Stone & Wood Brewing, well known for their flagship Pacific Ale, have produced another winner, with their Big Pale Ale taking out the title of Champion Australian Beer at the Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA). Big Pale Ale also took out the Best Australian Pale Ale category.
Big Pale Ale is the second instalment of Stone & Wood’s All-Australian Hops series.
This limited-edition Australian pale ale showcases the best of local ingredients, featuring a blend of Aussie Eclipse and Vic Secret hops, according to the brewers. With a low malt profile, the beer delivers light tropical notes of mandarin and pineapple, creating a full-flavoured and well-balanced brew, they say.
‘Winning Champion Australian Beer is an incredible honour for our team,’ said Caolan Vaughan, Head Brewer at Stone & Wood. ‘Big Pale Ale embodies the fantastic produce our Australian farmers grow every year, and we’re so proud to showcase the hops grown by our lifelong partners in Hops Products Australia (HPA), who provided us with the hops that make this beer so special.’
None of our beers are possible without our local community and their support so we’d like to thank them, as well as our customers who helped get this beer out into the world. It’s an even more exceptional honour as the beers we were up against are from world-class breweries, and Aussie drinkers are so fortunate to have so many great craft breweries on their doorstep. There’s never been a better time to go and support Australian craft beer,’ he said.
Bangalow’s small independent brewery, Common People Brewing Co also performed well at the big awards, with five of their locally-produced beers being awarded medals in their categories – more details on that next week.
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