Renaissance Brewing successfully defends title

Renaissance Brewing successfully defends Champion Small International Brewery at the Australian International Beer Awards

Marlborough based craft brewers, Renaissance Brewing, are celebrating another massive win at the 2014 Australian International Beer Awards after they successfully defended their title of Champion International Small Brewery. The back to back win means that Renaissance are the first ever brewery to retain the title, and they are still holders of the grand slam of being AIBA and NZ Beer Awards champions at the same time.

Renaissance was founded in 2006 by Brian Thiel and Andy Deuchars in the old Grove Mill building, which is the oldest commercial premise in Blenheim.

Head Brewer, Andy Deuchars, was in Melbourne to accept the awards last night, of the win he said:

“Everything, apart from one beer, we entered picked up a medal. I am very pleased with how consistent the beers are and how they stack up in the face of some fierce competition from some icons of the brewing world. The judging is very stringent, they don’t give out medals in boxes of cornflakes.”

The AIBA’s are the 2nd largest beer competition in the world and this year they received a record 1,560 entries from more than 294 brewers in 31 countries.

Renaissance are shortly going to raise capital through crowdfunding platform Snowball Effect and CEO, Brian Thiel, says that this award is perfect for continuing the brewery’s export focus. Thiel, who was also in Melbourne said:

“Last week we got a load of business cards printed with our awards on the back, looks like we will need to recycle those and do a reprint! Winning the AIBA award last year provided considerable interest in our beers overseas and we are just starting to see exports take off. In the last year we have appointed partners in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan and we are very close to agreements with a number of European partners. Back to back success is just fantastic and a great testament to Andy and the team. We might not be the hippest of brands, or wear skinny jeans, but what’s in the bottle is delivering results.”

As well as a strong domestic presence in New Zealand and the new export markets it has established, Renaissance also exports to Australia, the United States and Canada. More details on the awards can be found athttp://www.rasv.com.au/Events/AIBA_Home/.

ENDS

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