Two Oamaru breweries have shown their class on the world stage, having been awarded gold, silver and bronze medals at the prestigious Australian International Beer Awards in Melbourne this week.
Scotts Brewing Co won gold in the packaging category for its Nineteen 05 ale six-pack, and its B10 porter and oak whisky barrel-soaked Tar Pot Mary received silver and bronze medals respectively.
After just one year in business, Oamaru's Craftwork Brewery was awarded two silver medals, for its Saison Anise and Spelt Grisette ale.
The Australian International Beer Awards is the largest annual competition of its kind in the world, and both draught and packaged beer are judged.
This year's competition attracted more than 1700 entries from 35 countries, including 203 entries from 33 New Zealand breweries.
Scotts Brewing Co owner Phil Scott said winning gold, silver and bronze against so many competitors was encouraging.
''We're totally stoked with it ... It makes us feel like we're on the right track.''
Craftwork Brewery was started by Michael O'Brien and Lee-Ann Scotti in March last year.
They did not expect to win a medal in their first professional competition.
While they were ''very pleased'' to be awarded two silver medals, they would not go into overdrive, continuing to brew small idiosyncratic batches of Belgian-inspired ales, without compromise, Mr O'Brien said.
''We want to stay true to ourselves ... [and brew] the beer we like and that we think is good,'' Mr O'Brien said.
