The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW has announced the recipients of its inaugural Sydney Royal Distilled Spirit Show, and the Sydney Royal Beer & Cider Show, held in conjunction on 17 September.
Distilled Spirit Show
Fourteen champions were crowned as trophy winners, with a notable representation from winners across regional Australia, with gins from Lord Howe Island, Yamba and the Central Coast all taking home champion prizes while the Central Coast was also named the home of single malt whisky.
Sydney Royal Chair of Judges, Stuart Gregor, said the inaugural Distilled Spirits Show was a great success, with the competition receiving more than 270 entries and delivering a varied range of winners, with a strong emphasis on regional NSW.
“If you had told me that a rum from Canberra and a gin from Yamba would be category champions, I might have raised some eyebrows, but both are absolute belters, world class examples of their respective styles and worthy gold medal winners in any competition in the world,” said Gregor.
Taking the top award was St Agnes Distillery, which won the inaugural Best Distilled Spirit of Show thanks to the St Agnes XO Grand Reserve, with the 40-year-old brandy earning 98 points out of 100.
“The highest pointed entrant in the entire show was the St Agnes XO Grand Reserve 40-year-old brandy and quite honestly nothing really came close. The final aggregated score for it was 98/100 and to be perfectly truthful I’m a bit surprised it didn’t end up as 99 or 100,” said Gregor.
“This is a truly incredible brandy, as good, and frankly probably better than many of the most expensive and prestigious French Cognacs. It has an almost impossibly rich and unctuous palate and length that seems to go forever. Sure, it's expensive ($1000 a bottle or thereabouts) but if drinking the greatest spirits in the world is your thing, then you simply MUST taste this St Agnes.”
Across the competition 14 per cent of entries received a gold medal, followed by 32.6 per cent claiming silver and 41.7 per cent bronze. This resulted in 88 per cent of all entries receiving a medal, indicating that despite the challenges the industry is currently facing, the quality of Australian distillers has never been better.
The Central Coast’s Amber Lane Distillery is a perfect example of this, with the relatively young distillery taking home Champion Single Malt Whisky with its Alchemical Series: Water and putting the Central Coast on the map.
“The winner of the whisky class was a brilliant effort from Amber Lane Distillery. Its Alchemical Series: Water was a really strong winner and continues a run of wins for this Central Coast based distillery. An outstanding whisky from a producer who will very soon surely be much better known,” Gregor said.
For the coffee lovers out there the inaugural Champion Ready to Drink went to Curatif’s Espresso Martini, which impressed the judges with its complex flavours while Champion Liqueur went to The Canberra Distillery for its Coffee Liqueur. The Canberra Distillery also struck gold with the Old George Reserve Rum winning The Chair of Judges Annual Prize.
In the competition’s highest entered category ‘gin’, three standouts stole the show and that was Yamba Distilling Co which won Champion Traditional Gin thanks to its Duke - Dry Gin, the Central Coast’s Pants off Distillery which claimed Champion Contemporary Gin with its Pants Off Antz Pants Gin and Lord Howe Island Distilling Co which took home Champion Other Gin courtesy of its Wolfe Rock Gin.
Putting Australian agave spirits in the spotlight thanks to its one-of-a-kind creations, Top Shelf International has not only led the way for the variety in Australia but can now add Champion Alternative Spirit to their accolades with Act of Treason Reposado taking the top prize.
“Australia is now growing a few thousand hectares of Agave, the succulent that makes the famous Tequila and Mezcal spirits of Mexico and our inaugural winner, the Act of Treason – reposado (meaning rested in barrel for several months) was as good an example as most highly regarded commercial Tequilas. The agave for this is grown near Airlie Beach in Northern Queensland and is a product to watch for sure,” said Gregor.
Also recognised was Manly Spirits Co’s Grape & Grain Vodka which won Champion Vodka and Champion NSW Distilled Spirit, Fleurieu Distillery’s Country to Coast #5 which was crowned Champion Grain or Blend Whisky and Lord Byron Distillery’s Pure Single Rum – Ex Red Wine. 2023 release Cask #8 which scored Champion Cane Spirit or Rum.
Beer & Cider show
Esker Beer Co’s Esker Citrus Gose took home the Champion Beer or Cider trophy at the 2024 Sydney Royal Beer & Cider Show, a competition that has been celebrating Australian brews for almost a decade.
Amongst the 206 exhibits entered from across the country, the Esker Citrus Gose was a standout, claiming not only best beer but two additional trophies for Best NSW Beer or Cider and Champion Fruit or Sour, while Esker Beer Co also took home Champion Indian Pale Ale with its Esker West Coast IPA.
In total, 11 champion trophies were awarded, including the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW’s first Champion Reduced or No Alcohol Beer or Cider which was won by Hiatus Beers for its Non-Alcoholic Pacific Ale.
Sydney Royal Beer & Cider Show Chair of Judges, Ian Kingham, said he was very impressed with the quality of entries this year and congratulated all entrants on a fantastic show.
“This year’s competition has shown us that despite such a difficult time for the Australian beer industry our brewers are still producing world-class products and are doing so from all areas of the country,” Kingham said.
“From regional areas like Bathurst and Geelong to city hubs in Sydney and Melbourne, the quality of beers and ciders being entered is phenomenal, and that is reflected not only in the champion winners announced tonight but also in the high percentage of medals awarded across the competition.
“I was particularly impressed with Esker Beer Co. Following a rebrand and redirection in 2022, the Hills Shire brewery has not only won four champions and a plethora of gold and silver medals, but they have taken home the top award with the Esker Citrus Gose really impressing our judges.
“Another huge standout this year was the cider category. For me, it was the strongest it has ever been, and the four ciders presented for the championship trophy are all world-class ciders that should be recognised for that level of excellence.”
This year’s Champion Cider went to Flying Brick Cider Co for the Flying Brick Cider Co MC Cider while Philter Brewing won Champion Pale Ale with its XPA, and Champion Lager went to White Bay Brewery for the Czech Pilsner.
On the dark side, it was Reckless Brewing Co which claimed Champion Amber or Dark Ale with the BX Old and Champion Experimental or Specialty Beer with the Baltic Porter, while 4 Pines Brewing Company struck gold with its 4 Pines Nitro Stout winning Champion Porter or Stout.
“This year we introduced nine new champion trophies and prizes to help better reflect industry trends in Australia and I think what has come out of that is a very deserving range of champion winners who are producing quality products that can be enjoyed by a wide demographic,” Kingham said.
“I encourage consumers to have a look at the results, try some of the champion winners but also explore our gold, silver and bronze medal winners, as I have no doubt there is a beer or cider for everyone to enjoy.”
Overall, the 2024 Sydney Royal Beer & Cider Show results demonstrate a high proportion of gold medals presented with an 18 per cent strike rate while 83 per cent of exhibitors scored a gold, silver, or bronze medal.
Designed to provide Australian brewers with an opportunity to benchmark their products and receive invaluable independent feedback, the 2024 competition welcomed 20 judges from across the Australian beer and cider industry to use their expertise to identify this year’s winners.
“The team of judges we had on board this year was fantastic. We were lucky enough to welcome experts ranging from brewers and industry media to sensory teams and technical industry professionals, who come from both large and independent breweries, to ensure we were providing the best possible feedback to exhibitors,” said Kingham.
To view all 2024 Sydney Royal Beer & Cider Show Champions and all 2024 Sydney Royal Distilled Spirit Show Champion results or medal winners, visit rasnsw.com.au.
