The 4th Australian Beer Awards held over the weekend made for a highlight of Good Food Month, and led to some serious beer tasting at the historic Australian Hotel with over 60 liquid ambers in competition for the prestigious awards.

A total of nine trophies were presented, with Matilda Bay Brewing Company’s Redback Original Wheat winning best Australian beer and best Australian wheat beer, while their Alpha Pale Ale took out best Australian ale.

Boutique label Snowy Mountains Brewery edged out a host of premium specialty beers to take out the Best Australian Specialty Beer Award for 2008.

“It is quite an achievement for what we are trying our best to do,” commented Snowy Mountains Brewer Kevin O’Neill, “making great beers with character using only quality and natural ingredients.”

“It is a great recognition for our Red Ale to be voted Australia’s Best Specialty Beer especially with all those other strong contenders in the field.”

Snowy Mountains Brewery is the brain-child of ski passionate beer lover Kevin O’Neill who started the alpine inspired label in 2004 after a skiing trip to the famous destination. Realising they were missing a local brew, Kevin took it upon himself to remedy the fact.

The Snowy range includes the Razorback Red Ale and last year’s winner, the Crackenback Pale Ale, the Bullocks Pilsner and Charlotte’s ‘Hefeweizen’, named after early mountaineering pioneer Charlotte Adams, a who was the first woman to climb Mt Kosciuszko in 1881.

The Australian Beer Awards are highly regarded as an Australian brewing industry benchmark recognising the growing craft, premium and boutique beer market as more and more beer lovers prefer to choose quality over quantity when it comes to a ‘cold one’ or two.

Other award winners at the prestigious event included:

Best Australian Lager – Fusion Brewing’s Bluebottle beer

Best Australian Pilsner – Brewers Pilsner

Best Australian Dark Beer – Black and Tan

Best Australian Amber – Redoak Special Strong Bitter

Best Australian Stout/Porter – Nail Stout

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