The three Australian medal winners at the World Beer Cup, announced last week, are this week celebrating their wins.

Malt Shovel Head Brewer Haydon Morgan celebrates the World Beer Cup Gold Medal

Bentspoke Brewing Company, which won Bronze in the Double Red category for its Red Nut IPA, saw its founders Richard Watkins and Tracey Margrain in Nashville to pick up their awards.

An obviously excited Richard was ‘Absolutely stoked’ with the award.

“It’s a massive competition and the quality of beer is exceptional,” he said.

“And to think we are in the top three is a real big pat on the back.”

With a very high number of Australian entries and only three medals, Richard acknowledge it showed how hard it is to win a medal.

“It’s a really high level of beer, so it’s amazing to win.”

Lion-owned James Squire continued a run of top gongs, winning the only Australian Gold Medal, for Jack of Spades in the Brown Porter Category.

The Malt Shovel has previously won Gold in the English-style Summer Ale class (The Swindler, 2016 and Pilsener, 2008).

Haydon Morgan, Head Brewer at Malt Shovel, revelled in the result, recognising its creator.

“This porter recipe was originally created almost 20 years ago by Robert Freshwater and has not changed to this day. Great effort by our Brewers to brew a great beer,” he said.

“To be named the best porter at the World Beer Cup Awards demonstrates what an exceptional team of brewers we have here in Camperdown.

“We not only introduce a range of limited edition releases throughout the year, but we also consistently brew our favourites that are loved by beer drinkers right across the country and now – around the world.”

The final medallist, Western Australia’s Nail Brewing, acknowledged the value of awards such as this in a tough business.

“Winning awards gives me confidence and you need confidence in such a tough industry when you have your house and my family’s house as security for the business,” he said.

“Winning a medal at the World Beer Cup is a dream and an honour.

“I was watching the awards live online and was pumped seeing Nail listed as the silver medal winner for best international pale ale – Australian pale ale. 122 beers were entered in the style, so to win 2nd place was a great honour.

“Breweries were entered from 66 different countries.”

During the competition, which was the largest to date spanning three days, an elite panel of 295 judges from 33 countries judged beers during six sessions, with 72 per cent of entries coming from outside of the United States.

The World Beer Cup is different from many brewing competitions in that only one Gold, Silver and Bronze medal is awarded in each category.