A seven year itch has resulted in an award-winning lager for Eagle Bay Brewing Co at this year’s Perth Royal Show Beer Awards.

With seven years of experience behind them, Head Brewer and Co-Founder of Eagle Bay Brewing Co Nick d’Espeissis, said it was time to freshen up the brewery’s core range.

Nick admitted that the idea, albeit a little crazy, was to come up with three additional lager styles and present them, along with the existing Vienna lager, to the public to vote on.

“We wanted to bring this one to the people, because lager is such a people’s beer,” he said.

“It was really great to see beer lovers come out and put their opinion to the vote.”

“Lagers are summer beers that are easy-to-drink and best enjoyed with a bunch of friends.”

“But they’re are not all created equal. We wanted to try a few options that played on different flavours and aromas.”

The resulting beers included a Munich helles lager, a pilsner and a rye-based new world lager. They were served at a variety of local venues that serve Eagle Bay’s beers,including The Firestation, Petition Beer Corner and Mane Liquor Car Park festival.

Of the 1,200 recorded votes, the new world lager took out the number one spot. Brewed with European new world hops. Nick said that he liked the idea of a new world European hop to challenge the more traditional European lager styles.

When Eagle Bay began brewing seven years ago, the core range included a Kolsch, an American Pale Ale, an English Mild, an ESB and the Vienna Lager, as well as a seasonal release.

Depending on the successes of his seasonal releases, Nick has rotated beers in and out of the core range. Having replaced the ESB with a Black IPA and the English Mild with an Amber Ale last year, Nick said that he’d felt a “seven year itch” and thought it time to work on the lager category.

“We wanted to keep our offerings fresh in the public eye, and changing things up everyone now and again is a good thing.”

“I think that lager has always been prominent in the lives of the Australian beer drinker.”

“It’s always nice to give your own personal take on what that Australian beer style could be, or what the people that come to your brewery would like.”

“Lager for me, is a slightly more difficult thing to produce and do it well, but therein lies the challenge as a brewer.”

“It’s always good to challenge yourself,” Nick said.