A small Oamaru brewery has received high marks from Australian judges in a major international competition.
Each of the four Craftwork Brewery beers blind taste-tested by the experts at the 2016 Australian International Beer Awards in Melbourne were awarded medals.
The only other Otago brewery to win a gold medal was Emerson's of Dunedin, with its 1812 Pale Ale.
The micro brewery was founded by Michael O'Brien and Lee-Ann Scotti in March 2014.
Run from Ms Scotti's converted stone basement at her Tyne St home, the 100-litre brewery produces 20 beers, 10,000 litres a year, all of which is hand-bottled. The brewery has an affinity for Belgian styles.
"We're the slow beer movement for sure,'' Ms Scotti said.
"We're just having a lot of fun.''
Given that 1793 beers from 326 breweries across 36 countries were entered in the competition, Craftwork Brewery was one of the little guys.
Ms Scotti said she was "super-shocked'' to receive a gold medal for Craftwork's Saison Zest. The brewery also picked up a silver for its dark, strong Dark Lord and two bronzes for its wood-aged Scotch Bonnet and Sacre Bleu.
Other Otago breweries recognised by the judges with silver or bronze medals were Scotts Brewing Co, of Oamaru, and Altitude Brewing, of Queenstown.
