The Royal Queensland Awards Beer Competition took place at the Brisbane Showgrounds this week, with local brewers and brews winning over the judges.
Slipstream Brewing Company in Yeerongpilly won the Grand Champion Beer and The Star Entertainment Group Best Queensland Beer titles for the first time with their Classic Saison, along with a $5000 Lion bursary.
Saison is a traditional beer originating in Belgium and Northern France and Judge Steve Henderson said it was rare to see this style of beer come out on top.
“Saison requires a delicate approach from the brewer to balance the spicy phenolics with the fruity esters and a nice dry finish, so to win Grand Champion with this style is phenomenal and shows just how skilled the Slipstream team is,” Henderson said.
“It’s such a wonderful style of beer that’s really underrepresented in the Australian beer market.”
This year the awards introduced a champion trophy for the best Ginger Beer, and Aether Brewing from Northgate in Brisbane was another local brew to come out on top.
Henderson said: “Ginger is a quintessential Australian agricultural ingredient and the fact we have a local Brisbane craft brewery producing a world-class ginger beer is fantastic.”
The local success continued with Felons Brewing Co’s Ben Malt named the Emerging Queensland Brewer, with the win giving Malt the opportunity to have his beers sold at The Star Brisbane.
The year’s awards saw more than 530 entries from 67 Australian Breweries judged over two days by a panel of almost 50 industry experts.
Henderson said the quality of the entries had continued to improve year on year.
“This is the first commercial beer competition of the calendar year and brewing a good beer for the Royal Queensland Awards really sets those breweries who won a medal up for success for the rest of the year,” he said.
“The beers have been phenomenal and the variety of styles being entered in the competition continues to grow.
“The standard of judging is incredibly high and every single entrant in this competition, whether they have taken home a medal or not, will receive valuable feedback to help refine their beers, which strengthens the industry as a whole.”
The Royal Queensland Beer Awards celebrate and promote the country’s top brewers, providing a platform for industry recognition and product benchmarking.
Below are the 2025 trophy winners. The full results catalogue is now available here.
TROPHY WINNERS
- CHAMPION PALE ALE SUPPORTED BY YAKIMA CHIEF HOPS
Passenger Pale Ale – Moffat Beach Brewing Co - CHAMPION AMBER DARK ALE
Scooter American Red Ale – Slipstream Brewing Company - CHAMPION PORTER-STOUT
Glenness – No Eye Deer Brewing - CHAMPION HYBRID BEER SUPPORTED BY SHOOBRIDGE TRANSPORT
Wilderness – Hiker Brewing Co - CHAMPION LAGER SUPPORTED BY BARRET BURSTON
Wanderlust – Hiker Brewing Co - CHAMPION INDIA PALE ALE SUPPORTED BY KEGSTAR
IPA – Felons Brewing Co - CHAMPION EUROPEAN-STYLE ALE
Classic Saison – Slipstream Brewing Company - CHAMPION SESSION BEER
- EP Crisp – Beer Garden Brewery
- CHAMPION STRONG BEER
Imperial St Peege – White Lies Brewing Company - CHAMPION MIXED CULTURE BEER
- Raspberry Sour – White Lies Brewing Company
- CHAMPION GINGER BEER SUPPORTED BY BUDERIM GINGER
- Ginger Beerd – Aether Brewing
- CHAMPION BEST NEW BREWERY
- Carbon 6 Brewing
- THE STAR BRISBANE EMERGING QUEENSLAND BREWER
- Ben Malt – Felons Brewing Co.
- THE STAR BRISBANE BEST QUEENSLAND BEER
Classic Saison – Slipstream Brewing Company - CRYER MALT CHAMPION LARGE BREWERY
- Stomping Ground Brewing Co
- HPA CHAMPION SMALL/MEDIUM BREWERY
- Slipstream Brewing Company
- CHAMPION BREWPUB
White Lies Brewing Company - BEST ARTISTIC BEER LABEL
- Biere De Garde – King River Brewing Co
- BEST CONTRACT BREWER
- 27 South Brewing
- GRAND CHAMPION BEER – Australia’s best beer
Classic Saison – Slipstream Brewing Company