Cheeky cheer for South West brewery

A well-known Vasse brewery has scored a cheeky win in the Australian International Beer Awards, having been named champion small brewery.

Cheeky Monkey Brewing Co beat 400 brewers from 26 countries for the title last week, which is bestowed on the brewery with the highest-rated gold medals and trophy wins.

Cheeky Monkey’s Lefties East Coast IPA won the trophy for best modern IPA, while East Coast IPA, West Coast IPA, Silverback Russian Imperial Stout and Imperial Monk Red Strong Ale brought in gold medals in their categories.

Brewery managing director Brent Burton said the medals validated the team’s efforts to continue to strive for the best ale in the country and help diversify the region to be known for more than just wine.

“This year we took it upon ourselves to be more adventurous and not take ourselves too seriously,” he said. “We aim to have fun while producing beers we want to drink, and I think it’s starting to pay dividends.

“Our head of brewing ops, Ryan Nobbs, and his team have done an excellent job producing our beers.

“We couldn’t be prouder of their efforts.”

Residents will be able to taste the gold star brews at the team’s Caves Road Brewpub in Wilyabrup as well as the Cheeky Taphouse at the production brewery in Vasse.