Rotorua brewers win top award | Rotorua News | Local News in Rotorua

It's official - Rotorua's Croucher Brewing makes the best international lager in New Zealand.

The local craft brewery picked up the BrewNZ Champion International Lager trophy with its Croucher Pilsner at the group's annual awards in Wellington on Thursday night.

Brewer Paul Croucher described the win as a "massive achievement" for a small brewery.

"We were really confident this was a good beer, but you just never know with awards. The feedback we have been getting from customers and beer fans is that it is a bit special, so it is nice to have now also been acknowledged by our industry peers."

Croucher's pilsner picked up a gold award in the pilsner category, as well as taking out the overall trophy for top international lager. This was the only gold medal awarded across the whole category, contested by entries from New Zealand and some of the biggest breweries around the world.

The awards received in excess of 400 entries from more than 40 brewers across 17 categories.

Co-owner Nigel Gregory said the brewery was thrilled with the result.

"It would be fair to say we screamed with delight and danced around the room when we heard our pilsner had been named champion in its category."

He said their first priority was making beers they enjoyed themselves, rather than beverages that fitted into particular classifications or award categories.

"It is nice we have managed to do both. It really is a delicious hoppy beer that we are immensely proud of."