THE SWAN Valley's Feral Brewery as maintained its reputation for brewing excellence by taking out the most prestigious prize at this year’s Australian International Beer Awards.
Feral beat a competitive field of brewers from the Asia Pacific region to be crowned Champion Large Australian Brewery, winning the coveted award for the highest scoring Australian exhibitor for the second time in four years.
No strangers to success, the awards just keep piling up behind the bar of this Swan Valley microbrewery.
The AIBA also named Feral’s Hop Hog Best International Pale Ale for the fifth year running.
Last month, Hop Hog was named Australia’s best beer in Critics Choice: Australia’s Best Beer, it made the top three in 2011’s Australia’s Hottest Beer list and holds the Beer and Brewer magazine award for “Best Australian Beer”.
Celebrating the brewery’s 10th anniversary this October, Head Brewer Brendan Varis said the award marked an excellent start to their anniversary celebrations and was testament to how far they had come over the past decade.
“It is such a huge honour to receive this award for the second time and also to be recognised internationally for our work, especially this year,” Brendan said.
Over recent years the AIBA global reputation has been reinforced by the inclusion of some of the world’s most esteemed judges both locally and internationally.
It is the pre-eminent showcase for premium beer and brewing excellence in the Asia Pacific region, with 1352 entries received this year, 692 of those from international brewers.
In assessing the beers, judges searched for the perfect combination of appearance, aroma, flavour and body.
“We have a lot of respect for the beers that we brew and having just returned from judging many of my colleagues' products at the World Beer Cup in San Diego, it is a very humbling experience to receive this award from my peers,” Brendan said.
The recognition is perfect timing for Feral, which will open a new brewing facility next month that will take their production capacity from 400,000 litres to 2.5 million litres each year.
“It is quite fitting that after a decade of hard work, we are expanding to meet our consumers’ demand with our range of highly awarded products. We hope that winning this award will encourage more people to enjoy the unique experience of our hand crafted range of beers," he said.