Beerfest might not be only about the beer these days. There's the music, the food, and don't forget that mate who corners a stranger to explain hop varieties for twenty minutes.
But at the heart of it all is beer and when our brewing friends get honoured properly, we're going to make a noise about it.
This year's NZ Beer Awards put more than 650 beers from 70 breweries in front of the judges, and the South Island came away pretty pleased with itself.
Emerson's went and did the thing!
Six gold. Five silver. Five bronze.
Then, just to be thorough, they picked up Champion New Zealand Beer for Pride of the Plains and Champion NZ Large Brewery.
At a certain point you stop calling it a good night and start calling it a hostile takeover. We'd feel sorry for everyone else, except we're far too busy feeling smug on behalf of an entire island.
The rest of Te Waipounamu didn't exactly sit quietly...
Three Boys Brewery (Christchurch) walked away with 2 gold, 8 silver and 1 bronze. Eleven medals, a spot near the top of the leaderboard, and the kind of consistency that suggests somebody down there knows precisely what they're doing.
Sprig + Fern (Nelson) was a trophy winner in the Fruit & Flavoured category for Norty Porter. Naughty by name, and clearly naughty enough in the glass to convince a room full of judges. No notes.
Canyon Brewing (Queenstown) got a Gold Medal in Heat Four NZ IPA. Big mountains, big hops. Checks out.
b.effect Brewing Co was looking pretty and took out the packaging award, proving that you can judge a beer by its cover, at least occasionally.
So, cheers to everyone who medalled, and to everyone who entered and didn't: the South Island is drinking very well right now, and we're grateful for it.
Raise one to the winners. Then raise another, purely for research purposes.
See you at Beerfest.
