It’s that time of year again; it’s time for my Golden Pint Awards. If you’re new to the concept; it was a beer blogging movement started in the UK – where they challenged people to critically assess their best beer moments of the year. Basically it’s a celebration of best beers had during the year by people who know the most about beer, or at least think they do!
This is amazingly, the eleventh consecutive year I’ve done this now and, like I say every year, it’s getting harder rather than easier! After the ridiculousness that was last year, I’ve made a concerted effort to get this post up before February but just failed. We are finally getting this up as a composite piece, so if you want to hear some of our deliberating/thought process listen to the podcast before reading further. If you can’t be bothered/don’t want to hear me and Dylan talk about beer for over 2 hours please continue reading below.
Show Notes
Best Beer Media (2:30)
Best Label Art (4:20)
Worst Beer (6:46)
Biggest Disappointment (6:20)
Best Non-Alcoholic Beer (10:07)
Best Australian Bottled Beer (12:12)
Best Australian Canned Beer (14:22)
Best International Bottled Beer (16:06)
Best International Canned Beer (18:54)
Best New Brewery (23:48)
Best International Brewery (25:58)
Best Australian Brewery (29:39)
- Top 40 Breweries in no particular order
- Hemingways
- Fixation
- Love Shack
- La Sirene
- Sobremesa
- Mountain Culture
- Boatrocker
- Banks
- Hawkers
- Bracket
- Deeds
- Fox Friday
- Kaiju
- Hop Nation
- Good Land
- White Bay
- Uraidla
- Slow Lane
- CoConspirators
- Two Rupees
- Range
- Molly Rose
- King River
- Bowden
- The Mill
- Philter
- Shapeshifter
- Pirate Life
- Stomping Ground
- Little Bang
- Hobart
- Grifter
- Bentspoke
- One Mile
- Two Metre Tall
- Wildflower
- Dollar Bill
- Bright
- Dainton
- 3 Ravens
- Top 10 (1:50:35)
- Hop Nation
- La Sirene
- Two Rupees
- Slow Lane
- Boatrocker
- Range
- Deeds
- Mountain Culture
- Banks
- Little Bang
I certainly made the most of being allowed back out of the house in 2022! I visited every state & territory, with the exception of WA & even made it to Thailand for Beer O’Clock’s first overseas conference. This is reflected in the Golden Pints for 2022 – hope you enjoy.
Best Australian Draught Beer – Frenchies DDH Czech Pilsner (18:12) When I visited Sydney in October for a wedding, I certainly didn’t expect to come across my Australian Draught Beer of the Year! Least alone from Frenchies! I’d never been blown away by their beers, but the grassiness and clean ferment on the Double Dry Hopped Pilsner really was stunning! Especially when paired with their beautiful food – another surprise! Dylan Thirsty Crow Vanilla Milk Stout
Best Australian Bottled Beer – Boatrocker Ramjet (2019) (21:22) It’s safe to say that Boatrocker Ramjet is one of the best beers in the country. This is news to no one reading this post. The one thing that is tricky with them is when to drink them? I’m not a huge fan of Ramjet fresh, although 2022 was spectacular from the off. I cracked a 2019 this year, which may have been the most well rounded Ramjet I’ve ever had. It’s superb! Dylan Site Fermentation Project Pear
Best Australian Canned Beer – Bracket More Toppings (24:00) I know Dylan & I aren’t always the kindest towards Hazy IPA’s – saying they all blend into one etc. etc. However this offering from Bracket was different, it had all those tropical/fruit characteristics that you’d expect, but it was demonstrably better than most – probably because it had almost every hop under the sun in it! Dylan Boatrocker Nordjet
Best Cask Beer – Two Metre Tall Spelt Ale I’m starting to think that it’s time to kill off the Cask Beer category. Once again we had a grand total of 1 entry this year; Two Metre Tall Spelt Ale. At least it was a beer worthy of taking out a Golden Pint Award! I had it at Tom McHugo’s in Hobart, which may have my favourite approach to food of any pub in Australia. Dylan: None
Best Overseas Draught Beer – Devanom Mozilla (27:33) I was really hoping our Thailand trip would turn up a local beer worthy of taking out a Golden Pint & boy did it! Sitting in ankle deep water on a flooded Koh Kret at Chit Beer & seeing the grandfather of Thai beer, Chit Saiklao, turn up on a boat with a keg – little did I think that would be the Golden Pint winner. But it was! Kegged that morning, the Devanom Mozilla IPA was tasting dangerously good – seriously dank with loads of fruit. It was everything you’d hope from a Mosaic single hop IPA. Dylan Aecht Schlenkerla Krausen .
Best Overseas Bottled Beer – Puhaste Sanctum Cocos (30:56) An Imperial Stout bottle share is exactly where I thought I’d find a Golden Pint winner. Two of us actually brought this beer, and it’s a good thing we did as it was the standout beer in a day of standout beers. Puhaste is probably the less well known of the two major Estonian Imperial Stout producers – but their beers are consistently brilliant. It was luxuriously thick, with decadent chocolate, coconut and rum barrel flavours. The fact that Dylan & I have both selected this beer is a testament to it’s quality. Dylan: Puhaste Sanctum Cocos
Best Overseas Canned Beer – Garage Project Mojave Green (34:01) It was always going to be a Garage Project beer wasn’t it! Mojave Green is a California IPA – a subset that I think will be really big in 2023! It was a delicious, crisp IPA with loads of grapefruit & plenty of dankness. There’s fresh stock of this around at the moment if you’re keen to check it out! Dylan: The Bruery Goses Are Red (2019)
Best Collaboration Beer – Working Title X Mountain Culture The Golden Rule – Long term readers would be well aware of my love of the most polarising beer style; Black IPA. This was an Imperial version clocking in at 8% ABV. I thought they nailed this; the hops dominated with loads of pine resin and citrus, while the malt notes of chocolate & roast were in the background. Dylan: Range X Burnley Festbier
Best Branding – The Brewing Project Thailand I thought their branding was really cool – their cans/bottles really stand out on the shelves. The drawings you can see above on a white background are striking. Shout out also due to Kura Kura from Bali, who we had the pleasure of interviewing in Bangkok – there stuff looks really nice & clean. Dylan: Freshwater
Best Label Art – Bottle Logic Lagerithm (4:20) I loved this can artwork – I described it horribly on the podcast as I foreshadowed I would. The fact that the beer wrapped inside this label was a Dark Lager can’t have hurt it’s chances. Dylan: Aether Early Grey Creme Brulee
Best Australian Brewery – Hop Nation (46:37) Like any winner of this award; what a year! The breadth of styles they not only produced, but nailed this year was second to none. From Smoked Doppelbock to Hazy IPA via a diverse range of Non-Alcoholic offerings – it was a spectacular year from the Footscray brewers.
Top 10 Finishing Order (1:50:35)
- Hop Nation
- Slow Lane
- Deeds
- Boatrocker
- Mountain Culture
- Banks
- La Sirene
- Range
- Two Rupees
- Little Bang
Best Overseas Brewery – Devanom (41:55) With the year we had for Beer O’Clock I think it would be disingenuous to not name a Thai brewer as Overseas Brewery of the Year. Their Mozilla IPA took out Overseas Draught Beer of the year, I was impressed with every beer I had from them across a wide variety of styles. The owners are also lovely people & hosts, which has no bearing on the award but is a nice addition. Dylan: Devanom
Best New Brewery Opening 2022 – Port Phillip (37:52) It was a tricky year for new breweries. This was partly my fault as I didn’t get to many of the new ones that opened late in the year, but was also hurt my some market uncertainty leading to less openings. I was really impressed with the offerings from Port Phillip Brewing, a new brewery based in Somerville on the Mornington Peninsula. The Pale Ale is clearly Sierra Nevada inspired & is very impressive. Interestingly they do not have a tap room, which is an interesting model in this day & age. They are one to keep an eye on. Dylan: Lora
Pub/Bar of the Year – Tom McHugo’s I’d heard great things about Tom McHugo’s before heading to Hobart & the Tassie pub didn’t disappoint! The menu changes on a daily basis depending on the availability of seasonal, sustainable local produce. The tap list again focuses on small producers, most of whom are local and focus on minimal intervention. It’s a seriously pleasant place to have a drink and a meal. It’s such a shame it isn’t my local! Dylan: Carwyn
Beer Festival of the Year – Blobfish With Good Beer Week being cancelled in 2022 it left room for a new festival to take out the Golden Pint. Blobfish, Melbourne’s sour beer festival, was the one that stood up. It’s such a good festival, which brings together all of the country’s best sour/mixed fermentation brewers. It really brings out the best part of the craft beer community and is a wonderful afternoon. Dylan: Blobfish
Independent Retailer of the Year – Otter’s Promise I don’t think you can find many better bottle shops than Otter’s Promise. Dan & his team are really knowledgeable about the products they stock and are always up for a chat. Bonus points for their excellent delivery range and how quickly they get new releases up on their website! Dylan: Carnegie Cellars
Online Retailer of the Year – Schmooze We’re evolving this award slightly to allow Brewery Subscription services as well, now in our post-pandemic world where this is more the norm. With this said, I’m still giving my award to the excellent Schmooze – the subscription arm of Carwyn Cellars. They never miss with the two packs I get; The One & Hop Quest. Dylan: Slow Lane
Best Beer Media – Larsblog (2:30) Both Dylan & I shouted out the usual suspects; Crafty Pint, Brews News etc. & selected the excellent Norwegian writer/blogger Lars Marius Garshol. At least we picked different articles! I selected a piece about Stjørdalsøl (link) whilst Dylan chose The Early History of Hops (link). Dylan Lars Marius Garshol
Worst Beer – BrewDog Punk IPA (6:45) Our field of 4 was strong (if that is the right way to describe it – you get what I mean in any case). The Punk IPA we had leaving the Thai Craft Beer Festival was one of the worst beers I’ve ever had. Normally I would ignore obviously faulty beers, but BrewDog bring these things upon themselves. In addition I think it will be funny to look back on this down the track & see a beer I (normally) love as Worst Beer of the year. Dylan Blackman’s
Biggest Disappointment – La Sirene Uncertain Future (11:44) At the time of recording La Sirene were currently locked out of their brewery and tap room due to an asbestos finding. I’m pleased to say this is temporarily resolved & they are back in the building – although the future does remain uncertain, as they have been issued an eviction notice from their third party landlord & unless they can agree new terms with the Council they will be looking for a new home from April. Dylan: James Watt/BrewDog Bullshit
Best Non-Alcoholic Beer – Bach All Day IPA (15:40) Anything that knocks off Heaps Normal must be good. This is particularly good. The hop character is excellent, there’s enough malt so that the mouthfeel isn’t thin. I don’t think if you had this in the middle of a session, that you’d even notice it was a Non-Alcoholic Beer – and there isn’t a more glowing endorsement than that! Dylan: Molly Rose Sour Sublime
Sorry it’s taken so long to get this up – life has been a little hectic. Hopefully we’ll be back to normal programming (or maybe this is now normal programming…) soon!
Remember it’s always Beer O’Clock somewhere in the world!
