The other pride of the south
This year's NZ Beer Awards were a trip down memory lane and a celebration of great brews, old and new, says Michael Donaldson...
The 20th edition of the New Zealand Beer Awards turned out to be one for the ages, with a tribute to a 30-year-old brew winning the title of Champion Beer.
The awards, run by the Brewers Guild of New Zealand, took place in Dunedin in August in recognition of the fact that Richard Emerson, founder of Dunedin-based Emerson's Brewing, was the man who signed the paperwork needed to bring the Brewers Guild to life.
And if these awards were written as a movie, there'd be soaring music as we built to a climax that saw Emerson's named Champion Large Brewery and its Pride Of The Plains Pilsner crowned Champion Beer.
Tears? There would have been plenty of those too as Emerson's won Gold medals for two beers bearing the names of Richard's late parents, George and Ingrid – Taieri George and Ingrid Weizenbock – the latter of which went on to win a Trophy in the Wheat & Other Grains style category.
And all this from a blind judging – there's no sentimentality in beer awards! Emerson's just had all the right beers in the right place at the right time.
“The rebrew of Pride Of The Plains was created as a one-off and as such Riwaka was used liberally to create a unique, punchy beer.”
Pride Of The Plains was re-brewed in 2025 as a tribute to the brewery's original Pilsner, which bore the label “Pride of the Plains” because it was an all-organic beer brewed with Canterbury-grown organic barley and organic Riwaka hops. As a beer, it launched an entire style category: New Zealand Pilsner, which is now recognised globally in beer awards.
Riwaka is known as an incredibly hard-to-grow hop. It's a temperamental strain but the effort to get it right is worth it because of the unique flavours it brings to beer. There's passionfruit, grapefruit, white wine, hay, a peppery spice and diesel, with the latter being a character that so many people love about Riwaka (and others hate with a passion!).
When organic Riwaka became too hard to grow, Emerson's Pilsner adapted and today it is brewed with a variety of hops to get the consistency needed for a big-selling core range beer.
The rebrew of Pride Of The Plains was created as a one-off and as such Riwaka was used liberally to create a unique, punchy beer. Full of grapefruit, passionfruit and an earthy spiciness, it was lauded far and wide in 2025.
It proved so popular that Emerson's did a keg-only rebrew this year and that was the beer that won the Champion Crown at the NZ Beer Awards. Off the back of that success, it's coming back again – this time in cans as well – and is due for release as this edition of Drinksbiz lands in your hands. It's worth seeking out because it redraws, in bold, the template for what New Zealand Pilsner has become.
It's worth noting that Emerson's hasn't brewed it as a replica of the original 1995 beer, but as a tribute. But given greater understanding of Riwaka hops, and how the style has evolved, it's probably better to call it a reincarnation of the original but on a higher plane.
Other highlights from the Awards included the Champion Overall Brewery title going to Karamu Barrelworks, the tiny rural Waikato brewery that specialises in lambic-style fruited sours.
Mount Brewing, in their 30th year, were crowned Champion Medium-sized Brewery and won a Trophy with their Guinness-inspired Harley's Irish Stout – named for Ireland-born brewery co-owner Niall Harley.
Shining Peak won Champion Small Brewery for the third time in four years (and secured 20 medals from 20 entries, which is a phenomenal performance), while Neck Of The Woods, a brewpub in Tauranga started by former Deep Creek founder Scott Taylor, won Champion Microbrewery.
Michael Donaldson is a Beer Writer of the Year, journalist and author
