New World Beer & Cider Awards 2025

We have a diverse mix of 25 craft beers and ciders that caught our judges' attention this year!

Stock availability varies by New World store

Raise your glass to the Top 25 craft beers, ciders and brewed soda who stole the show and swept the judges off their feet. This year’s lineup is packed with flavour, character, and surprises you won’t want to miss.

Isthmus 3D IPA, our Supreme Winner

This award-winning IPA truly lives up to its name, delivering a bold, multi-layered flavour experience. You’ll catch classic American hops on the nose—think grapefruit and pine—balanced beautifully by a rich caramel malt base that brings it all together.

How the Top 25 were chosen

Experienced and independent beer and cider judges blind-tasted and evaluated more than 600 brews at the 2025 judging event.

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More to sip from the New World Beer & Cider Awards

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Chair of Judges: Michael Donaldson

Michael is one of New Zealand’s most renowned beer writers. He has been named Beer Writer of the Year by the Brewers Guild of NZ Beer Awards three times and was also recognised with the competition’s Beer Media Award in 2022. His writing is seen in publications from Kia Ora magazine to Stuff and the New Zealand Herald, as well as his own publications such as Pursuit of Hoppiness, Beer Nation — The Art and Heart of Kiwi Beer, The Big Book of Home Brew: a Kiwi Guide and more. Michael has chaired the New World Beer & Cider Awards judging panel since 2016 and has also judged at the Brewers Guild of NZ Beer Awards.

Deputy Chair: Kelly Ryan

Kelly is an award-winning brewer and sought-after beer judge with experience from local and international competitions including the Brewers Guild of NZ Beer Awards, Australian International Beer Awards, World Beer Cup, World Beer Awards, International Beer Challenge and more. Beginning his career as a trainee brewer at Tui, Kelly completed stints at Fyne Ales and Thornbridge in the UK before returning to New Zealand to work with craft breweries like Epic, Good George, Fork & Brewer and Boneface. Kelly took up the role of Deputy Chair for the New World Beer & Cider Awards in 2022 and currently works with Waimea West Hops in Quality and Technical Sales.

Table Captains

Shane Morley

Doug Donelan

Sam Williamson

Emma Bell

Tim Low

Soren Eriksen

Damian Treacher

Merophy Hyslop

Judges

Eve Stockley-Smith

Tim Newman

Lauren Yap

Cameron Burgess

Matt Warner

Mason Pratt

Red Proudfoot

Jody Scott

Caroline Muller-Ward

Paul Roigard

Steph Coutts

Denise Garland

Jesse Sigurdsson

Zane Marshall

Alyssa Hodgson

Oli Bird

Dylan Jauslin

Trudy Shield

Junior Judges

Si Jin Lee

Jared Stewart

Kit Clinton-Baker

Brayden Rawlinson

Jody Thomas

Jules van Costello

The New World Beer & Cider Awards was launched in 2014 with the objective of finding the best quality commercially available beers & ciders for consumers.

For the first four years, entries were judged to Gold, Silver and Bronze medals and the Best in Class / Champions were agreed and awarded. The 14 Best in Class / Champion winners were rewarded with nationwide distribution through New World stores.

In 2020 a separate class for hazy beers was introduced as their popularity grew. In 2021 the competition welcomed supermarket-compliant seltzers, alcoholic kombuchas and alcoholic ginger beers entries to reflect changing customer demand and producer ingenuity. In 2022 we introduced specific classes for low alcohol beers and ciders (less than 1.15% ABV) as more breweries entered this space and in 2023 a new class was created for low carb beers.

This year (2025), we’re introducing an exciting new category for the “weird and wonderful”—a celebration of brews that embrace unexpected or unconventional ingredients, offering an element of surprise, creativity, or innovation.

The awards structure has changed over the years, however the objective remains the same with customers looking forward to the results announcement each year.

Below are the historic results of the New World Beer & Cider Awards judging.