History
The Australian International Beer Awards was first established as a national competition in 1987 by The Ballarat College of Advanced Education, when Food Sciences lecturer, Neville Gow, along with Australian Secretary of the Institute of Brewing, John Harvey, set up the first competition.
The Awards began as the 'National Beer and Brewing Exhibition', which in its inaugural year received just 35 entries, assessed by three judges.
In 1993, The Ballarat University College, in partnership with Melbourne Royal, delivered Australia’s first international beer and brewing competition, with Melbourne Royal assuming the lead role in event management of the Awards.
Today, the Melbourne Royal Australian International Beer Awards is the largest annual beer competition in the world, judging both draught and packaged beer and cider, and attracting more than 2,200 entries from almost 400 breweries across 22 countries.
