewery was awarded gold for its Pure Lager and a silver for the Classic Ale in the New Zealand Lager class, and took two silvers in the International Lager class with its Pilsner and Black Duck Porter.

Its Summer Ale Special Reserve bagged a bronze in the Flavoured and Aged category.

Mr Edwards said it was important to ensure the brews possessed consistency, so consumers who took a shine to a particular variety could be confident the flavours would continue to be there as they remembered them.

"We don't play around with them too much."

He said the five-strong brewing crew - comprising himself, Howie Parkinson, Mat Smiles, Stu Russell and Keegan Forrest - were a good mix of "experienced old hands and younger hands".

"Everyone has a real passion for the product and it's been good to see the young guys get infected with that."

Mr Edwards said one of his roles was the tasting process.

"Oh it's a dirty job but someone has to do it," he laughed.

It was however a task which had to be carried out at all stages of the brewing process so it wasn't quite all milk and honey.

Mr Diack said the challenge was now to aim for the 2016 event "and do it all again".

-The New Zealand Brewers' Guild is a membership-based organisation set up to expand the value and quality of the country's $2.2 billion beer industry and acts as a collective voice for more than 80 commercial brewers.