So you may have noticed you didn’t get a new e-news yesterday. Well, that’s because we made the executive decision to postpone your weekly news-fix to accommodate the AIBA results that were revealed last night at the 20^th Anniversary Dinner in Melbourne. And yet again the awards organisers have managed to outdo themselves. And, of course, the award winners – breweries from across Australia and the world – have managed to put in a stellar showcase of some amazing beers.

Bu the main accolades have to go to Brendan Varis and the team at Feral in WA – for not only taking out a handful of gold medals and two category trophies for Best International Pale Ale for the third consecutive year and Best Scotch & Barley Wine – but for winning the major award on the night: Best Large Australian Brewery. The roar from the crowd was deafening as their name was read out – Brendan is not only a great brewer but also an incredibly humble and likeable man and the predominantly Australian attendees were delighted to have his brewery take out the big trophy.

The night as a whole was fabulous and perfectly organised. The beer, the food and the service were all immaculate, so a big thanks to the AIBA for a great night out. And a massive congratulations to all the winners on the night – though they are probably not feeling to crash hot after kicking on to the after party at Beer DeLuxe!

 In more beer news, Murray’s have got their contribution to GABS – Bob’s Farmhouse Ale – on tap for all those that missed out on the event. And for those hungry for a bit more, there will be examples of the participating beers on sale at both the Local Taphouse venues – see here for more details. And we here at Beer HQ would also like to congratulate 4Hearts Brewing on having their beers tapped outside of Queensland this week for the first time ever. For those that are near Baden Powell Hotel in Collingwood, they will be featuring the range of 4Hearts Brewing’s beers, along with beers from Capalaba’s Bacchus Brewing and the Gold Coast’s Burleigh Brewing Company for today and tomorrow. Get into it!

Also this week, the brewing world’s open secret has been confirmed with the release of Coopers 150th Anniversary Ale. The black and gold packaged beer is a red ale with plenty of hops and apparently quite different to the rest of Cooper’s range. It’s going to be popular so get in quick.

Finally, the Beer & Brewer conference went off without a hitch yesterday with some fantastic discussions on everything from taste training to excise, and cider to hops, malt and yeast. We’ll give a full wrap up next week but for now highlights included a discussion on the upswing in the popularity of cans that is coming across from America – including an aluminium bottle from Japan. While the hops suppliers implored brewers to get in early to ensure they got their hands on the hops they need – the American varieties are getting even harder to find – the malt boys were adamant that new brewers need to taste and experiment with their malt rather than relying on the specs that are provided by the manufacturers – yep that means cracking open a sample and giving it a good chew. There was also an impassioned plea to restaurateurs to get their acts together and work on their beer list as well as their wine list. If they can’t tell their clients what is good about beer how can the industry work with them for the good of all. The questions on starting a micobrewery were also interesting, with a couple of young guys clearly keen on getting themselves up and running – their plan has something to do with bikes if my eavesdropping was correct. But like I said there will be a full wrap up very soon with info on all the major sessions for you to peruse and just enough detail to make you wish you had been there to hear it all for yourself.