Silver Lining in Awards Week

It’s been a big week for Tuatara. Tuatara APA was launched at Malthouse and is now available there while stocks last. Head brewer Carl Vasta introduced the beer to a big crowd who certainly seemed to enjoy it. Carl said he had been looking to make an American Pale Ale for several years and was very pleased with the way it turned out.

Last week, a number of the Tuatara team spent several enjoyable days in Melbourne attending the Australian International Beer Awards and the Beer and Brewer Expo. Although Melbournians proclaimed the temperature to be “freezing” and visitors from the Northern Territory would not step outside, the weather was actually very pleasant – certainly far, far nicer than it was in Wellington. The team took the opportunity to try some new beers from across the ditch and around the world.

The big event was the Australian International Beer Awards which received 1170 entries from 243 breweries across 34 countries. There were beers from Norway to New Zealand, Myammar to Mexico. Norway did very well - Mexico less so. Tuatara was delighted to be part of a strong New Zealand contingent in the medals at the Awards.

All six regular Tuatara beers were entered and four of them won Silver medals. Our medals were:

Class 1C Pilsner	Tuatara Pilsner	Silver
Class 3D IPA	Tuatara IPA	Silver
Class 5 Porter	Tuatara Porter	Silver
Class 11D German- Style Hefeweizen	Tuatara Hefe	Silver

It was particularly pleasing to see our Pilsner ranked just behind Trumer Pils. Trumer is one of the most famous names in Pilsners and is pretty much the international benchmark for this style.

The rest of the team were back home representing Tuatara at the 2010 Wellington Gold Awards where we were one of the five finalists in the Emerging Business category. It was a flash event and packed with the best in Wellington business. We were delighted just to be short-listed and want to extend our congratulations to Yellow Brick Road which won the category this year for their funky sustainable seafood business.

There is no shame finishing behind such a cool little company. Of course, we would always be happy to receive a consolation seafood hamper from them – perhaps some nice snapper or cod…. Overall, the supreme Wellington Gold Award this year went to skincare company Trilogy. Congratulations to them and all the other finalists.

Cheers from the team at Tuatara

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