Canterbury beer stoutly beats out Guinness

A family-owned brewing company from Christchurch has beaten out international heavyweights such as Guinness to win world’s best stout and porter.

Cassels Brewing Co. already knew its milk stout had won its category in the prestigious World Beer Awards.

On Thursday night, owner Alasdair Cassels found out the beer was judged ahead of six other winners to take out the world’s best stout and porter accolade.

It was an emotional win, he said. ‘‘It’s a dream come true.‘‘Winning the award made me smile. Knocking Guinness made me smile.’’

More than 3500 beers from over 50 countries were entered in this year’s awards. Judges blind tasted and scored the entries across three rounds of judging. The final round was held in London, where over 200 international brewers, industry experts and journalists tasted and judged the winners.

Cassels Brewing Co. executive brewer Simon Bretherton woke up to multiple voicemails yesterday informing him of the win. It had yet to sink in, he said. The brewing company, based in Woolston, had been refining the milk stout since it first started brewing the beer after the Canterbury earthquakes.

The beer was made from New Zealand hops, and lactose, a form of sugar from milk that gave it its sweetness.

The win was a credit to the sixstrong brewing team, Bretherton said, and would help provide exposure and sales.

‘‘Before this award it was 18 per cent of our turnover. But I’m expecting it’ll probably be 30 per cent of our turnover before too long,’’ Cassels said.

The Cassels brewery produced up to a million litres of beer a year. In the milk stout category, it was up against a brewing company from the United States that produced 500 million litres of beer, Bretherton said.

Companies such as Guinness wouldn’t be aware of the Woolston brewing company, Cassels said. Now, perhaps, they might be.

‘‘It might put Woolston on the map,’’ he said.