Queensland's Range Brewing wins Independent Beer Award

Queensland’s Range Brewing has been crowned a champion at the Independent Beer Awards, known as the Indies.

Hosted by the Independent Brewers Association (IBA), the Indies, which are only open to Australian independent breweries, had 32 judges test close to 700 entries across hubs in Brisbane, Perth and Newcastle.

The medium-sized operation in Newstead, Queensland, took out Champion Beer and Champion IPA for its Fahrenheit IPA, along with Champion Small/Medium Brewery and Queensland State Champion.

Range Brewing said in a statement the company was completely humbled by this recognition.

“We want to say a huge thank you to our beer community who have supported us from day one. And a massive thank you to the IBA and all of the sponsors for making these awards happen in what has been a tough year for everyone.”

Other big winners were Queensland’s Moffat Beach Brewing, which took out the Champion Australian Independent Brewery in the BrewPub category, and Victoria’s Dainton Brewery, which was crowned Champion Large Brewery.

IBA Chairman Pete Phillip said on behalf of the IBA Board, he would like send a big shout out to everyone involved, particularly the judges, project group members and hosts.

“They were all doing this for you in their own time, for overall the betterment of the industry. You rock, and we will be forever grateful,” he said.

“It never ceases to amaze me what can happen when this industry rallies. We work together like no other.”

The awards ceremony, which is usually held during BrewCon, was forced to change after the industry event was cancelled.

Michael Capaldo, head of Indies Advisory Group, said while many of the world’s largest beer competitions were sadly cancelled, the IBA decided to decentralise judging for the first time, leaning on the strength of its membership base spread across the country.

“I was particularly impressed with the rise in quality of packaged beer,” he said.

“The first Indies competition held in 2014 was similarly restricted to packaged product only, and I remember that there were so many tired and aged beers. Fast forward to 2020, and the quality of packaged beer has gone through the roof.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Syda Productions