Tracy Banner, master brewer at Sprig and Fern, has been honoured at the recent Brewers Guild of New Zealand Awards, taking home the Morton Coutts Trophy. The prize recognises lifelong achievement in the brewing industry, and was awarded to Banner in her hometown of Nelson on Saturday.
"It's such a prestigious award, I've been pinching myself today just blown away, but I am a grafter and I work really hard, so it's nice to be rewarded like that," Banner said.
Banner began her brewing career in 1983, when she started her apprenticeship at Greenalls, Bass and Cains in the UK. After moving to New Zealand in 1994 she worked all over the place, being named the first female brewery manager at Speights and in 2005 and brewing for Lion and Macs before joining Sprig and Fern in 2009.
It wasn’t the only award for the Nelson brewery, also receiving recognition for their 2017 rebrand. Other winners on the night included Moa Brewing for Champion New Zealand Beer and Lion, Parrotdog and Fork for Champion large, medium and small breweries respectively.
Brewers Guild executive director Sabrina Kunz was pleased with how the New Zealand brewing industry is tracking.
"We've been tracking around that 900 entry mark for the last couple of years and if you talk to the brewers, they don't enter all of their beers each year, so what that means for consumers is there is some amazing choice out there," Kunz explained. "We wanted to get back to Nelson, in part because it's where craft brewing took off in New Zealand but also to honour some of our folks who've been participating in the Brewers Guild – Emma McCashin is our outgoing president and of course Tracy Banner has been instrumental in the industry, as well as NZ Hops."
Champion Awards
Champion New Zealand Exhibitor sponsored by Gladfield Malt
Bach Brewing Company
Champion New Zealand Beer sponsored by Cryer Malt
Moa Brewing Company
Champion Large New Zealand Brewery sponsored by NZ Hops
Lion BSW
Champion Medium New Zealand Brewery sponsored by Enpac
Parrotdog
Champion Small New Zealand Brewery sponsored by Kegstar
Fork
Champion New Zealand Manufacturer sponsored by Enpac
Steam Brewing
Champion International Brewery sponsored by Bintani Australia
Samuel Adams.
Trophy Awards
International Lager to Lion BSW
Speight's Triple Hop Pilsner
New Zealand Lager to DB
Monteith's Original Ale
British Ale to Lion BSW
Mac's Sassy Red
European Ale to Kereru Brewing
Feijoa Weisse
US Ale to Moa Brewing Company
Moa Southern Alps White IPA
Pale Ale to Bach Brewing
Billfish APA
Strong Pale Ale to Lakeman Brewing
Hairy Hop
Stout & Porter to Boundary Road
Jack the Sipper
Wheat & Other Grain to Lion BSW
Mac's Great White
Flavoured to Aotearoa Breweries
Mata Cola Cuz
Specialty, Experimental, Aged, Barrel, Wood-Aged to 8 Wired Brewing
Lokomotiv Merlot
Cider and Perry to Zeffer Cider Company
Demi-Sec
Fruit or Flavoured Cider or Perry to Good George Brewing
Good George Doris Cider
Packaging to Sprig & Fern Brewery
Sprig & Fern Range
Special Awards
Morton Coutts Trophy sponsored by DB Breweries
Tracy Banner
Beer writer of the year sponsored by Brewers Guild of NZ
Michael Donaldson
Industry Achievement Awards
Warren Amos
Doreen Helms
President's Award
Helen Matthews
