Emerson’s Brewing Company won a trophy in the Amber/Dark Lager & Ale category along with four gold, eight silver and seven bronze medals.
The trophy-winning beer, the “D.C.B.C” (Dunedin City Breweries Collaboration) 7.2% Black IPA, was a collaboration between eight separate Dunedin breweries — Arc Brewing Co., Noisy Brewing Co., Black Rock, BS Brewing Co., DogStar Brew Lab, Cell Division and Rudd House Brewing, with Emerson’s taking the lead.
Emerson’s sales and marketing manager Greg Menzies said the result was “really special” and highlighted Dunedin’s brewing credentials.
“It’s a fantastic place to brew, fantastic place to live … we’re kind of spoilt for good beer.
“Dunedin is not a well-known craft brewery destination but the people that we have here are very, very talented.
“It’s good to put ourselves on the map at the bottom of the South Island.”
The recipe for the collaborative brew was conceived by the eight breweries after they met up at Emerson’s second annual Locals Day earlier this year, and officially launched at Arc Brewing Co. in April.
It contained the best of both worlds — a dark roast flavour combined with a “nice hop punch” from the IPA style of brewing, Mr Menzies said.
Collaborations on brews happened quite regularly, but often not with as many as eight breweries.
“All the brewers are pretty much mates, so it’s not a hard thing to do.
“There’s not a lot of rivalry between the breweries — we all have our own place in the world.
“It was good to get everybody together and put together the brew, and it just so happened to turn out to be a very, very nice beer.”
Queenstown’s Altitude Brewing won the Champion New Zealand Medium Brewery award, as well as trophies in the NZ Lager & NZ Pilsner and Juicy/Hazy IPA categories.
It also took home a total of five gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals.
Other medal recipients from Otago included Canyon Brewing, b.effect Brewing Co., Glenorchy Brew Co., Rhyme x Reason Brewery, Rudd House Brewing and The Cargo Collective.
