After a two-year hiatus, the Australian Liquor Industry Awards are back and will be held at Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday 19 October. A whole heap of pubs across the country are in the running for a wide variety of on-premise awards.
The finalists in both the on-premise and off-premise categories were revealed last week, and pubs big and small have been nominated in a wide range of awards. Old favourites like Best Food Menu, Best Beer List and Best Sports Venue will be hotly contested, while new categories have also been added to reflect the dynamism of the industry. New awards include Best On-Premise NOLO Product and Best Brand Ambassador.
A few hotels have been named finalists in numerous categories, such as Sandstone Point Hotel in Queensland’s Moreton Bay region. The large-format hotel is a finalist for Best Food Menu and Best Live Music Venue, and major awards Hotel of the Year and Publican of the Year for its recent GM Brad Harding. Sandstone Point Hotel’s parent company Comiskey Group is also up for Hotel Group Operator of the Year.
Fairly new operator Odd Culture Group has also stacked up numerous nominations, including Best New Venue for Odd Culture Newtown, Best Food Menu for The Old Fitz, as well as Hotel Group Operator of the Year.
Other large pub group operations are up for several awards, including Australian Venue Co, Laundy Hotels, Lewis Land Group, Merivale, Sand Hill Road and The Sydney Collective.
Smaller pub operations are also represented as ALIA finalists, with Watervale Hotel in South Australia’s Clare Valley up for Best Food Menu; Huntlee Tavern in the Hunter Valley up for Best New Venue; and Silverlake Social in Melbourne up for Best Sports Venue, among others.
Finalists for the 2022 Hotel of the Year are:
- Beach Hotel, Byron Bay
- Camden Valley Inn
- Coogee Pavilion
- Forrester’s Hotel, Surry Hills
- Golden Sheaf Hotel
- Harbord Hotel
- Hotel Esplanade
- Marsden Brewhouse
- Sandstone Point Hotel
- The Prince Consort
- The Terminus Hotel, North Fitzroy
- Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel
You can view the full list of on-premise finalists here.
These finalists will now go to ALIA’s extensive panel of judges from all sectors of Australia’s liquor industry. After the judges’ votes are tallied the results will be audited by Quantaco. Full details on the voting and judging process are available on the ALIA website.
Book your tickets to the liquor industry’s night of nights now. It’s going to be one hell of a party!