Dunedin breweries - including Emerson's, which consistently takes golds and trophies over there - did not enter. Emerson's says that every time it wins awards in the Australian competition, there is a spike in demand for its beers from across the Tasman that it cannot meet without sacrificing local supply.
Invercargill Brewery's Saison ale, mentioned in the previous column, won silver and Pitch Black won bronze, but Boysenbeery missed out.
DB Breweries secured bronze for Tui Blond. Its Monteith's Single Source won silver and Black, Celtic Red and Great White bronze medals. However, Monteith's Radler and Original missed out.
Of Lion's labels, Steinlager Classic got silver, but Steinlager Pure missed out.
Speight's Porter (silver) Pilsner and Old Dark (bronze) scored medals, but Gold Medal Ale did not.
McCashin's, which started producing from the old Mac's brewery near Nelson last year, entered its trio of Amber (silver), Dark (bronze) and Gold.
Neighbouring little Blenheim brewery, Moa, won seven medals, including a gold.
Ale returning?
DB entered Waitemata Sparkling Ale in the Australian awards and it missed out on a medal. Strange, really, since the beer does not exist.
The ale was DB's first beer in 1930. It started life as a 5% brew, was changed to 4% during World War 2, and ceased production in 1999.
DB recreated the original brew as a Christmas present to corporate clients in 2009 and it was greeted with great enthusiasm.
My generation was brought up on the stuff, so is it making a return? Not any time soon, says DB. Well, that is not a no.
Men only?
Emerson's has released a maltier version of Bird Dog (available in plastic at the brewery).
Alpha Male (5.5%) is still as hoppy as the previous brew, but has more caramel malt (which comes out at garage temperature) to help warm up the end of autumn.
Oreti Red (6%) returns in a couple of weeks with more alcohol and more malt to warm up the start of winter - not forgetting those bitter hops.
Gone
Quart bottles of DB Export have come to an end.
The quarts, which first disappeared about 15 years ago when the 5.35% brew was replaced by Dry, were reintroduced last October to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of Export.
The limited re-release was in two-packs until a couple of months ago, when they were put in crates and available from Liquorland.
New look
Lion Breweries is standardising its Mac's labels with the rest of its beer range, adopting the shield, which began life in the late 1980s on the original Gold.
The shield is the family crest of the McCashin family, which established Mac's brewery then sold the Mac's name to Lion more than a decade ago.
At the same time, Hop Rocker (silver medal in Australia last month) joins Gold (bronze) and Spring Tide in 12-packs.
