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Lion's share of awards

Brewboys Maiden Ale and Billabong Brewing Newlson Sauvin Ale.
Brewboys Maiden Ale and Billabong Brewing Newlson Sauvin Ale.Supplied

Early each year, the Beer and Brewer Awards recognise Australia's top 100 brews. Beers win their places through a combination of popular votes, on and off-premise sales, industry nominations and results from leading beer shows.

Where beers finish on equal points, they're lined up before a panel of judges for a final decision. In this year's event, big, small and middle-sized brewers shared the honours. Japanese-owned Lion led the competition, with 10 successful beers spread across a number of its brands - Castlemaine XXXX, Knappstein, Kosciusko, Little Creatures, Malt Shovel Mad Brewers, Swan, Hahn and White Rabbit. Mid-sized Coopers fielded six winners.

Western Australian Feral Hop Hog topped the list, followed by Byron Bay's Stone and Wood Pacific Ale and Lion's Little Creatures Pale Ale.

You can read the full list at beerandbrewer.com.

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Brewboys Maiden Ale 330ml $4.15

This bottle- conditioned amber ale from Brewboys of Adelaide combines malted barley from several counties, including Britain, Germany and Australia, and fresh hop flowers from Nelson, New Zealand. The pungency of the hops cuts through the rich, smooth caramel-like malt flavours, providing a clean, fresh, drying finish.

4 stars

Billabong Brewing Nelson Sauvin Ale 330ml $3.98

Western Australia's Billabong Brewing uses New Zealand's Nelson Sauvin hop variety in an attempt to capture its distinctive gooseberry-like character. The beer may have displayed that character when first bottled, but it's now more a tartness cutting through and slightly overwhelming the background malt flavour.

3 stars

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