The first annual Sydney Beer Week (SBW) Awards were held at the Union Hotel in Newtown last week, celebrating the people and breweries behind Sydney’s beer scene.
The awards were the culmination of a successful week of festivities, with breweries and venues around the city playing host to a variety of events – including a huge Opening Gala at the Maritime Museum, tap takeovers and beer tasting dinners.
Presenting the awards, SBW General Manager Liam Pereira said he was “really amazed” by the number of votes that were tallied.
“Unlike previous years we put a form out to the public to vote, and all but the Sydney Beer Week Legend award was publicly voted for,” Pereira explained.
In front of their brewing peers, the following people and breweries were the deserving recipients of the 2017 SBW Awards:
- Best New Sydney Brewery Awarded by Beer Cartel – Wildflower Brewing and Blending
- Brewery/ Venue Community Engagement Award Awarded by Brewmanity – Wayward Brewing Co
- Best Sydney Beer Bar/ Pub Awarded by Clipp – Bitter Phew
- Best Brewery Cellar Door Awarded by Kegstar – Wayward Brewing Co
- Best Sydney Sales Rep Awarded by Bintani – Jarrod Partington, Mornington Peninsula Brewery
- Best Sydney Beer Awarded by MMM – Akasha Brewing Company, Korben D Double IPA
- Best Beer Personality (Online/Social Media) Awarded by Craft Beer Quarterly – Tim Hodge, Sydney Beer
- Best Beer Personality Awarded by CUB – Pat McInerney, Willie The Boatman
- Sydney Beer Week Legend Award Awarded by Sahm/Jm Style – Mick Bain, Royal Albert Hotel
Wildflower Brewing and Blending’s Topher Boehm, the overwhelming winner of the Best New Sydney Brewery award, was delighted with the win.
“Thanks to everyone here, thanks to the industry for growing to the stage where it is now to support something so niche like what we’re doing at Wildflower – for us to be existing at all in Sydney is a tribute to everyone’s work out here, so thank you,” Boehm said.
Sydney Beer Week extended its reach further around Sydney for 2017, with events in the eastern suburbs and western Sydney; another major change was dropping the ‘craft’ out of the name in order to make the festival more accessible.
“Today’s not only an awards, it’s a chance for some of the industry to get together and tell some war stories,” said Pereira. “We’ve got some pretty f*cking sick plans for next year and it’s going to be bigger and better, so cheers guys.”
“I also just wanted thank our sponsors who help put today and this week together – without them we couldn’t have done what we did.”