Timing is everything in life, in brewing, in beer awards, you name it. Rio Bravo Brewing was in the process of canning its Freak Juice Hazy IPA for a Friday release when it received word that the brew won a bronze medal at the Australian International Beer Awards on Thursday.

“Yeah, we got an email from Australia saying the preliminary results were in and we won a bronze medal,” head brewer Ty Levis said. “I just replied, ‘Oh, sweet, we just finished packaging it yesterday afternoon.’ We were just getting the cases ready for Admiral (Beverage Company) for distribution.”

Freak Juice (6% ABV, 40 IBU) was made with 60 pounds of hops, and then an additional 60 pounds on the dry hop. Citra, Mosaic, and Amarillo are the hops in question. I got a quick sample and it is an aggressive hazy IPA, with a big aroma.

“We came up with a completely different package design (too),” Ty said.

It is definitely an eye-popping design on the 16-ounce can. The beer will be available in four-packs wherever Rio Bravo is sold, and there will be a release party today (Friday) at the brewery from 4 to 7 p.m.

In additional AIBA news, Quarter Celtic also got two medals, a silver in the Chocolate Beer category for Mocha Hipster Bomb (a collaboration with Palmer Brewery which won a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival last year), and a bronze for Crimson Lass in the Irish-style Red category.

Congrats to all the winners.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister