Another huge accolade for our brewers, TWØBAYS Session Ale backed up its Indies 2023 Trophy, taking top spot in the gluten free beer category at the most prestigious beer awards in the world, with a World Beer Cup win! Richard and Head Brewer Kristian were rounding out their market research trip and meeting malt suppliers in the US, stopped by at the American Craft Brewers Convention in Las Vegas for the awards night. They were taken by complete surprise to hear TWØBAYS being called out as the best in the World, something that seemed like a pipe dream when the brewery opened its roller doors just five years ago.

This year was a watershed moment for TWØBAYS and gluten free beer more broadly, with TWØBAYS Session Ale becoming the first beer brewed from 100% gluten free malts to ever win a Trophy at a major Australian beer awards, taking home the Trophy for the best beer in the Specialty Beer Category – something we never dreamed possible when it is a category open to barley beers as well. We also saw major venues taking on the brand. Now Richard has accomplished one of his dreams – being able to drink a TWØBAYS beer while watching Geelong play footy at the MCG!

With gold medals for GFB Draught, Pulp Fusion Passionfruit Sour, IPA and Session Ale – and reaching the Indies Finals for Champion Medium Brewery, 2022 was another strong year. Erin, Grant, Blake and Steven joined the brew team, and Nathan took over as Marketing Manager, with Josh joining the Sydney Sales Team as we re-launched Stout and Pulp Fusion as Seasonal Beers, in addition to speciality releases Mandarin Lager, GABS Collab Almond Milk Porter and Nectaripa NZIPA. Three new HUGE tanks increased our brew capacity by 66% and we won Mornington Peninsula Business Awards Agriculture & Manufacturing Business of the Year!

The year started with national tap takeovers and a collaboration with Ball Park Music (Ball Park Bloom Witbier), and ended with the release of new brand GFB and a collaboration with Aussie Olympic long jumper Brooke Stratton (Margarita Sour). In between, we launched a national partnership with Grill'd, won gold medals for our IPA, Stargaze Hazy Pale and No Doubt Stout, added Lager and Session Ale to our core range, unleashed beer bundles and gift sets, and increased our taproom beers from 9 to 11! We also sent a West Coast IPA, Red IPA and Hazy Pale Ale across Australia, with our beer in more and more taps and fridges.

In what was a challenging year for everyone, TWØBAYS continued the fight to make great gluten free beer available in as many licensed venues and bottle shops as possible. We had to scrap plans of a new winter beer (watch this space 2021), so we re-released the ever-popular Ollie's Hoppy Brown Ale, alongside Taproom favourite Mosaic IPA, and then Red Rocks, Pulp Fusion and S.M.A.S.H. – all Australian Gluten Free firsts. Each of our Core Beers hit #1 style rankings on Untappd, and Kristian Martin became our new Head Brewer, joining Assistant Brewer Ajay Hall with lots of exciting ideas! Oh... and our Pale Ale won a GOLD MEDAL at the Indies!!!

Following a successful Pale Ale release in December 2018, the real fun kicked off in 2019, with the release of our Core Range IPA and then our first limited run Seasonal Beer Ollie's Hoppy Brown Ale (named after AG's dog). No Man's Land XPA followed (later to be added to the Core Range), and we put our beautifully refreshing Summer Ale 'Breakaway' into cans for Christmas. We developed a national footprint, with Woolworths, Coles and hundreds of independent bottle shops stocking our beer while we continued to experiment in the Taproom, tapping 20 different beers. We won 4 beer medals and a tourism award!

In October 2018, we shared our beer with the world for the very first time at the Coeliac Australia Melbourne Gluten Free Expo. Founding Head Brewer AG, Richard and his wife Sarah, and marketing co-ordinator Tom served up more than 4,000 samples of two Pale Ales over the weekend. We asked tasters to vote on their favourite and they chose the first iteration of our Core Range Pale Ale today. Following delivery of our brewery and the Taproom fit out (and a few attempts at getting the Pale Ale right), we finally rolled up the shutter doors on 7 December 2018 and released our first Pale Ale in cans 11 days later.

From the moment Richard tasted his first gluten free beer at Ground Breaker Brewery in Portland, Oregon, he knew he had to bring this experience to Australia. The next day he walked into Ghostfish Brewing Company in Seattle and it clicked – the brewery had to have a taproom too. That way, everybody could come and share great beer with friends in a dedicated gluten free environment. Richard's fact-finding mission also took him to Grouse Malt House in Colorado and Eckert Malting & Brewing in California, where we now have exclusive rights to import the world's finest gluten free malts to Australia and New Zealand.