EPIC Pale Ale beat out 198 other beers from 40 international and domestic breweries to be judged the Supreme Champion beer at the 2006 New Zealand International Beer Awards in Nelson on Friday night. EPIC had already won a Gold Medal in the New World Pale Ale style and the Best in Class for all Pale Ales. The Gold Medal beers from all the classes were then re-judged with EPIC Pale Ale being declared Supreme Champion of the Awards. Incredibly, this was the first time EPIC Pale Ale had ever been entered in a beer competition. The beer is brand new and is only just being released to the market starting Monday 1st May 2006. Head Brewer Luke Nicholas says that EPIC winning the national Supreme Champion award was an amazing debut for an amazing beer. “This kind of recognition from a panel of noted judges is a fantastic. We are confident that New Zealand beer drinkers will enjoy it just as much,” he says. Epic Brewing Company is the Brewery arm of the hugely successful Cock & Bull Group. “At the end of 2004 we acquired a new larger brewery and bottling line. We are now set up to brew and bottle a range of high quality, full flavored beers for a national audience to savour. This win signifies the start of that epic journey,” Luke says. While EPIC Pale Ale won the top award this time, other Cock & Bull Beers also bought home the medals. Monks Habit (which has on two occasions claimed the Supreme Champion Award) won a Silver Medal, whilst Fuggles Best Bitter & Dark Star both won Bronze medals. The Cock and Bull brewery has won 136 brewing award medals and trophies since 1995. The win capped a huge week for head brewer Luke, who has only just returned from judging at the World Beer Cup in Seattle, USA. This was the first year New Zealand has been represented at the Olympics of Beer in its ten year history. “It has been a huge couple of weeks but it has been fantastic. You could even say it has been EPIC,” Luke says.