Australia’s Bentspoke Brewing Co is celebrating a trophy win at the world’s most historic international beer and cider competition – The International Brewing & Cider Awards – known as the beer industry’s Oscars.

The awards were announced at prestigious ceremony held at the Guildhall, London crowned 13 trophy winners – ten beers and three ciders – from 115 medal winners around the world in their respective categories.

Beers and ciders from four different continents were awarded accolade – and for the first time in the Awards’ 138-year history, two trophy winners were awarded in The International Smallpack Ale competition. Australian Bentspoke Brewing Co. with its Barley Griffin and United States’ Samuel Adams Wicked Hazy, brewed by the Boston Beer Company, each earned the highest recognition for their outstanding contributions in the category.

Bentspoke Barley Griffin is a mild cloudy Australian pale ale with soft fruity aromas and light biscuity malt.

BentSpoke is the only brewery in the world to win the trophy for the second time. 

The Canberra craft brewer two Gold medals in addition to the trophy:

• Barley Griffin (Canberra Pale Ale) – Gold Award Winner, Class 1, Smallpack Ale Competition.
• FreeWheeler (Non-Alc IPA) – Gold Award Winner, Class 2, Ultra Low Alcohol Competition.
• Championship trophy for small pack ale Barley Griffin.

Bentspoke Brewer Richard Watkins (above) said: “Winning gold medals is a great accolade but to win the championship trophy for the second time amongst such an esteemed number of breweries world wide is amazing result for our brewery. 

“The likes of Sierra Nevada, Firestone Walker, Deschutes and Round Corner Brewing etc are all world class breweries and now BentSpoke has its name on the trophy for the second time (winning in 2019 and now 2024). This incredible result is justification for dedication of our team to make world class beers on a consistent level. Areally awesome result!”

In the UK, the only brewery with a Royal warrant to the castle, Windsor & Eton Brewery won The International Keg Lager trophy with its Capital Dry Hopped Lager, London’s Forest Road Brewing Company received The International Cask Conditioned Ale trophy with WORK, and Melton-based Round Corner Brewing Ltd scooped The International Keg Ale trophy for their Drovers Hazy Session IPA.

Asia scooped four trophies including Japan’s Kirin Holdings Company for its KIRIN ICHIBAN, and Isekado Brewery with its NAMA-KADO Smoked Oyster Stout. Tokyo-based Spring Valley Brewery was awarded The Speciality Beer trophy for the second time in a row and China’s Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd won The International Strong Beer award with Tsingtao Legend.

In The International Non & Low Alcohol competition Spain’s S.A. Damm was awarded a trophy for its Free Damm.

In the cider awards, Cotswold Cider Company won The International Innovative Cider trophy for its Phantom of the Orchard, while USA triumphed in The International Classic Cider Competition with Portland Cider Company taking home the trophy for its Original Gold. Stonewell Cider from Ireland picked up The International Flavoured Cider trophy with Rós.

A three-day judging process to decide the winners took place in March 2024 at Depot Mayfield in Manchester, UK and comprised 38 working professionals in the brewing and cidermaking industries from across the globe, led by Chair of Beer Judging, Rob McCaig and Chair of Cider Judging, Gabe Cook. The judges were chosen to reflect the current expertise in the tasting and commercial evaluation of beers and ciders going into the market.  

The 115 gold, silver and bronze medal winners were also in attendance to collect their awards at the luncheon.

International Brewing & Cider Awards Director Ruth Evans MBE said: “It’s been such an honour to continue to recognise the extraordinary beers and ciders across the world and celebrate all their achievements as they collected their awards at our ceremony this week.

“This year we received an unprecedented level of high-quality beers and ciders, making it one of the toughest competitions to judge to date – and resulted in two brewers receiving the highest recognition in our Smallpack Ale competition.

“We’re thrilled to be able to continue to provide a platform to reward the best beers and ciders with the credit they so truly deserve. Awards like these are so important in raising a company’s profile and help their beers and ciders stand out from the crowd.

“This year we’ve crowned winners from all over the world including Australia, China, Japan, Spain, Ireland, US and the UK and we’d like to congratulate each brewer and cidermaker who received recognition at this year’s International Brewing & Cider Awards for their continued efforts pushing the boundaries within the brewing and cidermaking industry.”

The competition, which dates back to 1886, has a long history of championing the world’s best brewers and cider-makers, and its unique approach to the judging process sets it apart from other awards, earning it the reputation as the ‘Oscars’ of the brewing and cider world.   

A full list of all 2024 medal and trophy winners can be found on The International Brewing & Cider Awards’ website: www.brewingawards.org   

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