By Andy Young
Vale Brewing has been named the Champion Large Brewery at this year's Royal Adelaide Beer Awards.
The McLaren Vale brewer, which started out in 2008, beat off competition from the likes of Lion Nathan and Coopers to pick up its first Best Brewery Award.
Head Brewer Jeff Wright, was understandably delighted with the accolade.
"This is definitely the highlight of our brewing history and a great achievement for a proudly independently owned South Australian business," Wright said.
"We're really chuffed with what we've been accomplishing in our brewery and it's great to learn that the judges felt similarly impressed by our beers, both from a technical and a consumer appreciation perspective.
"And coming out tops against the likes of Coopers and Lion Nathan is well worth raising a glass to."
Vale Brewing was also awarded the Champion Dark Lager for its Vale Dark Lager at the awards ceremony at the Adelaide Showground and received a gold medal for its recently introduced Fox Hat metric IPA.
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