Nelson gears up for beer awards
Beer makers from more than 100 breweries will descend on Nelson this weekend, hoping to scoop one of the industry’s most prestigious prizes.
Some 907 entries have been made to The Brewers Guild of New Zealand Beer Awards, which will be held at the Trafalgar Centre on Saturday.
The awards have mostly been held in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch, since the annual event’s inception in 2007.
Nelson had been chosen to host this year thanks in part to the success of the region’s craft beer industry, executive director of the Brewers Guild, Sabrina Kunz, said.
‘‘We wanted to acknowledge the strong production that we have in some of the regions.’’
Support from the guild’s president, Emma McCashin, from Nelson-based craft beer pioneers, McCashin’s Brewery, didn’t go amiss either, Kunz said.
New categories have been introduced to recognise small, medium and large New Zealand champions, as well as an overall winner.
‘‘Nelson has been a stronghold for craft breweries in New Zealand, so it will be wonderful to see if one of the local brewers could take out one of those awards,’’ Kunz said.
Wellington brewery, Garage Project, won the top prize of Champion Brewer Trophy at last year’s event in Christchurch.
The guild’s annual Conference and Trade Show is due to be held at Annesbrook Auditorium on Friday.
It would feature speakers on issues including ‘‘women in brewing’’ and ‘‘beer tourism’’. She said Nelson offers a real ‘grain to glass’ opportunity, with Kiwi hops based out of Nelson.